Effects of geothermal soil warming on soil carbon and nutrient processes in a Sitka spruce plantation
Sigurdsson, B.D., N.Leblans, E.S.Oddsdottir, M. Maljanen and I. Janssens. 2014. CAR-ES (Centre of Advanced Research on Environmental Services from Nordic Forest Ecosystems).
Abstract
Understanding how the ongoing global warming affects the structure and functioning of forest ecosystems is
a key challenge of the 21st century, not least because forests play an important role in the global carbon cycle.
Simulating warming in manipulation experiments in forests has been criticised for being too small-scale and
overly simplistic, whereas surveys which study large-scale temperature gradients in forests often confound
temperature with other drivers (Way and Oren, 2010).
Here we present the results from an ongoing soil warming experiment in Iceland where soil temperatures of a
Sitka spruce (Picea sitchesis) plantation established in 1967 (47 years old) increased at 10 cm soil depth
between 0 and 50°C, when a major earthquake in May 2008 moved geothermal gradients into a new,
previously cool, area. Five transects were laid out in 2013 with permanent plots located at unwarmed
conditions, 1, 3, 5, 10 and 20°C, respectively. Further information about the experimental setup can be
found in O'Gorman et. al. (2014)
Key Words
soil warming; potential decomposition; the ForHot experiment; Iceland; PRS-probes
