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Responses of Switchgrass Soil Respiration and Its Components to Precipitation Gradient in a Mesocosm Study

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Responses of Switchgrass Soil Respiration and Its Components to Precipitation Gradient in a Mesocosm Study Plant Soil (2017) 420:105–117 DOI 10.1007/s11104-017-3370-2 REGULAR ARTICLE Responses of switchgrass soil respiration and its components to precipitation gradient in a mesocosm study Chih-Li Yu & Dafeng Hui & Qi Deng & E. Kudjo Dzantor & Philip A. Fay & Weijun Shen & Yiqi Luo Received: 25 January 2017 /Accepted: 4 August 2017 /Published online: 17 August 2017 # Springer International Publishing AG 2017 Abstract ambient precipitation, −50%, −33%, +33% and +50% Aims The objective of this study was to investigate the of ambient precipitation. Soil, microbial, and root respi- effects of the precipitation changes on soil, microbial rations were quantified during the growing seasons. and root respirations of switchgrass soils, and the rela- Results Mean soil and root respirations in the +50% tionships between soil respiration and plant growth, soil treatment were the highest (2.48 and 0.93 μmol CO2 moisture and temperature. m−2 s−1, respectively) among all treatments. Soil micro- Methods A mesocosm experiment was conducted with bial respiration contributed more to soil respiration, and five precipitation treatments over two years in a green- had higher precipitation sensitivity mostly than root house in Nashville, Tennessee. The treatments included respiration. Increases in precipitation mostly enhanced microbial respiration while decreases in precipitation reduced both microbial and root respirations. Across Responsible Editor: Elizabeth M Baggs. precipitation treatments, soil respiration was significant- Electronic supplementary material The online version of this ly influenced by soil moisture, soil temperature, and article (doi:10.1007/s11104-017-3370-2) contains supplementary aboveground biomass. material, which is available to authorized users. Conclusions Our results showed that microbial respira- tion was more sensitive to precipitation changes, and C.<L. Yu : D. Hui (*) : Q. Deng Department of Biological Sciences, Tennessee State University, precipitation regulated the response of soil respiration to Nashville, TN, USA soil temperature. The information generated in this e-mail: [email protected] study will be useful for model simulation of soil respi- ration in switchgrass fields under precipitation changes. E. Kudjo Dzantor Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN, USA Keywords Bioenergy crop . Soil temperature . Soil moisture . Plant growth . Soil CO emission P. A. Fay 2 USDA-ARS Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory, Temple, TX, USA W. Shen Introduction Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management, South China Botanical Garden, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Soil respiration, the combined respiration of living roots Guangzhou, China and soil microbes, is one of the largest fluxes in the global Y. Lu o carbon (C) cycle (Schlesinger and Andrews 2000;Hui Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, and Luo, 2004;Dengetal.2012). Soil respiration plays Flagstaff, AZ, USA an important role in soil C sequestration (Raich and 106 Plant Soil (2017) 420:105–117 Schlesinger 1992), and is often sensitive to changes in respiration (Q10) (Davidson and Janssens 2006;Qietal. temperature and precipitation (Luo et al. 2001;Dengetal. 2002; Wagle and Kakani 2014). Average of soil respi- −2 −1 2012; Vicca et al. 2014). Due to the CO2 emissions from ration from 5 to >13 μmol m s hasbeenreportedin fossil fuel combustion, the global land surface tempera- switchgrass field (Huang et al. 2016).Butmostof ture has increased over the past decades (IPCC 2013). previous studies only focused on total soil respiration. Researchers predict alterations in the Earth’s water cycle, The separate contributions of microbial and root respi- including changes in precipitation pattern and amount to rations to the temperature and precipitation sensitivities produce more extreme precipitation events (Huntington of switchgrass under different precipitation treatments 2006). More drought or wet years in the United States need to be investigated. wouldbeexpectedinthefuture(IPCC2013). This study was designed to determine the effects of Bioenergy crops are expected to become widespread sustained precipitation changes on soil respiration and in the next several decades (McLaughlin and Kszos its microbial and root respiration components in switch- 2005). Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is a perennial grass soils. Specifically, we tested 1) whether there were C4 grass and was one of the most dominant species in any significant effects of the precipitation treatments on the North America prairie ecosystems (Weaver and the soil, microbial and root respirations of switchgrass Fitzpatrick 1932; McLaughlin and Kszos 2005). soils, and 2) how soil, microbial and root respirations Switchgrass is a candidate for bioenergy cropping be- were related to plant growth or soil moisture and soil cause it can tolerate soil water and nutrient deficits and temperature. grow in marginal lands (Gelfand et al. 2013). The high productivity of switchgrass gives it potential to increase soil C sequestration (McLaughlin and Kszos 2005). Materials and methods However, the contribution of soil respiration to carbon cycling in bioenergy cropland including switchgrass has Experimental design not been well investigated, and it is urgent to know how precipitation change would influence soil respiration in The pot experiment was conducted in a greenhouse at switchgrass croplands. Tennessee State University Agricultural Research and Effects of climate change on soil respiration in native Education Center (AREC, Latitude 36.12′N, Longitude grasslands have been extensively investigated over the 86.89′W, Elevation 127.6 m) in Nashville, Tennessee. past decades (Raich and Tufekciogul 2000; Hartman The greenhouse was constructed with roof and wall et al. 2012). Seasonal changes in soil respiration are panels which could open or close in response to main- strongly affected by soil temperature and soil moisture tain predetermined conditions of temperature and hu- (Singh and Gupta 1977; Xu and Baldocchi 2004; Craine midity. Roofs and wall panels opened automatically and Gelderman 2011; Gritsch et al. 2015). In general, when air temperature was above 20 °C and there was increases in soil temperature and soil moisture can en- no rain; roofs automatically closed at threat of, and hance soil respiration (Singh and Gupta 1977; Wen et al. during rain. On July 13, 2013, five plants of two-year 2006; Yuste et al. 2007), as activities of soil microor- old BAlamo^ switchgrass from a field experiment at ganisms and plant roots are often stimulated (Raich and TSU AREC were transplanted into 95 L. pots (50 cm Potter 1995; Qi et al. 2002). The responses of root diameter and 50 cm height) in the greenhouse contain- respiration to temperature and moisture may differ ing Armour silt loam soil (pH = 6.2) also collected from among various vegetation types (Atkin et al. 2000). the field experiment. No fertilizers were applied during Partitioning of soil respiration into its root and microbial this study. During establishment pots were watered in components has rarely been done for switchgrass, but the ambient pattern described below. Plants were har- are valuable for understanding their contributions to C vested three times in a year, at the beginning of May, cycling in switchgrass crops. Aug, and Nov each year, resulting in three harvest In switchgrass fields, soil respiration rates increase as periods (Feb-April; May–July; Aug-Oct) during the temperatures increase through the growing season, and growing season. to a greater extent at higher soil moisture levels (Wagle Five precipitation treatments were applied to the pots and Kakani 2014). Change in precipitation or soil mois- in a completely randomized block design with five ture may also influence temperature sensitivity of soil blocks. Treatments were: ambient precipitation, two Plant Soil (2017) 420:105–117 107 drought treatments (−33% and −50% of ambient precip- above-ground tillers from the pot, drying them at 75 °C itation), and two wet treatments (+33% and +50% of for 24 h, and weighing. ambient precipitation). The ambient precipitation treat- ment was based on the precipitation record from 1969, Statistical analysis which closely matched the long-term (1913–2012) pre- cipitation record in total and monthly amounts at Nash- Data analysis was performed using SAS software ville, TN (Supplemental Document Fig. S1). The pre- 9.3 (SAS Inc. Cary, NC; Hui and Jiang 1996). The cipitation treatments started on Feb 1, 2014. Water was effects of precipitation treatment, year, harvest peri- added 3 times per day, 10 days per month (2014) or 2 od and block on soil moisture, soil temperature, soil times per day, 10 days per month (2015) in amounts that respiration and microbial respirations were analyzed summed to the prescribed monthly total. Wetter/dryer using repeated measure analysis of variance treatments were achieved by lengthening or shortening (ANOVA). When a significant effect was detected, individual application duration. The precipitation treat- least significant difference (LSD) was used for mul- ments were applied using a watering timer controller tiple comparisons. To develop precipitation sensitiv- (RSC600i, Raindrip, Inc. Woodland Hills, CA). In June ity of soil respiration, linear regression model was and July of 2015, two incidents of failed roof control applied to soil, microbial, and root respiration with caused several pots to receive natural precipitation. We precipitation
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