Data and code for: "Soil respiration response to simulated precipitation change depends on ecosystem type and study duration"

Data, code, and figures from our meta-analysis of the effect of precipitation change on soil respiration, with an emphasis on ecosystem variability and the effect of study duration. We combined the results of 81 separate studies to determine the effect of altered rainfall on the amount of carbon that leaves soil in the form of carbon dioxide, a major component of global carbon cycling. In addition we looked at how long the changes lasted, and how different soil properties and the intensity of precipitation changes affected the study results. We found that more precipitation resulted in greater amounts of carbon dioxide leaving the soil, and less precipitation resulted in less. However, the changes weakened over time in ecosystems that typically receive plenty of rainfall (e.g., forests), in contrast to ecosystems that typically receive little rainfall (e.g., deserts) where changes strengthened over time. Changes in the amount of carbon dioxide that left the soil were also affected by the amount of carbon in the soil, which impacts how much water soil can hold.

本研究针对降水变化对土壤呼吸（soil respiration）的影响开展荟萃分析（meta-analysis），相关数据、代码与图表均来自该分析，研究重点聚焦于生态系统变异性以及研究时长的效应。我们整合了81项独立研究的结果，以明确降雨格局改变对以二氧化碳形式从土壤中释放的碳量的影响——该过程是全球碳循环（carbon cycling）的核心组成部分。此外，我们还探究了这些效应的持续时长，以及不同土壤属性与降水变化强度如何对研究结果产生影响。研究结果显示，降水增加会促使土壤释放更多二氧化碳，而降水减少则会导致土壤释放的二氧化碳量降低。不过，在通常降水充沛的生态系统（如森林）中，这种效应会随时间推移而减弱；与之形成鲜明对比的是，在降水稀缺的生态系统（如荒漠）中，该效应会随时间增强。土壤释放的二氧化碳量变化还会受到土壤碳含量的影响，而土壤碳含量会制约土壤的持水能力。