Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Modeling the seasonality of belowground respiration along an elevation gradient in the western Chugach Mountains, Alaska

  • Published:
Biogeochemistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Belowground respiration is typically the largest flux of carbon from terrestrial ecosystems to the atmosphere, making up >70% of total respiration in boreal forests. Recent work has shown that belowground respiration continues during the snow-covered season in boreal ecosystems, but few studies have made complementary measurements during the snow-free season and it remains uncertain what proportion of annual belowground respiration occurs during winter. Traditional models of the relationship between temperature and respiration assume fixed temperature sensitivity, but it has become clear that the apparent temperature sensitivity of belowground respiration increases as soils approach 0°C. Use of fixed temperature sensitivity to model carbon budgets of northern ecosystems may, therefore, yield misleading results. We measured belowground respiration monthly over 2 years in four ecosystems along an elevation gradient in south-central Alaska. Three models, representing different hypotheses about the relationship between temperature and respiration, were confronted with the data. A logistic model, which allows the temperature sensitivity to vary inversely with temperature, and a variation of the Q10 model, which allows the temperature sensitivity to vary seasonally, performed well at all sites and produced similar estimates of seasonal and annual belowground respiration. The traditional Q10 model performed poorly at all sites and overestimated respiration during the snow-covered season. Annual belowground respiration was generally greater than in ecosystems of interior Alaska, where winters are colder and summers are warmer and drier. Belowground respiration during the snow-covered season made up 6–15% of the annual total—a small, but sensitive, component of annual carbon budgets.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Akitaya E (1974) Studies on depth hoar. Contrib Inst Low Temp Sci 26A:1–67

    Google Scholar 

  • Barber VA, Juday GP, Finney BP (2000) Reduced growth of Alaskan white spruce in the twentieth century from temperature-induced drought stress. Nature 405:668–673

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barr AG, Griffis TJ, Black TA, Lee X, Staebler RM, Fuentes JD, Chen Z, Morgenstern K (2002) Comparing the carbon budgets of boreal and temperate deciduous forest stands. Can J Forest Res 32:813–822

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Black TA, Den Hartog G, Neumann HH, Blanken PD, Yang PC, Russell C, Nesic Z, Lee X, Chen SG, Staebler R, Novak MD (1996) Annual cycles of water vapour and carbon dioxide fluxes in and above a boreal aspen forest. Global Change Biol 2:219–229

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bolstad PV, Davis KJ, Martin J, Cook BD, Wang W (2004) Component and whole-system respiration fluxes in northern deciduous forests. Tree Physiol 24:493–504

    Google Scholar 

  • Boone RD, Nadelhoffer KJ, Canary JD, Kaye JP (1998) Roots exert a strong influence on the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration. Nature 396:570–572

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burnham KP, Anderson DR (2002) Model selection and multi-model inference: a practical information-theoretic approach, 2nd edn. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Cable JM, Ogle K, Lucas RW et al (2010) The temperature responses of soil respiration in deserts: a seven desert synthesis. Biogeochemistry. doi:10.1007/s10533-010-9448-z

  • Davidson EA, Savage K, Verchot LV, Navarro R (2002) Minimizing artifacts and biases in chamber-based measurements of soil respiration. Agric Forest Meteorol 113:21–37

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davidson EA, Janssens IA, Luo Y (2006) On the variability of respiration in terrestrial ecosystems: moving beyond Q10. Global Change Biol 12:154–164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fahnestock JT, Jones MH, Brooks PD, Walker DA, Welker JM (1998) Winter and early spring CO2 efflux from tundra communities of northern Alaska. J Geophys Res 103:29023–29027

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farquhar GD, von Caemmerer S, Berry JA (1980) A biochemical model of photosynthetic CO2 assimilation in leaves of C3 plants. Planta 149:79–90

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flanagan PW, Veum AK (1974) Relationships between respiration, weight loss, temperature and moisture in organic residues on tundra. In: Holding AJ, Heal OW, Maclean SF Jr, Flanagan PW (eds) Soil organisms and decomposition in tundra. Tundra Biome Steering Committee, Stockholm, pp 249–277

