Root respiration in North American forests: Effects of nitrogen concentration and temperature across biomes

Abstract

Root respiration rates have been shown to be correlated with temperature and root N concentration in studies of individual forest types or species, but it is not known how universal these relationships are across forest species adapted to widely different climatic and edaphic conditions. In order to test for broad, cross-species relationships, we measured fine root respiration, as O₂ consumption, over a range of temperatures on excised root samples from ten forested study sites across North America in 1997. Significant differences existed among study sites in root respiration rates, with patterns among sites in respiration rate at a given temperature corresponding to differences among sites in fine root N concentrations. Root respiration rates were highly correlated with root N concentrations at all measurement temperatures (r²>0.81, P

Citation

Burton, A.J.; Pregitzer, K.S.; Ruess, R.W.; Hendrick, R.L.; Allen, Mike F. 2002. Root respiration in North American forests: Effects of nitrogen concentration and temperature across biomes. Oecologia 131: 559-568