Carbon efflux from soil respiration is a key component of the carbon cycle in forests. Fluctuations in soil respiration can cause major changes in the atmosphere’s carbon levels, given that soil is the largest terrestrial carbon sink. Soil respiration is comprised of two factors: heterotrophic respiration through soil-borne microbes, and autotrophic respiration through plants. Of these two modes of respiration, heterotrophic is most prominent, and disturbances can change their contribution levels. It is known that natural disturbances can change rates of soil respiration, but exactly how and to what degree the levels fluctuate is unknown. This research investigates the patterns of total soil respiration efflux between disturbances of different damage severity. We hypothesize that greater damage severity will lead to elevated soil respiration efflux in the long-term. In this ongoing study, soil respiration rates were measured following experimental wind disturbances of two different severities – 100% severity (all trees snapped or uprooted) and 50% severity (half of trees snapped or uprooted). Plots were set up and were experimentally disturbed in 2018 and ongoing in 2019. Baseline soil respiration was measured. ANOVA testing was used to compare the differences in efflux rates between different damage severities.
Results/Conclusions
The ANOVA revealed that the difference between the baseline soil respiration efflux taken in July 2018 and the April 2019 soil respiration efflux was insignificant for all conditions. We observed no difference between the plots regarding carbon efflux, indicating that one year is not enough time for soil respiration to respond to wind disturbance. This ongoing study will separate heterotrophic and autotrophic respiration so that we may examine how disturbance severity may affect these two components individually. This work will provide new information on the impact of disturbance severity on soil respiration, and the length of time it takes for this carbon pool to respond to disturbance.