Soil Respiration Characteristics of 3-year-old Tea Garden from Red Soil Region in South China

Abstract:

In order to understand soil respiration characteristics of tea garden from Red Soil Region in South China, soil respiration rate in a 3-year-old tea garden were investigated with LI-Cor8100 open soil carbon flux system from January to December in 2011. The seasonal variation and spatial heterogeneity of soil respiration rate were studied. The results showed that monthly dynamic changes of soil respiration rate in the tea garden correlated significantly with temperature (P<0.01). Soil temperature at 10 cm depth could explain 67.79%-88.52% of monthly dynamic changes of soil respiration at four observation areas in the tea garden. The Q₁₀ value of soil respiration derived from the exponential equation at different observation areas in tea garden ranged from 1.58 to 1.86. There was obvious spatial heterogeneity for soil respiration at tea line scale in tea garden, the soil respiration rate was higher close to tea tree base. The spatial variation of root biomass could explain 82.68% of spatial heterogeneity of soil respiration rate. So, the difference in spatial distribution of roots was main reason for spatial heterogeneity of soil respiration rate.