A field experiment was conducted in the permafrost region of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. I submitted a manuscript to a journal and the reviewer questioned why I had not considered the carbonates influences on soil respiration. The soil carbonates is about 5.8 g kg-1 and ph is about 8.4. Soil moisture decreased under warming treatment.
One effect soil carbonate on microorganism is pH because much organism cant live in pH alakline thought respiration is reduced
Another effect is that at ph>8 carbonate is soluble this affect nutrient suplier and soil phisical property
Soil carbonates play a role in soil respiration positively or negatively depending on the soil type, the weather conditions, soil texture, soil pH etc... they also influence the microflora of the soil as they are the best carbon source for the same... precipitation also take part in releasing CO2 from soil. 5.8 g per KG seems to have some effect in soil respiration and sothe role of which has to be specified.
Two thing have consider to understand how carbonate affects soil respiration first soil respiration is a biological process mainly contributed by soil microbes and plant roots. Second things CO2 release from soil due to carbonate dissolution (not considered as soil respiration b'cos it is a biological process) under low pH (acidic). So second one need not be considered in this case. As soil respiration is a biological process it is greatly influenced by soil chemical environment. If there is a high carbonate content in soil and high pH definitely there will be Na2CO3 & NaHCO3 mean soil sodicity (ESP will be higher) and this environment hamper the physiological activity of soil microbes and plant root and reduce soil respiration.
Hello Fei,
I think the reviewers concerns are justified as it is diffiult tto determine the source of CO2 flux (whether biological or from carbonates) without isotopic tracers. Please take a look at the following article on how this matter is approached: Contributions of carbonates to soil CO2 emissions by R. Ramnarine1,2, C. Wagner-Riddle1, K. E. Dunfield1, and R. P. Voroney1
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Thanks Renaldo,
CO2 efflux in the soil surface layer does consists of biological decomposition or from carbonates. In the manuscript, the focus is total CO2 efflux change under the warming. Is it resonable that I answer the reviwers I focused on soil respiration not on its components.
Hello, Mr. Peng, I suppose that the reviewer's question maybe comes from two points, the first is that the contribution of CO2 efflux from abiotic source (carbonate) would be more significant than biotic source (respiration) in the region of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The second point may be the precision of the diction in the paragraph. In my experience, we can determine the total efflux of CO2 from soil surface without difficult, but we hardly set apart biotic or abiotic source in the meantime. In some conditions, the magnitude of soil respiration was not balanced(equal) to CO2 efflux of soil layer.
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