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaumont-Guay D, Black TA, Griffis TJ, Barr AG, Morgenstern K, Jassal RS, Nesic Z (2006) Influence of temperature and drought on seasonal and interannual variations of soil, bole and ecosystem respiration in a boreal aspen stand. Agric Forest Meteorol 140:220–235

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gaumont-Guay D, Black TA, McCaughey H, Barr AG, Krishnan P, Jassal RS, Nesic Z (2009) Soil CO2 efflux in contrasting boreal deciduous and coniferous stands and its contribution to the ecosystem carbon balance. Global Change Biol 15:1302–1319

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gershenson A, Bader NE, Cheng WX (2009) Effects of substrate availability on the temperature sensitivity of soil organic matter decomposition. Global Change Biol 15:176–183

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gordon AM, Schlentner RE, Van Cleve K (1985) Seasonal patterns of soil respiration and CO2 evolution following harvesting in the white spruce forests of interior Alaska. Can J Forest Res 17:304–310

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goulden ML, Wofsy SC, Harden JW, Trumbore SE, Crill PM, Gower ST, Fries T, Daube BC, Fan S-M, Sutton DJ, Bazzaz A, Munger JW (1998) Sensitivity of boreal forest carbon balance to soil thaw. Science 279:214–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hobbs NT, Hilborn R (2006) Alternatives to statistical hypothesis testing in ecology: a guide to self teaching. Ecol Appl 16:5–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hooper DU, Cardon ZG, Chapin FS III, Durant M (2002) Corrected calculations for soil and ecosystem measurements of CO2 flux using the LI-COR 6200 portable photosynthesis system. Oecologia 132:1–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones HG, Pomeroy JW, Davies TD, Tranter M, Marsh P (1999) CO2 in Arctic snow cover: landscape form, in-pack gas concentration gradients, and the implications for the estimation of gaseous fluxes. Hydrol Process 13:2977–2989

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Law BE, Ryan MG, Anthoni PM (1999) Seasonal and annual respiration of a ponderosa pine ecosystem. Global Change Biol 5:169–182

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lloyd J, Taylor JA (1994) On the temperature dependence of soil respiration. Funct Ecol 8:315–323

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Massman WJ, Sommerfeld RA, Zeller K, Hehn T, Hudnell L, Rochelle SG (1995) CO2 flux through a Wyoming seasonal snowpack: diffusional and pressure pumping effects. Biogeochemistry of snow-covered catchments. International Association of Hydrological Sciences, Wallingford, pp 71–79

    Google Scholar 

  • Mast MA, Wickland KP, Striegl RT, Clow DW (1998) Winter fluxes of CO2 and CH4 from subalpine soil in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Global Biogeochem Cycles 12:607–620

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mastepanov M, Sigsgaard C, Dlugokencky EJ, Houweling S, Ström L, Tamstorf MP, Christensen TR (2008) Large tundra methane burst during onset of freezing. Nature 456:628–630

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McDowell NG, Marshall JD, Hooker TD, Musselman R (2000) Estimating CO2 flux from snowpacks at three sites in the Rocky Mountains. Tree Physiol 20:745–753

    Google Scholar 

  • McGuire AD, Mellilo JM, Randerson JT, Parton WJ, Heimann M, Meier RA, Clein JS, Kicklighter DW, Sauf W (2000) Modeling the effects of snowpack on heterotrophic respiration across northern temperate and high latitude regions: comparison with measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide in high latitudes. Biogeochemistry 48:91–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mikan CJ, Schimel JP, Doyle AP (2002) Temperature controls of microbial respiration in arctic tundra soils above and below freezing. Soil Biol Biochem 34:1785–1795

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Millington RJ (1959) Gas diffusion in porous media. Science 130:100–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Musselman RC, Massman WJ, Frank JM, Korfmacher JL (2005) The temporal dynamics of carbon dioxide under snow in a high elevation Rocky Mountain subalpine forest and meadow. Arct Antarct Alp Res 37:527–538

