Articles | Volume 21, issue 8
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-2005-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-2005-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
24 Apr 2024
Research article |
| 24 Apr 2024
| 24 Apr 2024
Forest-floor respiration, N2O fluxes, and CH4 fluxes in a subalpine spruce forest: drivers and annual budgets
Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Susanne Burri
Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Iris Feigenwinter
Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Mana Gharun
Faculty of Geosciences, Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany
Philip Meier
Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Nina Buchmann
Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Related authors
Mana Gharun, Ankit Shekhar, Lukas Hörtnagl, Luana Krebs, Nicola Arriga, Mirco Migliavacca, Marilyn Roland, Bert Gielen, Leonardo Montagnani, Enrico Tomelleri, Ladislav Šigut, Matthias Peichl, Peng Zhao, Marius Schmidt, Thomas Grünwald, Mika Korkiakoski, Annalea Lohila, and Nina Buchmann
Biogeosciences, 22, 1393–1411, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1393-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1393-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The effect of winter warming on forest CO2 fluxes has rarely been investigated. We tested the effect of the warm winter of 2020 on the forest CO2 fluxes across 14 sites in Europe and found that the net ecosystem productivity (NEP) across most sites declined during the warm winter due to increased respiration fluxes.
Yi Wang, Iris Feigenwinter, Lukas Hörtnagl, Anna K. Gilgen, and Nina Buchmann
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3562, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3562, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Our study shows that managed grasslands can maintain stable CO2 uptake despite rising temperature and declining soil moisture. Using 20 years of data from a Swiss grassland, we found that light, temperature, and management strongly influenced the ecosystem CO2 exchange. During summer droughts, low soil moisture limited plant growth, but smart management choices helped buffer these effects. This suggests that even small, well-timed actions can support climate resilience in agriculture.
Mana Gharun, Ankit Shekhar, Lukas Hörtnagl, Luana Krebs, Nicola Arriga, Mirco Migliavacca, Marilyn Roland, Bert Gielen, Leonardo Montagnani, Enrico Tomelleri, Ladislav Šigut, Matthias Peichl, Peng Zhao, Marius Schmidt, Thomas Grünwald, Mika Korkiakoski, Annalea Lohila, and Nina Buchmann
Biogeosciences, 22, 1393–1411, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1393-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1393-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The effect of winter warming on forest CO2 fluxes has rarely been investigated. We tested the effect of the warm winter of 2020 on the forest CO2 fluxes across 14 sites in Europe and found that the net ecosystem productivity (NEP) across most sites declined during the warm winter due to increased respiration fluxes.
Mana Gharun, Ankit Shekhar, Jingfeng Xiao, Xing Li, and Nina Buchmann
Biogeosciences, 21, 5481–5494, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-5481-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-5481-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In 2022, Europe's forests faced unprecedented dry conditions. Our study aimed to understand how different forest types respond to extreme drought. Using meteorological data and satellite imagery, we compared 2022 with two previous extreme years, 2003 and 2018. Despite less severe drought in 2022, forests showed a 30 % greater decline in photosynthesis compared to 2018 and 60 % more than 2003. This suggests an alarming level of vulnerability of forests across Europe to more frequent droughts.
Jacob A. Nelson, Sophia Walther, Fabian Gans, Basil Kraft, Ulrich Weber, Kimberly Novick, Nina Buchmann, Mirco Migliavacca, Georg Wohlfahrt, Ladislav Šigut, Andreas Ibrom, Dario Papale, Mathias Göckede, Gregory Duveiller, Alexander Knohl, Lukas Hörtnagl, Russell L. Scott, Jiří Dušek, Weijie Zhang, Zayd Mahmoud Hamdi, Markus Reichstein, Sergio Aranda-Barranco, Jonas Ardö, Maarten Op de Beeck, Dave Billesbach, David Bowling, Rosvel Bracho, Christian Brümmer, Gustau Camps-Valls, Shiping Chen, Jamie Rose Cleverly, Ankur Desai, Gang Dong, Tarek S. El-Madany, Eugenie Susanne Euskirchen, Iris Feigenwinter, Marta Galvagno, Giacomo A. Gerosa, Bert Gielen, Ignacio Goded, Sarah Goslee, Christopher Michael Gough, Bernard Heinesch, Kazuhito Ichii, Marcin Antoni Jackowicz-Korczynski, Anne Klosterhalfen, Sara Knox, Hideki Kobayashi, Kukka-Maaria Kohonen, Mika Korkiakoski, Ivan Mammarella, Mana Gharun, Riccardo Marzuoli, Roser Matamala, Stefan Metzger, Leonardo Montagnani, Giacomo Nicolini, Thomas O'Halloran, Jean-Marc Ourcival, Matthias Peichl, Elise Pendall, Borja Ruiz Reverter, Marilyn Roland, Simone Sabbatini, Torsten Sachs, Marius Schmidt, Christopher R. Schwalm, Ankit Shekhar, Richard Silberstein, Maria Lucia Silveira, Donatella Spano, Torbern Tagesson, Gianluca Tramontana, Carlo Trotta, Fabio Turco, Timo Vesala, Caroline Vincke, Domenico Vitale, Enrique R. Vivoni, Yi Wang, William Woodgate, Enrico A. Yepez, Junhui Zhang, Donatella Zona, and Martin Jung
Biogeosciences, 21, 5079–5115, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-5079-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-5079-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The movement of water, carbon, and energy from the Earth's surface to the atmosphere, or flux, is an important process to understand because it impacts our lives. Here, we outline a method called FLUXCOM-X to estimate global water and CO2 fluxes based on direct measurements from sites around the world. We go on to demonstrate how these new estimates of net CO2 uptake/loss, gross CO2 uptake, total water evaporation, and transpiration from plants compare to previous and independent estimates.
