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By reviewing current literature and working with two new datasets, the authors of this paper developed metrics which better reflect the impact of land cover on soil heterotrophic respiration in seasonal forests.
Scaling knowledge of carbon flows from research site to region requires modelling evaluated against in situ measurements, but there is often a mismatch between outputs of process models (for example, soil heterotrophic respiration (Rh) and site-measured parameters (for example, total soil surface respiration (Rs) or whole ecosystem respiration (Re)).
The researchers took a literature review approach to determine fractional coefficients for estimating Rh from Re or Rs and considered whether these fractions differed across a year in seasonal forests, where relative contributions of root respiration might be expected to vary between growing and dormant seasons. The results suggested that land cover is an important factor in determining the relative contribution of heterotrophic respiration to higher-level fluxes and that the coefficients used would ideally be derived from studies on similar ecosystems.
Measurements of respiration levels in deciduous broadleaf forest were compared with evergreen needleleaf forest to provide datasets for the study.
Journal article / This paper critically reviewed a UK government advisory agency's publication which aimed to synthesise evidence on prescribed fire for peatlands management.
Other publication / This report presented a comprehensive picture of the first ten years of work in what is hoped will be a twenty-year study.
Journal article / Researchers conducted workshops and questionnaires with international experts to standardize and consolidate the data collection process in peatland research.
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