Wetlands (2012) 32:939–944
DOI 10.1007/s13157-012-0327-3
ARTICLE
Temperature and Water Content Effects on Carbon
Mineralization for Sapric Soil Material
Matthew Taggart & J. L. Heitman & Wei Shi &
Michael Vepraskas
Received: 11 January 2012 / Accepted: 11 July 2012 / Published online: 22 July 2012
# Society of Wetland Scientists 2012
Abstract Histosols, often formed in wetland environments,
provide an important global soil carbon (C) stock.
Mineralization of soil organic C is an important process
with broad implications for nutrient availability, soil quality,
and global change. Temperature and moisture effects on C
mineralization have been widely studied, but little informa-
tion is available for temperature and moisture effects on C
mineralization from recalcitrant sapric soil materials of
warm climate Histosols. Our objectives were to determine
Q10 values (the factor by which the reaction rate increases
with each 10 °C rise in temperature) for sapric soil material
collected from a warm climate Histosol, to examine the
influence of water content on Q10, and to assess the opti-
mum soil moisture condition for C mineralization. A labo-
ratory incubation (48 h duration) was conducted including
sapric soil material at three moisture conditions; approxi-
mately 0.15, 0.30, and 0.45 m3 m−3 water content by vol-
ume; and two temperatures; 25 and 37 °C. Calculated values
for Q10 were generally consistent with previous studies for
other soil materials. Results indicated highest mineralization
rates for both temperatures occurred at 0.30 m3 m−3 volu-
metric water content, corresponding to approximately 50 %
water-filled pore space. But values for Q10 increased as
water content increased, demonstrating the important rela-
tionship between moisture and temperature effects for C
mineralization for these organic soil materials.
Keywords Carbon mineralization . Histosols . Respiration .
Sapric soil materials
M. Taggart : J. L. Heitman (*) : W. Shi : M. Vepraskas
NC State University,
Raleigh, USA
e-mail: jlheitman@ncsu.edu
Introduction
Histosols provide an important stock of soil organic carbon
(C), covering just over 1 % of global land area, but contain-
ing almost 23 % of global soil C (Eswaran et al. 1993).
Mineralization of soil organic C is a key process in the
terrestrial C cycle with broad implications for nutrient avail-
ability, soil quality, and global change. Temperature and soil
moisture provide important abiotic controls on C minerali-
zation. As such, a multitude of experiments have been
performed to elucidate the individual and combined effects
of temperature and soil moisture on soil C mineralization for
a variety of substrates (e.g., Bowden et al. 1998; Zak et al.
1999; Ilstedt et al. 2000; Reichstein et al. 2000; Fang and
Moncrieff 2001; Fang et al. 2005; Reichstein et al. 2005;
Curiel Yuste et al. 2007). Temperature effects on C miner-
alization are typically reported as a Q10 value, a temperature
coefficient used to describe the rate of change of a chemical
or microbiological process in response to a 10 °C increase in
temperature. Raich and Schlesinger (1992) reviewed mea-
sured rates of soil respiration and calculated a median Q10
value of 2.4, but the range of observed values is wide,
varying from >10 to <1 depending on mean soil temperature
conditions (Kirschbaum 1995). For soil moisture, research-
ers have typically reported that peak C mineralization occurs
at around 50 % (Luo and Zhou 2006) to 60 % (Linn and
Doran 1984) water-filled pore space. While both tempera-
ture and soil moisture effects are widely accepted, the influ-
ence of these factors on C mineralization also depends on
characteristics of the soil substrate (Nadelhoffer et al. 1991).
In particular, recent research suggests mineralization of re-
calcitrant organic matter (OM) may be more sensitive to
changes in soil temperature than labile OM (Fierer et al.
2005; Conant et al. 2008; Conant et al. 2011).
For soil classification purposes, organic soil materials are
classified by their state of decomposition. Organic soil
940
materials that are the least decomposed are classified as
fibric material (peats). Sapric materials (mucks) are the most
decomposed of the organic materials and may contain the
most recalcitrant C. Hemic materials are those of interme-
diate decomposition with fiber contents in between those of
the sapric and hemic materials (Soil Survey Staff 2010).
Organic soils or Histosols can consist of fibric, hemic, or
sapric materials. Most Histosols formed in wetlands where
the anaerobic conditions delayed decomposition and
allowed the organic materials to accumulate (Collins and
Kuehl 2001). In the U.S. approximately one half of the
wetlands in the conterminous U.S. have been lost through
drainage and other practices (Dahl 1990), and many of the