Liliana Scapucci, Ankit Shekhar, Sergio Aranda-Barranco, Anastasiia Bolshakova, Lukas Hörtnagl, Mana Gharun, and Nina Buchmann
Biogeosciences, 21, 3571–3592, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-3571-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-3571-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Forests face increased exposure to “compound soil and atmospheric drought” (CSAD) events due to global warming. We examined the impacts and drivers of CO2 fluxes during CSAD events at multiple layers of a deciduous forest over 18 years. Results showed reduced net ecosystem productivity and forest-floor respiration during CSAD events, mainly driven by soil and atmospheric drought. This unpredictability in forest CO2 fluxes jeopardises reforestation projects aimed at mitigating CO2 emissions.
Cited articles
Amthor, J. S.: The McCree–de Wit–Penning de Vries–Thornley Respiration Paradigms: 30 Years Later, Ann. Bot., 86, 1–20, https://doi.org/10.1006/anbo.2000.1175, 2000.
Anjileli, H., Huning, L. S., Moftakhari, Ashraf, S., Asanjan, A. A., Norouzi, H., and AghaKouchak, A.: Extreme heat events heighten soil respiration, Sci. Rep., 11, 6632, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-85764-8
Arrouays, D., Saby, N. P. A., Boukir, H., Jolivet, C., Ratié, C., Schrumpf, M., Merbold, L., Gielen, B., Gogo, S., Delpierre, N., Vincent, G., Klumpp, K., and Loustau, D.: Soil sampling and preparation for monitoring soil carbon, Int. Agrophys., 32, 633–643, https://doi.org/10.1515/intag-2017-0047, 2018.
Barba, J., Cueva, A., Bahn, M., Barron-Gafford, G. A., Bond-Lamberty, B., Hanson, P. J., Jaimes, A., Kulmala, L., Pumpanen, J., Scott, R. L., Wohlfahrt, G., and Vargas, R.: Comparing ecosystem and soil respiration: Review and key challenges of tower-based and soil measurements, Agr. Forest Meteorol., 249, 434–443, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2017.10.028, 2018.
Barba, J., Poyatos, R., and Vargas, R.: Automated measurements of greenhouse gases fluxes from tree stems and soils: magnitudes, patterns and drivers, Sci. Rep., 9, 4005, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-39663-8, 2019.
Barrena, I., Menéndez, S., Duñabeitia, M., Merino, P., Florian Stange, C., Spott, O., González-Murua, C., and Estavillo, J. M.: Greenhouse gas fluxes (CO2, N2O and CH4) from forest soils in the Basque Country: Comparison of different tree species and growth stages, Forest Ecol. Manag., 310, 600–611, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2013.08.065, 2013.
Barthel, M., Bauters, M., Baumgartner, S., Drake, T. W., Bey, N. M., Bush, G., Boeckx, P., Botefa, C. I., Dériaz, N., Ekamba, G. L., Gallarotti, N., Mbayu, F. M., Mugula, J. K., Makelele, I. A., Mbongo, C. E., Mohn, J., Mandea, J. Z., Mpambi, D. M., Ntaboba, L. C., Rukeza, M. B., Spencer, R. G. M., Summerauer, L., Vanlauwe, B., Van Oost, K., Wolf, B., and Six, J.: Low N2O and variable CH4 fluxes from tropical forest soils of the Congo Basin, Nat. Commun., 13, 330, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-27978-6, 2022.
Basiliko, N., Knowles, R., and Moore, T. R.: Roles of moss species and habitat in methane consumption potential in a northern peatland, Wetlands, 24, 178–185, https://doi.org/10.1672/0277-5212(2004)024[0178:ROMSAH]2.0.CO;2, 2004.
Blankinship, J. C., McCorkle, E. P., Meadows, M. W., and Hart, S. C.: Quantifying the legacy of snowmelt timing on soil greenhouse gas emissions in a seasonally dry montane forest, Glob. Change Biol., 24, 5933–5947, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14471, 2018.
Bond-Lamberty, B., Bailey, V. L., Chen, M., Gough, C. M., and Vargas, R.: Globally rising soil heterotrophic respiration over recent decades, Nature, 560, 80–83, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0358-x, 2018.
Borken, W., Davidson, E. A., Savage, K., Sundquist, E. T., and Steudler, P.: Effect of summer throughfall exclusion, summer drought, and winter snow cover on methane fluxes in a temperate forest soil, Soil Biol. Biochem., 38, 1388–1395, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2005.10.011, 2006.
Braun, S., Schindler, C., and Rihm, B.: Growth trends of beech and Norway spruce in Switzerland: The role of nitrogen deposition, ozone, mineral nutrition and climate, Sci. Total Environ., 599–600, 637–646, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.04.230, 2017.
Brümmer, C., Lyshede, B., Lempio, D., Delorme, J.-P., Rüffer, J. J., Fuß, R., Moffat, A. M., Hurkuck, M., Ibrom, A., Ambus, P., Flessa, H., and Kutsch, W. L.: Gas chromatography vs. quantum cascade laser-based N2O flux measurements using a novel chamber design, Biogeosciences, 14, 1365–1381, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-1365-2017, 2017.
Butterbach-Bahl, K., Baggs, E. M., Dannenmann, M., Kiese, R., and Zechmeister-Boltenstern, S.: Nitrous oxide emissions from soils: how well do we understand the processes and their controls?, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B, 368, 20130122, https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0122, 2013.
CH2018: CH2018 – Climate Scenarios for Switzerland, Tech. Rep., National Centre for Climate Services, Zurich, Switzerland, ISBN: 78-3-9525031-4-0, 2018.
Chapuis-Lardy, L., Wrage, N., Metay, A., Chotte, J.-L., and Bernoux, M.: Soils, a sink for N2O? A review, Glob. Change Biol., 13, 1–17, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2006.01280.x, 2007.
Chen, W., Wang, S., Wang, J., Xia, J., Luo, Y., Yu, G., and Niu, S.: Evidence for widespread thermal optimality of ecosystem respiration, Nat. Ecol. Evol., 7, 1379–1387, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02121-w, 2023.
Danielson, R. E. and Sutherland, P. L.: Porosity, in: SSSA Book Series, edited by: Klute, A., Soil Science Society of America, American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI, USA, 443–461, https://doi.org/10.2136/sssabookser5.1.2ed.c18, 2018.
Davidson, E. A., Janssens, I. A., and Luo, Y.: On the variability of respiration in terrestrial ecosystems: moving beyond Q10: On the variability of respiration in terrestrial ecosystems, Glob. Change Biol., 12, 154–164, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2005.01065.x, 2006.
Debeer, D. and Strobl, C.: Conditional permutation importance revisited, BMC Bioinformatics, 21, 307, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12859-020-03622-2, 2020.
Debeer, D., Hothorn, T., and Strobl, C.: permimp: Conditional Permutation Importance, R package, CRAN, https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/permimp (last access: 10 April 2024), 2021.
Dutaur, L. and Verchot, L. V.: A global inventory of the soil CH4 sink, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 21, GB4013, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006GB002734, 2007.
Fest, B. J., Livesley, S. J., Drösler, M., van Gorsel, E., and Arndt, S. K.: Soil–atmosphere greenhouse gas exchange in a cool, temperate Eucalyptus delegatensis forest in south-eastern Australia, Agr. Forest Meteorol., 149, 393–406, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2008.09.007, 2009.
Fuentes, S., Palmer, A. R., Taylor, D., Zeppel, M., Whitley, R., and Eamus, D.: An automated procedure for estimating the leaf area index (LAI) of woodland ecosystems using digital imagery, MATLAB programming and its application to an examination of the relationship between remotely sensed and field measurements of LAI, Funct. Plant Biol., 35, 1070, https://doi.org/10.1071/FP08045, 2008.
Gao, D., Hagedorn, F., Zhang, L., Liu, J., Qu, G., Sun, J., Peng, B., Fan, Z., Zheng, J., Jiang, P., and Bai, E.: Small and transient response of winter soil respiration and microbial communities to altered snow depth in a mid-temperate forest, Appl. Soil Ecol., 130, 40–49, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2018.05.010, 2018.
Gaumont-Guay, D., Black, T. A., Barr, A. G., Griffis, T. J., Jassal, R. S., Krishnan, P., Grant, N., and Nesic, Z.: Eight years of forest-floor CO2 exchange in a boreal black spruce forest: Spatial integration and long-term temporal trends, Agr. Forest Meteorol., 184, 25–35, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2013.08.010, 2014.
Gharun, M., Klesse, S., Tomlinson, G., Waldner, P., Stocker, B., Rihm, B., Siegwolf, R., and Buchmann, N.: Effect of nitrogen deposition on centennial forest water-use efficiency, Environ. Res. Lett., 16, 114036, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac30f9, 2021.
Goldberg, S. D. and Gebauer, G.: N2O and NO fluxes between a Norway spruce forest soil and atmosphere as affected by prolonged summer drought, Soil Biol., 41, 1986–1995, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2009.07.001, 2009.
Goldberg, S. D., Borken, W., and Gebauer, G.: N2O emission in a Norway spruce forest due to soil frost: concentration and isotope profiles shed a new light on an old story, Biogeochemistry, 97, 21–30, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-009-9294-z, 2010.
Goldman, M. B., Groffman, P. M., Pouyat, R. V., McDonnell, M. J., and Pickett, S. T. A.: CH4 uptake and N availability in forest soils along an urban to rural gradient, Soil Biol. Biochem., 27, 281–286, https://doi.org/10.1016/0038-0717(94)00185-4, 1995.
Goldstein, A., Kapelner, A., Bleich, J., and Pitkin, E.: Peeking inside the black box: Visualizing statistical learning with plots of individual conditional expectation, J. Comput. Graph. Stat., 24, 44–65, https://doi.org/10.1080/10618600.2014.907095, 2015.
Greenwell, B., M.: pdp: An R package for constructing partial dependence plots, R. J., 9, 421–436, https://doi.org/10.32614/RJ-2017-016, 2017.
Groffman, P. M., Hardy, J. P., Driscoll, C. T., and Fahey, T. J.: Snow depth, soil freezing, and fluxes of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane in a northern hardwood forest, Glob. Change Biol., 12, 1748–1760, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2006.01194.x, 2006.
Guo, C., Zhang, L., Li, S., Li, Q., and Dai, G.: Comparison of Soil Greenhouse Gas Fluxes during the Spring Freeze–Thaw Period and the Growing Season in a Temperate Broadleaved Korean Pine Forest, Changbai Mountains, China, Forests, 11, 1135, 2020.
Hahn, M., Gartner, K., and Zechmeister-Boltenstern, S.: Greenhouse gas emissions (N2O, CO2 and CH4) from three forest soils near Vienna (Austria) with different water and nitrogen regimes, Bodenkultur, 51, 115–125, 2000.
Hanson, P. J., Edwards, N. T., Garten, C. T., and Andrews, J. A.: Separating root and soil microbial contributions to soil respiration: A review of methods and observations, Biogeochemistry, 48, 115–146, https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006244819642, 2000.
Heinzle, J., Kitzler, B., Zechmeister-Boltenstern, S., Tian, Y., Kwatcho Kengdo, S., Wanek, W., Borken, W., and Schindlbacher, A.: Soil CH4 and N2O response diminishes during decadal soil warming in a temperate mountain forest, Agr. Forest Meteorol., 329, 109287, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2022.109287, 2023.
Hettelingh, J. P., Posch, M., and Slootweg, J.: European critical loads: database, biodiversity and ecosystems at risk: CCE Final Report 2017, Coordination Centre for Effects, RIVM Report 2017-0155, Bilthoven, the Netherlands, https://doi.org/10.21945/RIVM-2017-0155, 2017.
Högberg, P., Nordgren, A., Buchmann, N., Taylor, A. F. S., Ekblad, A., Högberg, M. N., Nyberg, G., Ottosson-Löfvenius, M., and Read, D. J.: Large-scale forest girdling shows that current photosynthesis drives soil respiration, Nature, 411, 789–792, https://doi.org/10.1038/35081058, 2001.
