Experimental Estimation of the Effect of Rainfall Interception on Soil Respiration in a Broad-leaved Deciduous Forest in Western Japan
2009
Tamai, Koji, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Matsunosato, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
To estimate the effect of rainfall on soil respiration, soil CO₂ efflux was measured with a manipulation of rainfall interception at a broad-leaved deciduous forest in western Japan from 20 February to 19 November 2001. The diurnal patterns of soil respiration observed at the intercepted subplot (F∧c) were quite similar to those of soil temperature at 0.2 m depth with a maximum around midnight and a minimum from noon to early afternoon. Such diurnal patterns have not been observed in the previous studies at the same study site under natural conditions (which manifested no clear diurnal variations). Furthermore, the magnitudes of F∧c showed substantial differences (e.g., ~50% reduction under waterlimited conditions) compared to those of the potential soil respiration under natural conditions (F∧cal). These findings demonstrate that rainfall events not only affected the magnitude of soil CO₂ efflux but also modified the vertical structure of soil temperature, thereby altering diurnal patterns of soil respiration.
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