The rate of microbial respiration can be described by a rate law that gives the respiration rate as the product of a rate constant, biomass concentration, and three terms: one describing the kinetics of the electron-donating reaction, one for the kinetics of the electron-accepting reaction, and a thermodynamic term accounting for the energy available in the microbe's environment. The rate law, ...

The response of microbial respiration from soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition to environmental changes plays a key role in predicting future trends of atmospheric CO2 concentration. However, it remains uncertain whether there is a universal trend in the response of microbial respiration to increased temperature and nutrient addition among different vegetation types. In this study, soils we...

In the short-term heterotrophic soil respiration is strongly and positively related to temperature. In the long-term, its response to temperature is uncertain. One reason for this is because in field experiments increases in respiration due to warming are relatively short-lived. The explanations proposed for this ephemeral response include depletion of fast-cycling, soil carbon pools and therma...

Soil microbial respiration is a critical component of the global carbon cycle, but it is uncertain how properties of microbes affect this process. Previous studies have noted a thermodynamic trade-off between the rate and efficiency of growth in heterotrophic organisms. Growth rate and yield determine the biomass-specific respiration rate of growing microbial populations, but these traits have ...

This greenhouse experiment aimed to investigate the effects of poultry manure (PM) on the growth of oat plant (Avena sativa) and removal of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) from soil. The treatments consisted of three TPH levels (4%, 6%, and 8% w/w) and two PM levels (zero and 1%) at three replications. According to the findings, shoot height, number of leaves, and the fresh and dry...

Despite the prevalence of disturbances in forests, the effects of disturbances on soil carbon processes are not fully understood. We examined the influences of a winter storm on soil respiration and labile soil organic carbon (SOC) of a Moso Bamboo (Phyllostachys heterocycle) plantation in the Wuyi Mountains in Southern China from May 2008 to May 2009. We sampled stands that were damaged at hea...

We examined soil respiration to determine what measurable environmental variables can be used to predict variation in soil respiration rates, spatially and temporally, at a high-elevation, mixed conifer, subalpine forest site at the Niwot Ridge Ameriflux Site in Colorado. For three summers, soil respiration rates were measured using soil collars and a portable gas-exchange system. Transects of ...