A considerable fraction of soil-respired CO2 is not emitted directly to the atmosphere
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Springer Nature
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2018-09-10Referencia bibliográfica
Sánchez-Cañete, E.P., Barron-Gafford, G.A. & Chorover, J. A considerable fraction of soil-respired CO2 is not emitted directly to the atmosphere. Sci Rep 8, 13518 (2018) [doi:10.1038/s41598-018-29803-x]
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This project and data were supported by NSF awards 1417101 and 1331408, as well as by the European Commission project DIESEL (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IOF, 625988) and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (IJCI-2016-30822).Resumen
Soil CO2 efflux (Fsoil) is commonly considered equal to soil CO2 production (Rsoil), and both terms are
used interchangeably. However, a non-negligible fraction of Rsoil can be consumed in the subsurface
due to a host of disparate, yet simultaneous processes. The ratio between CO2 efflux/O2 influx,
known as the apparent respiratory quotient (ARQ), enables new insights into CO2 losses from Rsoil not
previously captured by Fsoil. We present the first study using continuous ARQ estimates to evaluate
annual CO2 losses of carbon produced from Rsoil. We found that up to 1/3 of Rsoil was emitted directly to
the atmosphere, whereas 2/3 of Rsoil was removed by subsurface processes. These subsurface losses
are attributable to dissolution in water, biological activities and chemical reactions. Having better
estimates of Rsoil is key to understanding the true influence of ecosystem production on Rsoil, as well as
the role of soil CO2 production in other connected processes within the critical zone