Data from: Increased belowground carbon allocation reduces soil carbon losses under long-term warming
Data files
Nov 07, 2025 version files 8.02 MB
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README.md
2.36 KB
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Root_Respiration_Achenkirch_2022.csv
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Soil_CO2_Efflux_Achenkirch_2005-2022.csv
8.01 MB
Abstract
The response of the carbon cycle in forests to global warming could lead to a positive climate feedback if warming accelerates the mineralization of soil organic carbon (SOC), thereby causing net emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere. In Europe, humus-rich alpine forest soils could be particularly affected by global warming, as a greater rise in temperature is expected in this region than the global average. Here we show that nearly two decades of experimental soil warming (+4°C during the snow-free seasons) in a mountain forest in the Northern Limestone Alps significantly (13% per 1°C warming) and persistently (no change in response over 18 years) increased soil CO2 effluxes. The SOC stocks in the warmed plots decreased compared to controls, yet non-significantly, and quantitatively much less than the surplus carbon outflux from warmed soil suggests. We attribute the increase in soil CO2 efflux primarily to stimulation of root respiration, which was most sensitive to long-term warming.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.bcc2fqzsc
Description of the data and file structure
Files and variables
File: Soil_CO2_Efflux_Achenkirch_2005-2022.csv
Description:
Variables
- date: Date of measurement (day.month.year)
- plotname: name of the plot (e.g. 1c = plot 1 control; 1h = plot 1 warmed)
- Block: name of the block, n = 6 blocks (each block 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 consisted of a control and heated plot, 1c, 1h, 2c, 2h, etc.)
- Treatment: warm, control
- Season: meteorological seasons (winter, spring, summer, fall)
- heating on/off: heating system switched “off” or “on”
- soil temp logger: soil temperature at 5 cm soil depth. Daily means calculated from 30-minute interval records (°C)
- soil temp manual: soil temperature measured manually at 5 cm soil depth with a handheld probe during soil CO2 efflux measurements (°C)
- CO2 flux measured: measured soil CO2 efflux (µmol/m2/sec)
- Exp flux: mean daily soil CO2 efflux modelled with an exponential soil temperature driven function (µmol/m2/sec)
- Gauss flux: mean daily soil CO2 efflux modelled with a Gaussian temperature function (µmol/m2/sec)
- linear interpol flux: daily soil CO2 efflux linearly interpolated between two successive flux measurement dates (g CO2-C/m2/day)
- air_temp: daily mean air temperature measured at a weather station (about 100 m away from the plots) (°C)
- precip: daily precipitation sum measured at the weather station (mm)
- rel_humidity: relative humidity measured at the weather station (%)
- soil_moist_manual: soil moisture at 0-7 cm soil depth measured with a field scout device (Vol%)
File: Root_Respiration_Achenkirch_2022.csv
Description:
Variables
- Year: sampling year
- Month: sampling month
- Plot: plot number, 1-6
- Treatment: warmed, control
- Flux actual soil temperature (µg C/g Root/sec): Measured respiratory flux of cleaned fine roots incubated at exactly the same temperature as the soil in the corresponding plot (at 5 cm depth).
- Flux reference temperature (µg C/g Root/sec): Measured respiratory flux of cleaned fine roots incubated at a reference temperature of 17°C.
Code/software
csv data files/tables