drained soils were Histosols. Once drained, the surface of
the organic soil subsides through loss of the buoyant force
provided by water, as well as by oxidation of the organic
material by microbial processes (Everett 1983). Carolina
bays are amongst those land forms comprising drained
Histosols. Carolina bays are unique geological depressions
characterized by a northwest to southeast orientation and are
located along the Atlantic coastal plain from New Jersey to
Florida (Prouty 1952). A large proportion of Carolina bays
have been logged, drained, and used for agronomic produc-
tion (Kirkman et al. 1996). Ewing and Vepraskas (2006)
estimated that the oxidation component of subsidence low-
ered the surface of a Carolina bay in NC by approximately
2 cm per year over a 30 year period. The factors controlling
this loss of C need to be understood in order to devise
management strategies to slow its loss.
While voluminous literature investigating Histosols in
alpine and high northern latitude soils exists, there are
comparatively fewer studies of sapric soil materials from
warm climate Histosols (Qualls and Richardson 2008). Low
global abundance of these warm climate Histosols is a likely
explanation for their limited study. Still, they can be quite
common in more localized areas like the Florida Everglades,
Carolina bays, and coastal freshwater marshes. Organic soils
located in these temperate and sub-tropical climates may
have chemical properties (Bridgham et al. 2001) and micro-
bial communities (Bauhus et al. 1998) unlike those in north-
ern latitudes. More soil specific measurements are warranted
to understand C mineralization processes for organic soils in
temperate and sub-tropical climates. Additionally, these
locations are often subject to intense land management and
development (Carle 2011), which makes understanding the
effects of temperature and soil moisture critical. Our objec-
tives in this study were i) to determine Q10 values for sapric
soil material from a warm climate Histosol, ii) to examine
the influence of water content on Q10, and ii) to assess the
optimum soil moisture condition for C mineralization.
Information gathered for these sapric soil materials helps
to fill a gap in the literature on mineralization response to
temperature and moisture for recalcitrant organic soil
Wetlands (2012) 32:939–944
materials, and can further understanding of how soil C
dynamics may respond to changing environmental condi-
tions such as drainage, deforestation, agriculture, restora-
tion, and/or climate shifts.
Materials and Methods
Sapric soil material was collected from the Oap horizon of a
soil mapped as Ponzer muck (Loamy, mixed, dysic, thermic
Terric Haplosaprists) at Juniper Bay in Robeson County,
North Carolina (Soil Survey Staff 2008). The site is a
Carolina bay, with soils similar to many Carolina bays found
throughout the region. Juniper Bay was purchased by the
NC Dept. of Transportation in 2000, and since that time
used as a wetland mitigation site. Further description of the
soil and field site is provided in Taggart et al. (2011). Soil
was air dried, ground, and passed through 2 mm sieve.
Mean organic C content, determined via a dry combustion
CHN analyzer (PerkinElmer, San Jose, CA), was 25.74 %.
Mean particle density, determined using an air pycnometer,
was 1.51 Mg m−3. Mean soil bulk density (ρb), determined
from intact cores collected in the field, was 0.60 Mg m−3.
Bulk samples of the soil material were brought to one of
three target volumetric water contents (θ) in the laboratory,
θ00.15, 0.30, or 0.45 m3 m−3 by spreading a known mass of
soil onto a plastic sheet and then misting with an adequate
mass of de-ionized water to reach the desired water content.
These θ correspond to water-filled pore space of 25, 50, and
75 %, respectively, which provides a range of conditions
below, at, and above typical optimum for C mineralization
(Luo and Zhou 2006). After wetting to the desired water
content, soil was kept in cold storage at 1 °C until needed.
Twenty-four hours prior to incubation, approximately 48 g
of soil solids was packed to ρb 00.6 Mg m−3 in 100 mL
vessels. Vessels were placed into 1 L Ball canning jars (Ball,
Daleville, IN) and sealed to minimize water loss. Six sam-
ples were prepared for each target θ, giving a total of 18
samples per incubation.
Two incubation temperatures, 25 and 37 °C, were used.
These temperatures were chosen to reflect growing season
soil temperatures near the soil surface at Juniper Bay
(Taggart et al. 2011). Jars were placed in an incubation
chamber (Series 25 Incubator Shaker, New Brunswick
Scientific, Inc., Edison, NJ) for 24 h to reach incubation
temperature. Following acclimation, lids were removed for
5 min to allow total air replacement. Sodium hydroxide CO2
traps were placed in each jar prior to replacing the lids.
