Grazing increases the temperature sensitivity of soil organic matter decomposition in a temperate grassland

We tested the effects of ungulate grazing and nutrient availability on the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration (CO2) and methane (CH4) emissions in semi-natural temperate grassland. To do this, soil taken from long term grazed and ungrazed grassland was incubated at four temperatures (4, 10, 15 and 20 °C) with two levels of nutrient (NP) addition. The results showed that the variation in soil CO2 and CH4 emissions was explained by temperature and grazing, with grazing increasing the temperature sensitivity of CO2 and CH4 production by between 15 and 20 °C. This response was constrained by nutrient availability for CO2, but not CH4. These findings suggest that grazing could potentially have important impacts on the temperature sensitivity of greenhouse gas emissions in nutrient limited grasslands.

• Publication year

  2012

• Venue

  Environmental Research Letters

• Publication date

  2012-03-02

• Fields of study

  Agricultural and Food Sciences, Physics, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/7/1/014027
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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