UNDERSTANDING SOIL RESPIRATION AND ITS TEMPERATURE SENSITIVITY IN NEW JERSEY PINELANDS

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: TERMINATED
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 0224030
• Project No.: NJ17121
• Project Start Date: Nov 1, 2010
• Project End Date: Oct 31, 2015

Project Director
Xu, MI.

Recipient Organization
RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
3 RUTGERS PLZA
NEW BRUNSWICK,NJ 08901-8559

Performing Department
Ecology, Evolution & Natural Resources

Non Technical Summary
Soil respiration is an integrated indicator of belowground biological activities, soil quality and ecosystem productivity. Temperature sensitivity is a scaling factor which describes how soil carbon pool will response to future climatic change. Examining the spatial and temporal variation of soil respiration and its temperature sensitivity is critical to understanding the carbon dynamics in the forest ecosystems,. In addition, the proposed study will improve our estimate of carbon sequestration in our forest ecosystems, which will lead to new carbon-oriented forest management strategy and allow the U.S. to claim carbon credits in the international climate change negotiations.

Animal Health Component

(N/A)

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

(N/A)

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
123	0610	1070	50%
102	0199	1000	50%

Knowledge Area
102 - Soil, Plant, Water, Nutrient Relationships; 123 - Management and Sustainability of Forest Resources;

Subject Of Investigation
0610 - Conifer forests of the North; 0199 - Soil and land, general;

Field Of Science
1070 - Ecology; 1000 - Biochemistry and biophysics;

Keywords

climate change

carbon cycle

temperature sensitivity

soil respiration

pinelands

new jersey

Goals / Objectives
(1) identify critical factors controlling soil respiration in a typical forest in New Jersey pinelands; (2) find the spatial and temporal variation of soil respiration and its temperature sensitivity and the factors controlling the temperature sensitivity in the ecosystem; and (3) develop a generalized temperature sensitivity (Q10) model to scale up the chamber measurements of soil respiration to ecosystem and regional scale. Although the proposed study is focused on major forest ecosystems in New Jersey, the results can be applied to other regions with similar climate and forest types.Scientifically, the proposed study will provide critical knowledge in three areas. First, it will improve climate models in predicting future atmospheric CO2 concentration and global temperature by including both positive and negative feedbacks of terrestrial ecosystems. Second, it will improve ecosystem models in quantifying major ecosystem processes such as carbon dynamics by considering the variation of temperature sensitivity rather than a constant Q10. Third, it will provide new knowledge to understand how different factors control soil respiration and belowground carbon dynamics.

Project Methods
The proposed project has three very distinct attributes for studying soil carbon dynamics in forest ecosystem. First, by controlling soil moisture at different levels in the field we can investigate the soil moisture effect on soil respiration and its temperature sensitivity and further to separate the temperature and moisture effects on soil respiration. Second, by examining the spatial and temporal variations of soil respiration we will be able to quantify soil temperature and moisture effect on soil respiration and its temperature sensitivity in the forest. And third, the simultaneous measurement of canopy photosynthesis and soil respiration will provide unique opportunity to include photosynthesis as an independent variable in soil respiration model.

Progress 11/01/10 to 10/31/15

Outputs
Target Audience:Academic communities and ecosystem managers Changes/Problems:The automatic chamber system for soil respiration measurement was damaged by Superstorm Sandy in 2012. The system was restored in 2013 but unfortunately resulted in many data gaps. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project helped the training of a postdoc, Dr. Zewei Miao, in developing carbon cycle models in NJ pinelands. The project also helped the PI, Ming Xu, for his career development in ecosystem modeling. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results from this project have been disseminated to scientific communities and ecosystem managers through lectures and journal articles. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? 1. Field experiments were set up to measure soil respiration using an automatic chamber system which was fabricated by the PI. Unfortunately, the system was damaged by Superstorm Sandy in 2012. 2. We found that soil temperature, moisture, and organic carbon content controlled the soil respiration in New Jersey Pinelands. 3. The spatial and temporal variations of soil respiration were high in NJ Pinelands with the maximum respiration in summer and minimum in winter. Soil temperature wasnegatively correlated with the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration (Q10), while soil moisture was positively correlated with the Q10. 4. We developed a non-linear model to estimate soil respiration in the NJ pinelands. 5. Our results on soil respiration and its Q10 model have been used to improve an ecosystem model (Biome-BGC)in estimating carbon sequestration in NJ pinelands.

