Wednesday, 22 May 2002
Long-term continuous measurements of soil CO2 concentration and soil respiration in deciduous forests
Soil CO2 concentration has been measured continuously since 1999 in two different deciduous forests, which are broad-leaved and coniferous (larch) forests developing on the same type of volcanic soil in Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan, and diffusive CO2 efflux from the soil surface (soil respiration rate) was evaluated by using the Fickfs first law from the vertical gradients of CO2 concentration and diffusion coefficients of gaseous CO2 in the soil. Soil CO2 concentration has been measured directly with small infrared gas analyzers (Vaisala, GMD20) buried at several depths. Gaseous CO2 diffusion coefficients were calculated by substituting air-filled porosity of the soil for the relational expression made in a laboratory experiment by using the diffusion chamber method (Currie, 1960; Osozawa, 1987). Air-filled porosity was obtained from volumetric water content measured continuously. Moreover, CO2 production rate of the soil surface layer of 15 cm thickness (A horizon) and CO2 flux from C horizon to A horizon were calculated by considering the CO2 budget and the change of CO2 storage in A horizon; C horizon lies just under A horizon. We will report the behaviors of soil respiration rate and soil CO2 concentration for about three years and compare them measured in two different forests.
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