Soil respiration in Patagonian semiarid grasslands under contrasting environmental and use conditions
Grasslands comprise 85% of Southern Patagonia land area and play a critical role in the global carbon cycle. We evaluated seasonal dynamics to identify differences in soil respiration rates between contrasting grasslands across a climate gradient (rainfall), long term grazing intensity (moderate a...
| Autores principales: | , , |
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| Formato: | info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Elsevier
2018
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/3167 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140196315000828?via%3Dihub https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2015.03.008 |
| Sumario: | Grasslands comprise 85% of Southern Patagonia land area and play a critical role in the global carbon
cycle. We evaluated seasonal dynamics to identify differences in soil respiration rates between contrasting
grasslands across a climate gradient (rainfall), long term grazing intensity (moderate and high
stocking rates) and land uses (silvopastoral system, primary forest and grassland). Soil respiration varied
from 0.09 g CO2 h 1 m 2 in winter to a maximum of 1.43 g CO2 h 1 m 2 in spring. We found that the soil
respiration rate was 30% higher in moderately grazed grasslands than in heavily grazed grasslands. Landuse
changes showed that soil respiration followed the order silvopastoral system > native
forest > grassland. While almost all plant and soil variables had a significant effect on soil respiration, soil
carbon concentration, litter cover and depth and bare soil cover were the main factors explaining 78
e83% of the variance in soil respiration. Soil respiration rates were correlated strongly to air and soil
temperatures and to a lesser extent with mean monthly rainfall and soil volumetric water content. The
information provided in the present work about soil respiration is essential to estimate carbon balance
for a range of important and widespread ecosystems in Patagonia. |
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