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oechel WC, Vourlitis G, Hastings SJ (1997) Cold season CO2 emission from arctic soils. Global Biogeochem Cycles 11:163–172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raich JW, Schlesinger WH (1992) The global carbon dioxide flux in soil respiration and its relationship to vegetation and climate. Tellus 44B:81–99

    Google Scholar 

  • Richardson AD, Hollinger DY (2005) Statistical modeling of ecosystem respiration using eddy covariance data: maximum likelihood parameter estimation, and Monte Carlo simulation of model and parameter uncertainty, applied to three simple models. Agric For Meteorol 131:191–208

    Google Scholar 

  • Richardson AD, Braswell BH, Hollinger DY, Burman P, Davidson EA, Evans RS, Flanagan LB, Munger JW, Savage K, Urbanski SP, Wofsy SC (2006) Comparing simple respiration models for eddy flux and dynamic chamber data. Agric Forest Meteorol 141:219–234

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruess RW, Hendrick RL, Burton AJ, Pregitzer KS, Sveinbjörnsson B, Allen MF, Maurer G (2003) Coupling fine root dynamics with ecosystem carbon cycling in black spruce forests of interior Alaska. Ecol Monogr 74:643–662

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryan MG, Law BV (2005) Interpreting, measuring, and modeling soil respiration. Biogeochemistry 73:3–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schindlbacher A, Zechmeister-Boltenstern S, Glatzel G, Jandl R (2007) Winter soil respiration from an Austrian mountain forest. Agric Forest Meteorol 146:205–215

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schlentner RE, Van Cleve K (1985) Relationships between CO2 evolution from soil, substrate temperature, and substrate moisture in four mature forest types in interior Alaska. Can J Forest Res 15:97–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sturm M, McFadden JP, Liston GE, Chapin FS III, Racine CH, Holmgren J (2001) Snow-shrub interactions in arctic tundra: a hypothesis with climatic implications. J Clim 14:336–344

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sullivan PF (2009) Snow distribution, soil temperature and late winter CO2 efflux from soils near the Arctic treeline in northwest Alaska. Biogeochemistry. doi:10.1007/s10533-009-9390-0

  • Sullivan PF, Welker JM, Arens SJT, Sveinbjörnsson B (2008) Continuous estimates of CO2 efflux from arctic and boreal soils during the snow-covered season in Alaska. J Geophys Res 113:G04009

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Valentini R, Matteucci G, Dolman AJ et al (2000) Respiration as the main determinant of carbon balance in European forests. Nature 404:861–865

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vogel JG, Valentine DW, Ruess RW (2005) Soil and root respiration in mature Alaskan black spruce forests that vary in soil organic matter decomposition rates. Can J Forest Res 35:161–174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang C, Bond-Lamberty B, Gower ST (2002) Soil surface CO2 flux in a boreal black spruce fire chronosequence. J Geophys Res 107:8224

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winston GC, Sundquist ET, Stephens BB, Trumbore SE (1997) Winter CO2 fluxes in a boreal forest. J Geophys Res 102:28,795–28804

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This project was supported by National Science Foundation grants ANT-0528748 and ARC-0909155 to PS and an award from the University of Alaska Anchorage Chancellor’s Fund to JW. We thank Chugach State Park for permission to work on Wolverine Peak.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Seth J. T. Arens

    Present address: Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environment and Natural Resources Institute & Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alaska, Anchorage, AK, 99508, USA

    Patrick F. Sullivan, Seth J. T. Arens, Bjartmar Sveinbjörnsson & Jeffrey M. Welker

Authors
  1. Patrick F. Sullivan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Seth J. T. Arens
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Bjartmar Sveinbjörnsson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jeffrey M. Welker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patrick F. Sullivan.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sullivan, P.F., Arens, S.J.T., Sveinbjörnsson, B. et al. Modeling the seasonality of belowground respiration along an elevation gradient in the western Chugach Mountains, Alaska. Biogeochemistry 101, 61–75 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-010-9471-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-010-9471-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation