Seasonality of ecosystem respiration in a double-cropping paddy field in Bangladesh

Abstract. Ecosystem respiration (RE) from cultivated ecosystems is important for understanding the role of these ecosystems in the global carbon balance. To evaluate carbon dynamics in a double-rice cropping paddy field, we conducted long-term measurements at Mymensingh, Bangladesh in 2007 using a tower-based eddy covariance technique. The study objectives were to investigate the diurnal and seasonal variations in RE and to develop and evaluate empirical models for predicting variations in RE using environmental parameters. We found that the diurnal pattern of RE was driven by soil temperature (Ts) whereas the seasonal variation in RE was controlled primarily by Ts and soil water content (SWC). Under high biomass conditions, Ts plays a dominant role in the magnitude of CO₂ release. Both the amount and magnitude of RE variation were larger in the "Boro" dry-season rice growing period from late winter to mid-summer than in the "Aman" wet-season rice growing period from late summer to early winter. Annually, the ratio of RE to gross primary production (GPP) was 0.67, indicating a net sink of carbon; the two growing seasons had RE/GPP ratios of 0.58 and 0.52. A model using Ts, SWC, and aboveground biomass predicted daily RE with R² values of 0.87 and 0.62 for the Boro and Aman seasons, respectively.