Respiration and matched fine root data at Shale Hills Susquehanna Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory CZO (SSHCZO).

Among the contributors to soil CO2 efflux, there remains uncertainty about the contribution of root activity to the overall soil efflux. Soil water and temperature frequently have been used to predict a large portion of the variation in soil CO2 efflux. Here we tested whether fine root dynamics can explain the remaining variability in soil CO2 efflux that cannot be explained by soil temperature and soil water. We collected and show here two years of seasonal minirhizotron, and soil chamber CO2 flux data from plots distributed throughout the Shale Hills Catchment of the Susquehanna-Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory in central Pennsylvania, USA. Additionally, we show here destructive absorptive root length density data collected in 2015 from the same locations.