Response of Soil Respiration to Acid Rain in Forests of Different Maturity in Southern China

The response of soil respiration to acid rain in forests, especially in forests of different maturity, is poorly understood in southern China despite the fact that acid rain has become a serious environmental threat in this region in recent years. Here, we investigated this issue in three subtropica...

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Main Authors:	Liang, Guohua, Liu, Xingzhao, Chen, Xiaomei, Qiu, Qingyan, Zhang, Deqiang, Chu, Guowei, Liu, Juxiu, Liu, Shizhong, Zhou, Guoyi
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Public Library of Science 2013
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3633851/

id	pubmed-3633851
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-36338512013-04-26 Response of Soil Respiration to Acid Rain in Forests of Different Maturity in Southern China Liang, Guohua Liu, Xingzhao Chen, Xiaomei Qiu, Qingyan Zhang, Deqiang Chu, Guowei Liu, Juxiu Liu, Shizhong Zhou, Guoyi Research Article The response of soil respiration to acid rain in forests, especially in forests of different maturity, is poorly understood in southern China despite the fact that acid rain has become a serious environmental threat in this region in recent years. Here, we investigated this issue in three subtropical forests of different maturity [i.e. a young pine forest (PF), a transitional mixed conifer and broadleaf forest (MF) and an old-growth broadleaved forest (BF)] in southern China. Soil respiration was measured over two years under four simulated acid rain (SAR) treatments (CK, the local lake water, pH 4.5; T1, water pH 4.0; T2, water pH 3.5; and T3, water pH 3.0). Results indicated that SAR did not significantly affect soil respiration in the PF, whereas it significantly reduced soil respiration in the MF and the BF. The depressed effects on both forests occurred mostly in the warm-wet seasons and were correlated with a decrease in soil microbial activity and in fine root biomass caused by soil acidification under SAR. The sensitivity of the response of soil respiration to SAR showed an increasing trend with the progressive maturity of the three forests, which may result from their differences in acid buffering ability in soil and in litter layer. These results indicated that the depressed effect of acid rain on soil respiration in southern China may be more pronounced in the future in light of the projected change in forest maturity. However, due to the nature of this field study with chronosequence design and the related pseudoreplication for forest types, this inference should be read with caution. Further studies are needed to draw rigorous conclusions regarding the response differences among forests of different maturity using replicated forest types. Public Library of Science 2013-04-23 /pmc/articles/PMC3633851/ /pubmed/23626790 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0062207 Text en © 2013 Liang et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Liang, Guohua Liu, Xingzhao Chen, Xiaomei Qiu, Qingyan Zhang, Deqiang Chu, Guowei Liu, Juxiu Liu, Shizhong Zhou, Guoyi
spellingShingle	Liang, Guohua Liu, Xingzhao Chen, Xiaomei Qiu, Qingyan Zhang, Deqiang Chu, Guowei Liu, Juxiu Liu, Shizhong Zhou, Guoyi Response of Soil Respiration to Acid Rain in Forests of Different Maturity in Southern China
author_facet	Liang, Guohua Liu, Xingzhao Chen, Xiaomei Qiu, Qingyan Zhang, Deqiang Chu, Guowei Liu, Juxiu Liu, Shizhong Zhou, Guoyi
author_sort	Liang, Guohua
title	Response of Soil Respiration to Acid Rain in Forests of Different Maturity in Southern China
title_short	Response of Soil Respiration to Acid Rain in Forests of Different Maturity in Southern China
title_full	Response of Soil Respiration to Acid Rain in Forests of Different Maturity in Southern China
title_fullStr	Response of Soil Respiration to Acid Rain in Forests of Different Maturity in Southern China
title_full_unstemmed	Response of Soil Respiration to Acid Rain in Forests of Different Maturity in Southern China
title_sort	response of soil respiration to acid rain in forests of different maturity in southern china
description	The response of soil respiration to acid rain in forests, especially in forests of different maturity, is poorly understood in southern China despite the fact that acid rain has become a serious environmental threat in this region in recent years. Here, we investigated this issue in three subtropical forests of different maturity [i.e. a young pine forest (PF), a transitional mixed conifer and broadleaf forest (MF) and an old-growth broadleaved forest (BF)] in southern China. Soil respiration was measured over two years under four simulated acid rain (SAR) treatments (CK, the local lake water, pH 4.5; T1, water pH 4.0; T2, water pH 3.5; and T3, water pH 3.0). Results indicated that SAR did not significantly affect soil respiration in the PF, whereas it significantly reduced soil respiration in the MF and the BF. The depressed effects on both forests occurred mostly in the warm-wet seasons and were correlated with a decrease in soil microbial activity and in fine root biomass caused by soil acidification under SAR. The sensitivity of the response of soil respiration to SAR showed an increasing trend with the progressive maturity of the three forests, which may result from their differences in acid buffering ability in soil and in litter layer. These results indicated that the depressed effect of acid rain on soil respiration in southern China may be more pronounced in the future in light of the projected change in forest maturity. However, due to the nature of this field study with chronosequence design and the related pseudoreplication for forest types, this inference should be read with caution. Further studies are needed to draw rigorous conclusions regarding the response differences among forests of different maturity using replicated forest types.
publisher	Public Library of Science
publishDate	2013
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3633851/
_version_	1611972009142517760

Response of Soil Respiration to Acid Rain in Forests of Different Maturity in Southern China

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