Soil respiration partitioning in afforested temperate peatlands

Understanding and quantifying soil respiration and its component fluxes are necessary to model global carbon cycling in a changing climate as small changes in soil CO2 fluxes could have important implications for future climatic conditions. A soil respiration partitioning study was conducted in eight afforested peatland sites in south-west Ireland. Using trenched points, annual soil CO2 emissions, and the contributions of root and heterotrophic respiration as components of total soil respiration, were estimated. Nonlinear regression models were evaluated to determine the best predictive soil respiration model for each component flux, using soil temperature and water table level as explanatory variables. Temporal variation in soil CO2 efflux was driven by soil temperature at 10 cm depth, with all treatment points also affected by water table level fluctuations. The effect of water table level on soil respiration was best accounted for by incorporating a water level Gaussian function into the soil-temperature–soil-respiration model. Mean root respiration was 44% of mean total soil respiration, varying between 1100 and 2049 g CO2 m−2 year−1. Heterotrophic respiration was divided between peat respiration and litter respiration, which accounted for 35 and 21% of total soil respiration, respectively. While peat respiration varied between 774 and 1492 g CO2 m−2 year−1, litter respiration varied between 514 and 1013 g CO2 m−2 year−1. Although the extrapolation of these results to other sites should be done with caution, the empirical models developed for the entire dataset in this study are a useful tool to predict and simulate CO2 emissions in similar afforested peatlands (e.g. pine and spruce plantations) in temperate maritime climate conditions.