Hopfensperger, K. N., Gault, C. M., and Groffman, P. M.: Influence of plant communities and soil properties on trace gas fluxes in riparian northern hardwood forests, Forest Ecol. Manag., 258, 2076–2082, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2009.08.004, 2009.
Hutchinson, G. L. and Mosier, A. R.: Improved Soil Cover Method for Field Measurement of Nitrous Oxide Fluxes, Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 45, 311–316, https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj1981.03615995004500020017x, 1981.
Ingestad, T.: Studies on the Nutrition of Forest Tree Seedlings, II Mineral Nutrition of Spruce, Physiol. Plant., 12, 568–593, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1399-3054.1959.tb07979.x, 1959.
IPCC: Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, edited by: Masson-Delmotte, V., Zhai, P., Pirani, A., Connors, S. L., Péan, C., Berger, S., Caud, N., Chen, Y., Goldfarb, L., Gomis, M. I., Huang, M., Leitzell, K., Lonnoy, E., Matthews, J. B. R., Maycock, T. K., Waterfield, T., Yelekçi, O., Yu, R., and Zhou, B., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, in press, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009157896, 2021.
Janssens, I. A., Lankreijer, H., Matteucci, G., Kowalski, A. S., Buchmann, N., Epron, D., Pilegaard, K., Kutsch, W., Longdoz, B., Grünwald, T., Montagnani, L., Dore, S., Rebmann, C., Moors, E. J., Grelle, A., Rannik, Ü., Morgenstern, K., Oltchev, S., Clement, R., Guðmundsson, J., Minerbi, S., Berbigier, P., Ibrom, A., Moncrieff, J., Aubinet, M., Bernhofer, C., Jensen, N. O., Vesala, T., Granier, A., Schulze, E.-D., Lindroth, A., Dolman, A. J., Jarvis, P. G., Ceulemans, R., and Valentini, R.: Productivity overshadows temperature in determining soil and ecosystem respiration across European forests, Glob. Change Biol., 7, 269–278, https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2486.2001.00412.x, 2001.
Jörg, S.: Böden im Seehornwald bei Davos und deren Vorrat an Kohlenstoff und Stickstoff, Diplomarbeit, Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften, Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften, Zurich, 79 pp., 2008.
Kim, Y., Kodama, Y., and Fochesatto, G. J.: Environmental factors regulating winter CO2 flux in snow-covered black forest soil of Interior Alaska, Geochem. J., 51, 359–371, https://doi.org/10.2343/geochemj.2.0475, 2017.
Klein, G., Vitasse, Y., Rixen, C., Marty, C., and Rebetez, M.: Shorter snow cover duration since 1970 in the Swiss Alps due to earlier snowmelt more than to later snow onset, Climatic Change, 139, 637–649, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-016-1806-y, 2016.
Krause, K., Niklaus, P. A., and Schleppi, P.: Soil-atmosphere fluxes of the greenhouse gases CO2, CH4 and N2O in a mountain spruce forest subjected to long-term N addition and to tree girdling, Agr. Forest Meteorol., 181, 61–68, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2013.07.007, 2013.
Kuhn, M.: Building Predictive Models in R Using the caret Package, J. Stat. Softw., 28, 1–26, https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v028.i05, 2008.
Lembrechts, J. J., van den Hoogen, J., Aalto, J., et al.: Global maps of soil temperature, Glob. Change Biol., 28, 3110–3144, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16060, 2022.
Liu, S., Schloter, M., and Brüggemann, N.: Accumulation of NO
Krebs, L., Burri, S., Feigenwinter, I., Gharun, M., Meier, P., and Buchmann, N.: Forest-floor greenhouse gas fluxes in a subalpine spruce forest. Continuous multi-year measurements of CO2, CH4, N2O, ETHZ [data set], https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000619728, 2024.
Luedeling, E. and Fernandez, E.: chillR: Statistical methods for phenology analysis in temperate fruit, R packag, CRAN, https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/chillR/ (last access: 10 April 2024), 2022.
Luo, G. J., Brüggemann, N., Wolf, B., Gasche, R., Grote, R., and Butterbach-Bahl, K.: Decadal variability of soil CO2, NO, N2O, and CH4 fluxes at the Höglwald Forest, Germany, Biogeosciences, 9, 1741–1763, https://doi.org/10.5194/BG-9-1741-2012, 2011.
Luo, G. J., Kiese, R., Wolf, B., and Butterbach-Bahl, K.: Effects of soil temperature and moisture on methane uptake and nitrous oxide emissions across three different ecosystem types, Biogeosciences, 10, 3205–3219, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-3205-2013, 2013.
Martins, C. S. C., Nazaries, L., Delgado-Baquerizo, M., Macdonald, C. A., Anderson, I. C., Hobbie, S. E., Venterea, R. T., Reich, P. B., and Singh, B. K.: Identifying environmental drivers of greenhouse gas emissions under warming and reduced rainfall in boreal–temperate forests, Funct. Ecol., 31, 2356–2368, https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12928, 2017.
Martinson, G. O., Müller, A. K., Matson, A. L., Corre, M. D., and Veldkamp, E.: Nitrogen and Phosphorus Control Soil Methane Uptake in Tropical Montane Forests, J. Geophys. Res.-Biogeo., 126, e2020JG005970, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JG005970, 2021.
McManus, J. B., Nelson, D. D., Herndon, S. C., Shorter, J. H., Zahniser, M. S., Blaser, S., Hvozdara, L., Muller, A., Giovannini, M., and Faist, J.: Comparison of cw and pulsed operation with a TE-cooled quantum cascade infrared laser for detection of nitric oxide at 1900 cm−1, Appl. Phys. B, 85, 235–241, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-006-2407-7, 2006.
Mitra, B., Miao, G., Minick, K., McNulty, S. G., Sun, G., Gavazzi, M., King, J. S., and Noormets, A.: Disentangling the Effects of Temperature, Moisture, and Substrate Availability on Soil CO 2 Efflux, J. Geophys. Res.-Biogeo., 124, 2060–2075, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JG005148, 2019.
Ni, X. and Groffman, P. M.: Declines in methane uptake in forest soils, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 115, 8587–8590, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1807377115, 2018.
Nissan, A., Alcolombri, U., Peleg, N., Galili, N., Jimenez-Martinez, J., Molnar, P., and Holzner, M.: Global warming accelerates soil heterotrophic respiration, Nat. Commun., 14, 3452, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38981-w, 2023.
Pang, J., Peng, C., Wang, X., Zhang, H., and Zhang, S.: Soil-atmosphere exchange of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide in temperate forests along an elevation gradient in the Qinling Mountains, China, Plant Soil, 488, 325–342, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-023-05967-y, 2023.
Papen, H. and Butterbach-Bahl, K.: A 3-year continuous record of nitrogen trace gas fluxes from untreated and limed soil of a N-saturated spruce and beech forest ecosystem in Germany: 1. N2O emissions, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 104, 18487–18503, https://doi.org/10.1029/1999JD900293, 1999.
Pavelka, M., Acosta, M., Kiese, R., Altimir, N., Brümmer, C., Crill, P., Darenova, E., Fuß, R., Gielen, B., Graf, A., Klemedtsson, L., Lohila, A., Longdoz, B., Lindroth, A., Nilsson, M., Jiménez, S. M., Merbold, L., Montagnani, L., Peichl, M., Pihlatie, M., Pumpanen, J., Ortiz, P. S., Silvennoinen, H., Skiba, U., Vestin, P., Weslien, P., Janous, D., and Kutsch, W.: Standardisation of chamber technique for CO2, N2O and CH4 fluxes measurements from terrestrial ecosystems, Int. Agrophys., 32, 569–587, https://doi.org/10.1515/intag-2017-0045, 2018.
Pilegaard, K., Mikkelsen, T. N., Beier, C., Jensen, N., Ambus, P., and Ro-Poulsen, H.: Field measurements of atmosphere–biosphere interactions in a Danish beech forest, Boreal Environ. Res., 8, 315–333, 2003.
R Core Team: R: A language and environment for statistical computing, R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria, https://www.R-project.org/ (last access: 10 April 2024), 2022.
Reichstein, M., Bahn, M., Ciais, P., Frank, D., Mahecha, M. D., Seneviratne, S. I., Zscheischler, J., Beer, C., Buchmann, N., Frank, D. C., Papale, D., Rammig, A., Smith, P., Thonicke, K., van der Velde, M., Vicca, S., Walz, A., and Wattenbach, M.: Climate extremes and the carbon cycle, Nature, 500, 287–295, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12350, 2013.
