title: Rapid rebound of soil respiration following partial stand disturbance by tree girdling in a temperate deciduous forest.
abstract: Forests serve an essential role in climate change mitigation by removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Within a forest, disturbance events can greatly impact C cycling and subsequently influence the exchange of CO2 between forests and the atmosphere. This connection makes understanding the forest C cycle response to disturbance imperative for climate change research. The goal of this study was to examine the temporal response of soil respiration after differing levels of stand disturbance for 3 years at the Black Rock Forest (southeastern NY, USA; oaks comprise 67% of the stand). Tree girdling was used to mimic pathogen attack and create the following treatments: control, girdling all non-oaks (NOG), girdling half of the oak trees (O50), and girdling all the oaks (OG). Soil respiratory rates on OG plots declined for 2 years following girdling before attaining a full rebound of belowground activity in the third year. Soil respiration on NOG and O50 were statistically similar to the control for the duration of the study although a trend for a stronger decline in respiration on O50 relative to NOG occurred in the first 2 years. Respiratory responses among the various treatments were not proportional to the degree of disturbance and varied over time. The short-lived respiratory response on O50 and OG suggests that belowground activity is resilient to disturbance; however, sources of the recovered respiratory flux on these plots are likely different than they were pre-treatment. The differential taxon response between oaks and non-oaks suggests that after a defoliation or girdling event, the temporal response of the soil respiratory flux may be related to the C allocation pattern of the affected plant group.
authors: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, 6 Biology, Palisades, NY, 10964, USA, Jhlevy@princeton.edu.
authors: Jennifer H
authors: JH
authors: Levy-Varon
authors: William S F
authors: WS
authors: Schuster
authors: Kevin L
authors: KL
authors: Griffin
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D057486:Carbon Cycle; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry; D016014:Linear Models; D009518:New York; D029963:Quercus / Q000502:physiology*; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D014197:Trees / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; D002245:Carbon Dioxide