Sealed jars were then incubated for 48 h. Six jars containing
traps only were incubated as controls. Two 48 h incubations
were run for each temperature. In total, we used 3 target θ×
6 reps×2 temperatures×2 runs072 samples.
Wetlands (2012) 32:939–944
Aqueous alkali CO2 traps and titrimetric analysis were
used to measure CO2 respiration (Anderson 1982). Alkali
traps were made by placing 7 mL of 0.27 N NaOH into
25 mL vials. Prior to titration, 5 mL of 1 M BaCl2 were
added to each vial to precipitate trapped CO2 as insoluble
BaCO3 precipitate. Vials were titrated with 0.1 N HCl to a
phenolphthalein indicated endpoint of pH 8.2. Total CO2
evolved in each jar was calculated by subtracting the titrant
required to titrate the respective alkali trap from the mean
titrant required for the controls.
Soil mass, ρb, and gravimetric water content were mea-
sured individually for each sample after incubation. Soil
mass (mean 047.7 g, SD 00.423 g) and ρ b (mean 0
0.60 Mg m−3, SD00.009 Mg m−3) of the incubated samples
were consistent for all incubations. Soil water contents of
samples with the same target θ did not vary widely within
incubations, but did vary more markedly between incuba-
tions (i.e., runs) at a given temperature. The soil showed
some hydrophobicity upon wetting and it is possible that the
soil had not yet wetted to the desired θ. Because of the
variation in water content, we considered two approaches
for data analysis.
First, based on our initial targets for θ, we screened data
and eliminated samples with measured θ that differed from
target θ by more than 0.03 m3 m−3. Mean θ for each
temperature/moisture condition for the pooled data (56 sam-
ples) after this screening are shown in Table 1. One-way
ANOVA was used to test significant differences in mineral-
ization rates (mg C kg−1 soil d−1) between different soil
water treatments (JMP version 9.0.2, SAS Institute, Cary,
NC). A value for Q10 was calculated using mean minerali-
zation data for each target θ sub-class:
Q10 ¼ ðR1 =R2 Þ½10=ðT 1T 2Þ ð1Þ
where R1 and R2 are mineralization rates at temperatures T1
and T2, respectively. These results are presented in the first
section of Results and Discussion.
Table 1 Mean volumetric water content of samples included in
ANOVA for each temperature/moisture condition combination
Incubation temperature
°C
25 37
Condition Mean measured volumetric water content
m3 m−3
a
Dry 0.160 (0.007, 12) 0.148 (0.021, 12)
Moist 0.307 (0.014, 10) 0.308 (0.019, 8)
Wet 0.448 (0.014, 6) 0.465 (0.006, 8)
a
Standard deviations and number of samples, respectively, given in
parentheses
941
Second, given the range in θ available from the full data
set (72 samples), we also examined effects of θ quantita-
tively. A model was used to fit CO2 mineralization rates
against θ over the entire range of observed θ, and then
predicted mineralization rates were used to estimate varia-
tion in Q10. The model was of the form
R ¼ a þ bθ þ cðθ  dÞ2 ð2Þ
where R is the mineralization rate, and a, b, c, and d are
fitting parameters. These results are presented in the last
section of Results and Discussion.
Results and Discussion
Temperature and Soil Moisture Effects on Mineralization
C mineralized per kg soil (Table 2) was generally higher
than values reported for mineral soils (Lomander et al. 1998;
Zak et al. 1999), which was consistent with the larger pool
of C in our incubated soil when compared to mineral soils. C
mineralization showed a strong positive response to incuba-
tion temperature for all θ; Q10 across all θ was 2.00.
Kirschbaum (1995) synthesized Q10 results from numerous
incubations and fitted a curve to describe the Q10 relation-
ship with temperature. The Q10 from our incubation falls
squarely on the curve at 25 °C. While not all synthesized
incubations were performed under similar conditions, our
Q10 does agree with results from the 20 experiments used to
create Kirschbaum’s curve.
The rates of C mineralization at both 25 and 37 °C were
highest under moist soil water conditions (target θ 0
0.3 m3 m−3), 49.07 and 110.9 mg C kg−1 soil d−1, respec-
tively (Table 2). Soil pores were approximately 51 % water-
filled at this water content. Trends with temperature were
also similar for both moisture conditions; the lowest miner-
alization rate was observed at the wettest condition in each
case, though differences between the wettest and driest
Table 2 Mineralization rate and temperature response (Q10) for each
moisture condition
Temperature Mean mineralization rate
°C mg C kg−1 soil d−1
Dry Moist Wet
25 29.2ba (3.29)b 49.07a (2.86) 19.2c (8.46)
37 52.9b (15.3) 111a (8.11) 49.3b (23.0)
Q10 1.64 1.97 2.20
a
Letters indicate significant differences between means within the
same row (α00.05)
b
Standard deviations given in parentheses
942 Wetlands (2012) 32:939–944