Reinmann, A. B. and Templer, P. H.: Increased soil respiration in response to experimentally reduced snow cover and increased soil freezing in a temperate deciduous forest, Biogeochemistry, 140, 359–371, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-018-0497-z, 2018.
Richardson, A. D., Hollinger, D. Y., Shoemaker, J. K., Hughes, H., Savage, K., and Davidson, E. A.: Six years of ecosystem-atmosphere greenhouse gas fluxes measured in a sub-boreal forest, Sci. Data, 6, 117, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0119-1, 2019.
Robette, N.: moreparty: A toolbox for conditional inference trees and random forests, R package, CRAN, https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/moreparty/ (last access: 10 April 2024), 2023.
Ruehr, N. K., Knohl, A., and Buchmann, N.: Environmental variables controlling soil respiration on diurnal, seasonal and annual time-scales in a mixed mountain forest in Switzerland, Biogeochemistry, 98, 153–170, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-009-9383-z, 2010.
Rütting, T., Björsne, A.-K., Weslien, P., Kasimir, Å., and Klemedtsson, L.: Low Nitrous Oxide Emissions in a Boreal Spruce Forest Soil, Despite Long-Term Fertilization, Front. Forest Glob. Change, 4, 710574, https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2021.710574, 2021.
Saby, N., Loubet, B., Goydarag, M. G., Papale, D., Arrouays, D., and Lafont, S.: Computing C Stock for one ICOS Site, ICOS Ecosystem Thematic Centre, ICOS Ecosystem Thematic Centre, Viterbo, Italy, https://traitementinfosol.pages.mia.inra.fr/icos/CH-DavCarbonReportv2.html (last access: 10 April 2024), 2023.
Schaufler, G., Kitzler, B., Schindlbacher, A., Skiba, U., Sutton, M., and Zechmeister-Boltenstern, S.: Greenhouse gas emissions from European soils under different land use: effects of soil moisture and temperature, Eur. J. Soil Sci., 61, 683–696, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2389.2010.01277.x, 2010.
Schindlbacher, A., Zechmeister-Boltenstern, S., Glatzel, G., and Jandl, R.: Winter soil respiration from an Austrian mountain forest, Agr. Forest Meteorol., 146, 205–215, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2007.06.001, 2007.
Schindlbacher, A., Jandl, R., and Schindlbacher, S.: Natural variations in snow cover do not affect the annual soil CO2 from a mid-elevation temperate forest, Glob. Change Biol., 20, 622–632, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12367, 2014.
Schulze, E.-D. (Ed.)Caldwell, M. M., Heldmaier, G., Lange, O. L., Mooney, H. A., Schulze, E.-D., and Sommer, U.: Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling in European Forest Ecosystems, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin, Heidelberg, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-57219-7, 2000.
Scott-Denton, L. E., Rosenstiel, T. N., and Monson, R. K.: Differential controls by climate and substrate over the heterotrophic and rhizospheric components of soil respiration: Controls over soil respiration, Glob. Change Biol., 12, 205–216, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2005.01064.x, 2006.
Sommerfeld, R. A., Mosier, A. R., and Musselman, R. C.: CO2, CH4 and N2O flux through a Wyoming snowpack and implications for global budgets, Nature, 361, 140–142, https://doi.org/10.1038/361140a0, 1993.
Song, Y., Zou, Y., Wang, G., and Yu, X.: Altered soil carbon and nitrogen cycles due to the freeze-thaw effect: A meta-analysis, Soil Biol. Biochem., 109, 35–49, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2017.01.020, 2017.
Strobl, C., Boulesteix, A.-L., Zeileis, A., and Hothorn, T.: Bias in random forest variable importance measures: Illustrations, sources and a solution, BMC Bioinformatics, 8, 25, https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2105-8-25, 2007.
Strobl, C., Boulesteix, A.-L., Kneib, T., Augustin, T., and Zeileis, A.: Conditional variable importance for random forests, BMC Bioinformatics, 9, 307, https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2105-9-307, 2008.
Thimonier, A., Graf Pannatier, E., Schmitt, M., Waldner, P., Walthert, L., Schleppi, P., Dobbertin, M., and Kräuchi, N.: Does exceeding the critical loads for nitrogen alter nitrate leaching, the nutrient status of trees and their crown condition at Swiss Long-term Forest Ecosystem Research (LWF) sites?, Eur. J. Forest Res., 129, 443–461, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-009-0328-9, 2010.
