Abiotic and biotic factors controlling the dynamics of soil respiration in a coastal dune ecosystem in western Japan

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 14320
• Main Authors: Teramoto, Munemasa, Hamamoto, Toru, Liang, Naishen, Taniguchi, Takeshi, Ito, Takehiko Y., Hu, Richa, Yamanaka, Norikazu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 22.08.2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/158; 631/158/2445; 631/158/2458; 704/158; 704/172; Abiotic factors; Artemisia capillaris; Biomass; Biotic factors; Drought; Dunes; Ecosystems; Geographical distribution; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Pinus thunbergii; Plant biomass; Plant species; Respiration; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Seedlings; Soil dynamics; Soil moisture; Soil temperature; Summer; Vegetation; Vitex rotundifolia; Zonal distribution; Japan
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-17787-8

In this study, we examined the abiotic and biotic factors controlling the dynamics of soil respiration ( R s ) while considering the zonal distribution of plant species in a coastal dune ecosystem in western Japan, based on periodic R s data and continuous environmental data. We set four measurement plots with different vegetation compositions: plot 1 on bare sand; plot 2 on a cluster of young Vitex rotundifolia seedlings; plot 3 on a mixture of Artemisia capillaris and V. rotundifolia ; and plot 4 on the inland boundary between the coastal vegetation zone and a Pinus thunbergii forest. R s increased exponentially along with the seasonal rise in soil temperature, but summer drought stress markedly decreased R s in plots 3 and 4. There was a significant positive correlation between the natural logarithm of belowground plant biomass and R s in autumn. Our findings indicate that the seasonal dynamics of R s in this coastal dune ecosystem are controlled by abiotic factors (soil temperature and soil moisture), but the response of R s to drought stress in summer varied among plots that differed in dominant vegetation species. Our findings also indicated that the spatial dynamics of R s are mainly controlled by the distribution of belowground plant biomass and autotrophic respiration.