Influence of freeze-thaw events on carbon dioxide emission from soils at different moisture and land use

• Published in: Carbon Balance and Management
• Main Authors: Loftfield Norman, Teepe Robert, Kurganova Irina
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2007
• Subjects: Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Tundra
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/1750-0680-2-2; https://doaj.org/article/e65ab3c5b1b144cca3474071ace1dc41

Abstract Background The repeated freeze-thaw events during cold season, freezing of soils in autumn and thawing in spring are typical for the tundra, boreal, and temperate soils. The thawing of soils during winter-summer transitions induces the release of decomposable organic carbon and acceleration of soil respiration. The winter-spring fluxes of CO 2 from permanently and seasonally frozen soils are essential part of annual carbon budget varying from 5 to 50%. The mechanisms of the freeze-thaw activation are not absolutely clear and need clarifying. We investigated the effect of repeated freezing-thawing events on CO 2 emission from intact arable and forest soils (Luvisols, loamy silt; Central Germany) at different moisture (65% and 100% of WHC). Results Due to the measurement of the CO 2 flux in two hours intervals, the dynamics of CO 2 emission during freezing-thawing events was described in a detailed way. At +10°C (initial level) in soils investigated, carbon dioxide emission varied between 7.4 to 43.8 mg C m -2 h -1 depending on land use and moisture. CO 2 flux from the totally frozen soil never reached zero and amounted to 5 to 20% of the initial level, indicating that microbial community was still active at -5°C. Significant burst of CO 2 emission (1.2–1.7-fold increase depending on moisture and land use) was observed during thawing. There was close linear correlation between CO 2 emission and soil temperature (R 2 = 0.86–0.97, P < 0.001). Conclusion Our investigations showed that soil moisture and land use governed the initial rate of soil respiration, duration of freezing and thawing of soil, pattern of CO 2 dynamics and extra CO 2 fluxes. As a rule, the emissions of CO 2 induced by freezing-thawing were more significant in dry soils and during the first freezing-thawing cycle (FTC). The acceleration of CO 2 emission was caused by different processes: the liberation of nutrients upon the soil freezing, biological activity occurring in unfrozen water films, and respiration of cold-adapted microflora.