Research Article

Available nutrients and microbial alpha diversity contribute to CO2 emission in a subtropical primary forest: insight from a 4 m soil vertical profile

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  • aState Key Laboratory of Vegetation Structure, Function and Construction (VegLab), Yunnan Key Laboratory of Plant Reproductive Adaptation and Evolutionary Ecology/Institute of Biodiversity, School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China 

    bNational Plateau Wetlands Research Center, College of Ecology and Environment, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China 

    cAilaoshan Station of Subtropical Forest Ecosystem Studies, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jingdong 676209, China 

    dSchool of Environmental Engineering, Yunnan Forestry Technological College, Kunming 650224, China 

    *Correspondence: Jianping Wu, E-mail: jianping.wu@ynu.edu.cn, Tel: +86-871-65939546, Fax: +86-871-65031317

Received date: 2025-06-07

  Accepted date: 2025-09-25

  Online published: 2025-10-22

Supported by

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32371733) and Training Program of the Innovation Guidance and Scientific and Technological Enterprise of Yunnan Province (202304BT090019).

Abstract

CO2 released into the atmosphere through soil respiration represents the second-largest carbon flux between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere. While extensive research has concentrated on surface soils, limited studies have explored CO2 emission patterns and their primary drivers across varying soil depths. In this study, soil CO2 emissions were measured using static chambers at six different depths (10 cm, 50 cm, 100 cm, 200 cm, 300 cm, and 400 cm) in a primary forest. Additionally, potential influencing factors, including soil physical and chemical properties, microbial diversity, and community structure and function, were assessed. The results demonstrated that soil nutrients, along with fungal and bacterial diversity, generally declined with increasing soil depth. Soil CO2 emissions also decreased significantly with depth, driven primarily by biotic factors like fungal and bacterial alpha diversity and abiotic factors such as ammonium nitrogen and available phosphorus. These findings provide new insights into the mechanisms of carbon cycling within deep soil layers in forest ecosystems.

Cite this article

Deyun Chen, Zhiyun Lu, Yanping Wang, Chunyu Hou, Jianping Wu . Available nutrients and microbial alpha diversity contribute to CO2 emission in a subtropical primary forest: insight from a 4 m soil vertical profile[J]. Journal of Plant Ecology, 0 : 1 . DOI: 10.1093/jpe/rtaf175

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