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Harvard Forest Research Project 2024
- Title: Response of fine root respiration rates to long-term soil warming in hardwood forests
- Principal investigator: Andrew Burton (ajburton@mtu.edu)
- Institution: Michigan Technological University
- Primary contact: Andrew Burton (ajburton@mtu.edu)
- Team members: Andrew Burton
Serita Frey
Mickey Jarvi - Abstract:
Soil warming typically causes large initial increases in soil respiration, with the enhancement then declining and going through phases of low to moderate effects over time. These variable responses have been attributed to rapid initial decomposition of labile soil C compounds, followed by changes in the degree of enhancement as the microbial community adjusts to altered substrate quality. However, the role that root respiration plays in the longer-term response of soil respiration is not well understood. Such information is needed to either confirm or modify hypothesized microbial mechanisms for long-term soil respiration responses and to enable a fuller accounting of tree carbon allocation responses to warming. To assess the degree to which root respiration adjusts to long-term soil warming, measurements will be made four to five times from April through October in three soil warming experiments: Prospect Hill; Barre Woods (discontinued in 2023) and the Soil Warming and Nitrogen Addition Study. Specific respiration rates (nmol CO2/g/s) from the top 10 cm of soil control and heated plots will be measured at both a common reference temperature of 18 C and at the ambient soil temperature of the control or heated (+ 5 C) plots.