Table 3 Parameters and sum-

mary of fit for models of respi- Model parameters Summary of fit
ration as a function of soil
water content Temperature a b c d n r2 RMSE

25 °C 48.51 2.206 −1174 0.2931 36 0.907 3.76

37 °C 53.01 198.5 −2264 0.3049 36 0.847 12.1

conditions were not statistically significant at 37 °C. The non-linear response to increasing water content, unlike
wet moisture condition corresponds to water saturation of Reichstein’s and our own. Wen et al. (2006) calculated Q10
approximately 76 %. The variety of methods used to report was 1.3 at θ 00.12 m 3 m −3 , increased to 2.3 at θ 0
soil water content creates some difficulty when comparing 0.2 m3 m−3, and decreased to 1.6 at θ 00.31 m3 m−3.
water contents for optimum microbial decomposition. Optimum C mineralization occurred slightly below θ 0
Ilstedt et al. (2000) achieved maximum C mineralization 0.2 m3 m−3. Lack of decline in Q10 for increasing water
rate at 45 % water filled porosity while Curiel Yuste et al. contents in Reichstein’s data and the present data set does
(2007) observed optimum respiration at a water content of not, however, necessarily imply disagreement with Wen et
0.26 m3 m−3. Bowden et al. (1998) observed maximum al.’s observation. Reichstein et al. (2002) did not show Q10
respiration at 70 % and 50 % water holding capacity for data for conditions wetter than optimum, possibly omitting
incubated litter layer and mineral soil, respectively. the water content range where Q10 decreases. Also, the
Allowing for some differences in approach, these results highest water content in our study may not be high enough
appear reasonably consistent with those observed here. to cause a decrease in Q10.
In addition to direct effects on respiration, soil moisture Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain the
content appeared to affect the mineralization response to water content effect on Q10. Anderson (1991) suggested that
increasing temperature. The Q10 of the driest samples, the labile organic matter fraction, the majority of which is
1.64, was the lowest observed amongst the three moisture surface plant litter, is the first to dry out, becoming unavail-
conditions (Table 2). Temperature response increased to able to microbial decomposition. Consequently, the total
1.97 in the moist soil samples and peaked at 2.20 for the mineralizable C pool is effectively decreased in size.
wettest samples. Similar interaction between temperature Boone et al. (1998) hypothesized partial inactivation of the
and water content has been observed by others. Reichstein rhizosphere during drying led to lower Q10. While these
et al. (2002) saw a linear two-fold increase in Q10, 1.0 to explanations may apply to in-situ soil responses, our soil
>2.0, as water content increased from 35 % of field capacity contained no litter layer or plant roots. The most likely
to 100 % field capacity. Wen et al. (2006) instead observed a explanation for decreased Q10 under dryer conditions was

140
3
25 C model
25 C observed
continuous model fit
120
37 C model
moisture classes
37 C observed
Respiration Rate (mg C kg soil-1 d-1)

