Spatiotemporal pattern of soil respiration of terrestrial ecosystems in China: the development of a geostatistical model and its simulation.

Quantification of the spatiotemporal pattern of soil respiration (R(s)) at the regional scale can provide a theoretical basis and fundamental data for accurate evaluation of the global carbon budget. This study summarizes the R(s) data measured in China from 1995 to 2004. Based on the data, a new region-scale geostatistical model of soil respiration (GSMSR) was developed by modifying a global scale statistical model. The GSMSR model, which is driven by monthly air temperature, monthly precipitation, and soil organic carbon (SOC) density, can capture 64% of the spatiotemporal variability of soil R(s). We evaluated the spatiotemporal pattern of R(s) in China using the GSMSR model. The estimated results demonstrate that the annual R(s) in China ranged from 3.77 to 4.00 Pg C yr(-1) between 1995 and 2004, with an average value of 3.84 +/- 0.07 Pg C yr(-1), contributing 3.92%-4.87% to the global soil CO(2) emission. Annual R(s) rate of evergreen broadleaved forest ecosystem was 698 +/- 11 g C m(-2) yr(-1), significantly higher than that of grassland (439 +/- 7 g C m(-2) yr(-1)) and cropland (555 +/- 12 g C m(-2) yr(-1)). The contributions of grassland, cropland, and forestland ecosystems to the total R(s) in China were 48.38 +/- 0.35%, 22.19 +/- 0.18%, and 20.84 +/- 0.13%, respectively.