Different responses of soil respiration to environmental factors across forest stages in a Southeast Asian forest

Abstract

Soil respiration (SR) in forests contributes significant carbon dioxide emissions from terrestrial ecosystems and is highly sensitive to environmental changes, including soil temperature, soil moisture, microbial community, surface litter, and vegetation type. Indeed, a small change in SR may have large impacts on the global carbon balance, further influencing feedbacks to climate change. Thus, detailed characterization of SR responses to changes in environmental conditions is needed to accurately estimate carbon dioxide emissions from forest ecosystems. However, data for such analyses are still limited, especially in tropical forests of Southeast Asia where various stages of forest succession exist due to previous land-use changes. In this study, we measured SR and some environmental factors including soil temperature (ST), soil moisture (SM), and organic matter content (OM) in three successional tropical forests in both wet and dry periods. We also analyzed the relationships between SR and these environmental variables. Results showed that SR was higher in the wet period and in older forests. Although no response of SR to ST was found in younger forest stages, SR of the old-growth forest significantly responded to ST, plausibly due to the nonuniform forest structure, including gaps, that resulted in a wide range of ST.

Interactions between soil water and plant community during vegetation succession in the restored grasslands on the Loess Plateau of China

“…It was also found that the aboveground biomass of forbs was negatively related to both soil water recharge and depletion in 20–40 cm layer. These results illustrated the succession theory that changes in soil water increased the survivorship of late‐successional species and, therefore, changed the course of vegetation succession (Rodtassana et al, 2021).…”

Water-use characteristics of Syzygium antisepticum and Adinandra integerrima in a secondary forest of Khao Yai National Park in Thailand with implications for environmental management

“…The soil is gray-brown ultisol which was degraded by shifting agriculture by burning before regeneration ( Chanthorn et al, 2016 ; Chanthorn, Hartig & Brockelman, 2017 ). The bulk density was 1.24 g cm −3 and soil texture was sandy clay-loam with the sand contents of 64.4% and 56.4% as measured in September 2020 and February 2021, respectively ( Rodtassana et al, 2021 ). In 2020, a 20 m tall tower was constructed for installing weather sensors above the forest canopy in the plot.…”

Variations in leaf water status and drought tolerance of dominant tree species growing in multi-aged tropical forests in Thailand

“…The YF’s mean canopy height was 15 m, with sparser vegetation coverage compared to the other successional forests. The soil type and soil texture in these forests were classified as gray-brown ultisol and as sandy clay-loam to clay loam, respectively 78 .…”