Harvard Forest Symposium Abstract 2011

Title: Three Methods for Comparing Soil Respiration Among Sites
Primary Author: Michael Lavine (University of Massachusetts - Amherst )
Additional Authors: Samrachana Adhikari (Mount Holyoke College); Natalie Hsiang (Mount Holyoke College); Kamika Reynolds (Mount Holyoke College)
Abstract:
Soil respiration refers to carbon dioxide (CO2) released by roots and micro-organisms in the soil, to the atmosphere. It is a large, hard-to-measure, component of the global carbon budget. Some important tasks are (1) to understand what aspects of a site – types of trees, soil, weather, etc. – cause it to release more or less CO2 and (2) to rank sites according to

the amount of CO2 released. Ecologists typically use a quantity called Q10 for ranking. This poster will explain Q10 and compare Q10 to two other possibilities, based on linear and spline regressions. All three methods will be illustrated with data collected at sites in Harvard Forest.
Research Category: Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics

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