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Soil Respiration and Controls in Warmer Winter: A Snow Manipulation Study in Postfire and Undisturbed Black Pine Forests
  • RENATO PACALDO,
  • Mirac Aydin,
  • Randell Keith Amarille
RENATO PACALDO
Kastamonu University

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Mirac Aydin
Kastamonu University
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Randell Keith Amarille
Mindanao State University
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Abstract

Climate change impacts are driving forest fires worldwide and reducing snowfall in temperate countries. Whether these impacts result in a significant alteration of winter soil respiration (Rs) rates and temperature in the postfire and the undisturbed black pine (Pinus nigra) forests remain poorly understood. A field experiment was conducted in the postfire and the undisturbed black pine forests during a winter period in Türkiye to quantify Rs rates as affected by lack of snow and snow cover. Four treatments were applied: snow-exclusion postfire (SEPF), snow postfire (SPF), snow-exclusion undisturbed forest (SEUF), and snow-undisturbed forest (SUF). The SEPF exhibited the significantly lowest mean Rs rates (0.71 µmol m-2 s-1) compared to the SPF (1.02 µmol m-2 s-1), SEUF (1.44 µmol m-2 s-1, and SUF (1.48 µmol m-2 s-1). The Rs also showed significant variations with time (p <.0001). However, treatments and time exhibited no statistically significant interaction effects (p = 0.6801). Total amounts of winter Rs (January to March) ranged from 4.92 to 5.07 Mt CO2 ha-1 in the undisturbed forest and 2.53 to 3.51 Mt CO2 ha-2 in the postfire site. The Rs showed a significantly positive relationship (p <.0001) with the soil (0.59) and air (0.46) temperatures and a significantly negative relationship (p = 0.0017) with the soil moisture (-0.20) at the 5 cm depth. In contrast, the Rs showed a negative, but not statistically significant relationship (p = 0.0932) with the soil moisture (-0.16) at the 10 cm soil depth. The combined effects of lack of snow and forest fire resulted in a significant decrease of Rs. In contrast, a warmer winter significantly increased Rs rates in the undisturbed forest, suggesting that a warmer winter could potentially accelerate soil organic carbon losses in naturally growing undisturbed forest ecosystems, thus, providing positive feed backs to climate change.
17 Aug 2023Submitted to Ecology and Evolution
23 Aug 2023Submission Checks Completed
23 Aug 2023Assigned to Editor
05 Sep 2023Reviewer(s) Assigned
10 Oct 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
20 Oct 2023Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
04 Feb 20242nd Revision Received
08 Feb 2024Submission Checks Completed
08 Feb 2024Assigned to Editor
08 Feb 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
09 Feb 2024Editorial Decision: Accept