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Antecedent Conditions Influence Soil Respiration Differences in Shrub and Grass Patches

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Abstract

Quantifying the response of soil respiration to past environmental conditions is critical for predicting how future climate and vegetation change will impact ecosystem carbon balance. Increased shrub dominance in semiarid grasslands has potentially large effects on soil carbon cycling. The goal of this study was to characterize the effect of antecedent moisture and temperature conditions on soil respiration in a grassland now dominated by shrubs. Continuous measurements of soil respiration, soil temperature, and soil moisture were made over the entire summer of 2005 within distinct vegetation microsites in this shrubland community—under grasses, shrubs, and in open spaces. We analyzed these data within a Bayesian framework that allowed us to evaluate the time-scale over which antecedent conditions influence soil respiration. The addition of antecedent conditions explained an additional 16% of the variation in soil respiration. High soil moisture during the preceding month increased respiration rates in both the grass and shrub microsites. However, the time period over which antecedent soil moisture influenced the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration was shorter in the shrub compared to the grass microsites (1 vs. 2 weeks, respectively). The depth of moisture was important; for example, for respiration under shrubs, near-surface moisture was more influential on the day of the respiration measurement but subsurface moisture was more influential on the antecedent time scale. Although more mechanistic studies are required, this study is the first to reveal that shrub encroachment changes the time scales over which soil moisture and temperature affect soil respiration.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a DOE-NICCR Grant awarded to K. Ogle, the field data collection was supported by an NSF Grant (DEB-0414680) awarded to T. Huxman and D. Williams, and J. Cable was supported by an NSF OPP Grant #0852078.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA

    Jessica M. Cable

  2. School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

    Kiona Ogle

  3. B2 Earthscience, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA

    Greg A. Barron-Gafford

  4. Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA

    Lisa P. Bentley

  5. Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA

    William L. Cable

  6. USDA-ARS, Tucson, Arizona, USA

    Russell L. Scott

  7. Departments of Ecosystem Science and Management and Botany, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA

    David G. Williams

  8. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, USA

    Travis E. Huxman

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  1. Jessica M. Cable
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  2. Kiona Ogle
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  3. Greg A. Barron-Gafford
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  4. Lisa P. Bentley
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  5. William L. Cable
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  8. Travis E. Huxman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jessica M. Cable.

Additional information

Author Contributions: JMC conceived of the respiration portion of the study, performed the research, analyzed the data, contributed the model, and wrote the paper. KO contributed the model, helped with data analysis, and helped write the paper. BG and LPB helped write the paper. WLC contributed to the research. RLS and DGW conceived of the study and helped write the paper. TEH conceived of the study.

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Cable, J.M., Ogle, K., Barron-Gafford, G.A. et al. Antecedent Conditions Influence Soil Respiration Differences in Shrub and Grass Patches. Ecosystems 16, 1230–1247 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-013-9679-7

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