Publications

Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14

Outputs
Target Audience: Scientists and students Changes/Problems: No major changes have been made to the project though the field data collection wasaffected byHurricane Sandy. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? The project provided training opportunities for two Rutgers undergraduates, Parth Patel and Ronak Patel, whowere involved the research of the project and wrote their senior research papers based on the data and collections of the project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Finish data analysis and develop an empirical model for the temperature sensitivity (Q10) of soil respiration; wrap up the project next year by finishing the final project report.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Soil temperature and moisture are identified as the main factors controlling soil CO2 efflux.

Publications

Progress 10/01/12 to 09/30/13

Outputs
Target Audience: Nothing Reported Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? The experimental site and the data collected from the sitehave beenused for teaching at Rutgers, such as for the Global Change Ecology and Introduction to Ecological and Environmental Modeling courses. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Continue to process soil respiration and climate data collected at the site previously; examine the spatial and temporal variation of soil respiration in the pineland forest; fit the temperature sensitivity (Q10) models to determine the biotic and abiotic factors controlling Q10.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The field experimentwas damaged by hurricane Sandy.Efforts have been attempted to restoresome data collections.However, mostefforts in the past year were invested in data processing, especially theCO2 flux and microclimate data. Preliminary results show that the soil respiration inNJ pinelands was controlled not only by climate (temperature, soil moisture) but also by disturbances to forest growth, such as insect damages to oak trees.The Gypsy moths, an invasive forest pest , have killed a lot of oak trees in NJ pinelands in the past years. The damaged and dead trees have added more organic materials to forest floor and soils, where microbes use these dead materials as their "food". Thus, more carbon has been lost through soil respiration, reducing the carbon sequestration capacity of the forests in NJ pinelands. I will continue to analyze the data we have collected in the past years to quantify the "disturbance" effects on soil carbon cycles.

Publications

Progress 10/01/11 to 09/30/12

Outputs
OUTPUTS: During the year of 2012 the field experiment continued in an oak-pine forest at the Rutgers Pineland Field Station in New Jersey. The experiment has 16 automated chambers measuring soil respiration. The new system is driven by compressed air supplied with an air tank. Field testing of the whole system started in the summer of 2012, but it was interrupted and damaged by Hurricane Sandy. Many valves and two CO2 analyzers were damaged by the flooding water. New parts have been acquired and the new system is re-assembled and being tested in the lab. PARTICIPANTS: Yunpu Zheng Yali Song TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
Preliminary data were collected during the early field testing and the results of soil respiration fluxes indicated that the new system was reliable. The automatic measurements of soil respiration are key to understanding soil carbon dynamics and carbon sequestration in the forest ecosystem, which may contribute to the new carbon-oriented forest management.

Publications

• No publications reported this period

Progress 01/01/11 to 12/31/11

Outputs
OUTPUTS: During the year of 2011 a field experiment was established in an oak-pine forest at the Rutgers Pineland Field Station in New Jersey. The experiment features 16 sampling locations spaced in 4 plots. Soil respiration was measured manually based on the new setup. A new automated soil respiration system is being developed in the lab. The new system features 16 chambers which are driven by compressed air supplied with an air tank. The chambers were fabricated with PVC materials. The automatic controlling system was just finished and being tested in the lab. Initial field testing of the whole system is expected in late 2012. PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
The experiment is in the early implementation stage and no field data have been collected. The new automatic soil respiration system has to integrate many new technologies, such as the automatic controlling techniques, the wireless communication techniques and the molding skills for the chamber designing and manufacturing. We have achieved major advances on this regard and further testing and refining are on the way. If succeeds the new system will revolutionize the measurements of greenhouse gas emissions from various soils and ecosystems.

Publications

• No publications reported this period