Hot spots of soil respiration in an Asian tropical rainforest

Abstract

Little is known about the variability in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from soil (soil respiration) in tropical rainforests. We studied temporal and spatial fluctuations of soil respiration in an intact Asian tropical rainforest. The values of soil respiration were distributed lognormally with mean and median values of 5.32 and 4.65 μmol m-2 s-1, respectively. Soil respiration varied little over time though highly in space. CO2 hot spots (>10 μmol m-2 s-1) were found with extremely high values (15-25 μmol m-2 s-1). Each CO2 hot spot occurred sporadically at different times and locations. It is hypothesized that animal activities are responsible for the hot spots. The impact of CO2 hot spots on total soil respiration was 10%, which is comparable to the estimation of net C balance in tropical rainforests. Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union.