Cascading effects associated with climate-change-induced conifer mortality in mountain temperate forests result in hot-spots of soil CO2 emissions

Publication date: Available online 26 February 2019Source: Soil Biology and BiochemistryAuthor(s): J. Curiel Yuste, D. Flores-Rentería, D. García-Angulo, A.-M. Hereş, C. Bragă, A.-M. Petritan, I.C. PetritanAbstractAs a widespread phenomenon affecting terrestrial ecosystems worldwide, the extent and spatio-temporal scales at which the increasing number of reported events of climate-change-induced tree mortality could affect the ecology and carbon (C) sink capacity of terrestrial soils, remains unknown. We here study how regional-scale drought-induced tree mortality events registered after a very dry 2012 year in the Carpathians mountain range (Romania), which affected three of the most widely distributed conifer species: Scots pine, Black pine, and Silver fir, resulted in hot-spots of biogenic soil CO2 emissions (soil respiration; Rs). Four to five years after the main mortality event, Rs-related soil CO2 emissions under dead trees were, on average, 21% higher than CO2 emissions under living trees (ranging from 18 to 35%). Total (Rs) and heterotrophic (RH)-related soil CO2 emissions were strongly determined by the soil environmental alterations following tree mortality (e.g. changes in quantity and quality of soil organic matter, microclimate, pH or fine root demography). Moreover, the massive mortality event of 2012 ultimately resulted in a stronger dominant role of successional vegetation (broadleaf seedlings, shrubland and grasses) in controlling those environmental fac...
Source: Soil Biology and Biochemistry - Category: Biology Source Type: research