This paper in Current Science deals with soil respiration under different forest species in the riparian buffer of the semi-arid region of North West India. Soil respiration is a major process affecting the global carbon cycle and nutrient flux in the terrestrial ecosystem. It is the major pathway for exchange of gases from soil to atmosphere, influencing atmospheric temperature and ultimately contributing to global warming. Soil carbon is returned from the soil to the atmosphere through soil respiration, which represents one of the largest fluxes in the terrestrial C cycle1–3. The main sources of terrestrial flux of CO2 are decomposing soil organic matter, respiration from heterotrophic soil organisms and autotrophic live root respiration.
Read More
