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Harvard Forest REU Symposium Abstract 2018
- Title: No short-term respiratory response in soils surrounding white pines in chilling experiment
- Author: Brooklynn Davis (Harvard University)
- Abstract:
Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have reached 400ppm as the natural carbon cycle continues to be warped by anthropogenic emissions and land-use changes (Carlowicz, 2012). In an attempt to understand this dynamic cycle, much experimental focus has been put on photosynthesis, as it removes carbon from the atmosphere; however, respiration is an overshadowed but equally if not more important process, as plants release carbon back into the atmosphere as a metabolic byproduct. Soil respiration is the main metabolic path by which the carbon sequestered by terrestrial plants is returned to the atmosphere (Liu et al., 2014). This study focused on the relationship between carbon availability and soil respiration rates by manipulating carbon transport in eastern white pines (Pinus strobus L.) through stem chilling and measuring the CO2 emission response. Based on current knowledge of the carbon cycle, soil respiration rates were expected to remain consistent and then decrease after inhibition of carbon flow from the white pine stems. In comparison to a control treatment, there was no significant respiratory response within the first 40 days of stem chilling; however, a longer delay is highly probable, as similar systems have been shown to take more than 14 months (i.e. longleaf pine, Aubrey & Teskey 2017). Therefore, we will continue monitoring soil respiration rates in order to capture the response time for this system. This study of the dynamic relationship between carbon availability and soil respiration in temperate forests leads to improvement of the carbon budget, ultimately as part of a platform of change in current carbon budget models and climate change resolutions.
- Research Category: Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics; Large Experiments and Permanent Plot Studies; Group Projects