Thimonier, A., Kosonen, Z., Braun, S., Rihm, B., Schleppi, P., Schmitt, M., Seitler, E., Waldner, P., and Thöni, L.: Total deposition of nitrogen in Swiss forests: comparison of assessment methods and evaluation of changes over two decades, Atmos. Environ., 198, 335–350, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2018.10.051, 2019.
Tschopp, T.: Zur Geschichte des Seehornwaldes in Davos, Praktikumsarbeit, WSL, Birmensdorf, WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland, http://www.natkon.ch/pdf_files/publikationsseite/GeschichteSeehornwald.pdf (last access: 10 April 2024), 2012.
Ueyama, M., Takeuchi, R., Takahashi, Y., Ide, R., Ataka, M., Kosugi, Y., Takahashi, K., and Saigusa, N.: Methane uptake in a temperate forest soil using continuous closed-chamber measurements, Agr. Forest Meteorol., 213, 1–9, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2015.05.004, 2015.
Ullah, S., Frasier, R., Pelletier, L., and Moore, T. R.: Greenhouse gas fluxes from boreal forest soils during the snow-free period in Quebec, Canada, Can. J. Forest Res., 39, 666–680, https://doi.org/10.1139/X08-209, 2009.
Von Arnold, K., Weslien, P., Nilsson, M., Svensson, B. H., and Klemedtsson, L.: Fluxes of CO2, CH4 and N2O from drained coniferous forests on organic soils, Forest Ecol. Manag., 210, 239–254, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2005.02.031, 2005.
Wang, C., Han, Y., Chen, J., Wang, X., Zhang, Q., and Bond-Lamberty, B.: Seasonality of soil CO2 efflux in a temperate forest: Biophysical effects of snowpack and spring freeze–thaw cycles, Agr. Forest Meteorol., 177, 83–92, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2013.04.008, 2013.
Wang, Y.-R., Buchmann, N., Hessen, D. O., Stordal, F., Erisman, J. W., Vollsnes, A. V., Andersen, T., and Dolman, H.: Disentangling effects of natural and anthropogenic drivers on forest net ecosystem production, Sci. Total Environ., 839, 156326, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156326, 2022.
Wen, Y., Corre, M. D., Schrell, W., and Veldkamp, E.: Gross N2O emission and gross N2O uptake in soils under temperate spruce and beech forests, Soil Biol. Biochem., 112, 228–236, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2017.05.011, 2017.
Wu, X., Zang, S., Ma, D., Ren, J., Chen, Q., and Dong, X.: Emissions of CO2, CH4, and N2O Fluxes from Forest Soil in Permafrost Region of Daxing'an Mountains, Northeast China, Int. J. Environ. Res. Public. Health, 16, 2999, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16162999, 2019.
Xie, J., Kneubühler, M., Garonna, I., Notarnicola, C., De Gregorio, L., De Jong, R., Chimani, B., and Schaepman, M. E.: Altitude-dependent influence of snow cover on alpine land surface phenology: Snow cover and Alpine phenology, J. Geophys. Res.-Biogeo., 122, 1107–1122, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JG003728, 2017.
Xu, Z., Zhou, F., Yin, H., and Liu, Q.: Winter soil CO2 efflux in two contrasting forest ecosystems on the eastern Tibetan Plateau, China, J. Forest Res., 26, 679–686, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-015-0120-2, 2015.
Yu, L., Huang, Y., Zhang, W., Li, T., and Sun, W.: Methane uptake in global forest and grassland soils from 1981 to 2010, Sci. Total Environ., 607/608, 1163–1172, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.07.082, 2017.
Yuste, J. C., Nagy, M., Janssens, I. A., Carrara, A., and Ceulemans, R.: Soil respiration in a mixed temperate forest and its contribution to total ecosystem respiration, Tree Physiol., 25, 609–619, https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/25.5.609, 2005.
Zielis, S., Etzold, S., Zweifel, R., Eugster, W., Haeni, M., and Buchmann, N.: NEP of a Swiss subalpine forest is significantly driven not only by current but also by previous year's weather, Biogeosciences, 11, 1627–1635, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-1627-2014, 2014.
Short summary
This study explores year-round forest-floor greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes in a Swiss spruce forest. Soil temperature and snow depth affected forest-floor respiration, while CH4 uptake was linked to snow cover. Negligible N2O fluxes were observed. In 2022, a warm year, CO2 emissions notably increased. The study suggests rising forest-floor GHG emissions due to climate change, impacting carbon sink behavior. Thus, for future forest management, continuous year-round GHG flux measurements are crucial.
This study explores year-round forest-floor greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes in a Swiss spruce...
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint