Meta-analysis of the effects of soil warming on soil respiration in forest ecosystems

No consensus has emerged on the sensitivity of soil respiration to increasing temperatures under global warming due partly to the lack of data and unclear feedbacks. Our objective was to investigate the general trends of warming effects on soil respiration. This study used meta-analysis as a means to synthesize data from eight sites with a total of 140 measurements taken from published studies. The results presented here suggest that average soil respiration in forest ecosystems was increased approximately by 22.5% with escalating soil temperatures while soil moisture was decreased by 16.5%. The decline in soil moisture seemed to be offset by the positive effects of increasing temperatures on soil respiration. Therefore, global warming will tend to increase the release of carbon normally stored within forest soils into the atmosphere due to increased respiration.