Temperature sensitivity of soil respiration in China's forest ecosystems: Patterns and controls

Soil respiration, one of the most important carbon fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems, is very sensitive to climate change. Understanding the spatial patterns of temperature sensitivity of soil respiration (Q(10)) and its controlling factors is very important to quantify the climate-carbon cycle feedback at regional scales. In this study, we conducted a synthesis of 74 field measurements on Q(10) value across China's forests. Based on the overall data, the Q(10) values ranged from 1.10 to 5.18, with a mean value of 2.51. Moreover, the largest relative frequency of Q10 values was within the range of 2.0-3.0. The Q(10) value in China's forests was significantly and negatively correlated with mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation. However, the Q(10) values increased with latitude and altitude but there was no obvious relationship between Q(10) and longitude. There were no significant differences in Q(10) among evergreen coniferous forest, coniferous-broadleaved mixed forest, deciduous broadleaved forest and deciduous coniferous forest. However, the Q(10) of evergreen broadleaved forest was significantly lower than that of evergreen coniferous forest and deciduous coniferous forest. The findings may advance our understanding on the different environmental controls of Q(10) of soil respiration and also improve our ability to predict regional-scale soil carbon flux in a changing world. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.