Meta-analysis shows forest soil CO2 effluxes are dependent on the disturbance regime and biome type

Forest soil CO2 efflux (FCO2) is a crucial process in global carbon
cycling; however, how FCO2 responds to disturbance regimes in different
forest biomes is poorly understood. We quantified the effects of
disturbance regimes on FCO2 across boreal, temperate, tropical, and
Mediterranean forests based on 1240 observations from 380 studies.
Globally, climatic perturbations such as elevated CO2 concentration,
warming, and increased precipitation increase FCO2 by 13 to 25%. FCO2 is
increased by forest conversion to grassland and elevated carbon input by
forest management practices but reduced by decreased carbon input, fire,
and acid rain. Disturbance also changes soil temperature and water
content, which in turn affect the direction and magnitude of disturbance
influences on FCO2. FCO2 is disturbance- and biome-type dependent, and
such effects should be incorporated into earth system models to improve
the projection of the feedback between the terrestrial C cycle and climate
change.