100 2.5

80
Q10

2
60

40

1.5

20

0
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 1
Soil Water Content (m3 m-3) 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Soil Water Content (m3 m-3)
Fig. 1 Observed C mineralization rates (points) for varying water
contents at two incubation temperatures and their respective models Fig. 2 Estimated continuous Q10 values based on model fits of respi-
(lines). The model equation and parameters are given in the text and ration rates with water content and Q10 values from moisture classes
Table 3, respectively given in Table 2
Wetlands (2012) 32:939–944
probably limited diffusion of soluble substrate supply (Linn
and Doran 1984). Once microbial growth and organic matter
decomposition became limited by moisture, a temperature
increase would have less impact. For water contents above
optimum, atmospheric gas exchange is limited and oxygen
becomes depleted, reducing the microbial capacity for or-
ganic matter decomposition (Linn and Doran 1984; Wen et
al. 2006). The decrease in our mineralization rate at high
water contents is consistent with this behavior, but the
continuing increase in Q10 indicates the importance of the
temperature-moisture relationship.
Carbon Mineralization as a Function of Water Content
We further evaluated variation in C mineralization with θ
using results from all 72 measurements (36 at each temper-
ature) by fitting Eq. 2 to data for each temperature. Model
parameters are given in Table 3. The 25 °C incubation was a
well-represented model over the range of θ (Fig. 1, r2 0
0.907). Observations were not as well centered on the 37 °
C model (r2 00.847). For both curves, the highest mineral-
ization rate occurs at approximately θ00.3 m3 m−3, but
there is some notable deviation between the predicted and
observed mineralization rate for 37 °C at this θ as well as
some variability in respiration response at the largest water
contents. Root mean square error (RMSE) was also larger
for the 37 °C model compared to the 25 °C model; in both
cases RMSE approached 10 % of the maximum observed
respiration rate for each temperature.
Curve fits allow prediction of mineralization rate with θ
from 0.15 to 0.45 m3 m−3 for each temperature, and there-
fore continuous Q10 values. A continuous estimate of Q10 as
a function of θ is shown in Fig. 2. Using this approach, Q10
shows modest increase with θ over the range of θ <
0.4 m3 m−3 and then a more pronounced increase with θ
thereafter. As with the analysis in the preceding section, this
suggests that under wet conditions, temperature has greater
effect on mineralization rates. Alternately, when moisture is
insufficient (i.e., dry) or at an optimum (i.e., moist), temper-
ature effects are less pronounced.
Though results here differ slightly from the class analysis
given in the preceding section, interpretations are mostly
consistent. At our highest θ, air-filled porosity is approxi-
mately 15 % of the soil volume. For these conditions, gas
diffusion is not completely limited, though gas diffusion
would be greatly reduced compared to 30 % air-filled po-
rosity at moisture optimum. Since gas diffusion may be-
come the limiting factor and gas diffusivity increases with
temperature (Luo and Zhou 2006), the effect of temperature
is more pronounced in the high water content range. This
increase may occur until complete or near complete lack of
air-filled porosity provides an overall limit to mineraliza-
tion, which is outside the range of the present dataset.
943
Summary and Conclusions
We examined temperature and moisture effects on C miner-
alization for sapric soil materials collected from a warm-
climate Histosol. Based on laboratory incubation at two
temperatures, estimated Q10 values for this soil material
are consistent with those reported in synthesis by
Kirschbaum (1995). But values for Q10 increased with
moisture class and continuously with θ over the range of
observations included here. Results suggest that the opti-
mum soil moisture condition for mineralization was approx-
imately θ00.3 m3 m−3, which corresponds to approximately
50 % saturation for this soil material at field bulk density.
Increases in Q10 observed above this optimum moisture
condition suggest that as air-filled pore space becomes lim-
iting for mineralization, temperature effects become more
pronounced. This has important consequences for warm
climate Histosols, which though often near saturation, may
show more pronounced increases in mineralization as their
temperature increases. These results suggest that the behav-
ior of warm climate Histosols may be particularly sensitive
to temperature at and above optimal moisture conditions.
This is an important consideration in wetland restoration
efforts where soils are often first re-saturated before vegeta-
tion can provide surface cover to reduce soil temperature,
and in forestry when considering the effects of canopy
removal on soil temperatures. It also suggests that upward
shifts in regional temperature via processes such as climate
change may increase mineralization potential.
References
Anderson JPE (1982) Soil respiration. In: Page AL, Miller RH, Keeney
DR (eds) Methods of soil analysis. Part two, second ed. Agron.
Monogr. 9. ASA and SSSA, Madison
Anderson JM (1991) The effects of climate change on decomposition
processes in grassland and coniferous forests. Ecological
Applications 1:326–347
Bauhus J, Paré D, Côté L (1998) Effects of tree species, stand age and
soil type on soil microbial biomass and its activity in a southern
boreal forest. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 30:1077–1089
Boone RD, Nadelhoffer K, Canary JD, Kaye JP (1998) Roots exert a
strong influence on the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration.
Nature 396:570–572
Bowden RD, Newkirk KM, Rullo GM (1998) Carbon dioxide and
methane fluxes by a forest soil under laboratory-controlled mois-
ture and temperature conditions. Soil Biology and Biochemistry
30:1591–1597
Bridgham SD, Ping C, Richardson JL, Updegraff K (2001) Soils of
northern peatlands: Histosols and gelisols. In: Richardson JL,
Vepraskas MJ (eds) Wetland soils: Genesis, hydrology, land-
scapes, and classification. Lewis Publ, Boca Raton, pp 343–370
Carle MV (2011) Estimating wetland losses and gains in coastal North
Carolina: 1994–2001. Wetlands 31:1275–1285
Collins ME, Kuehl RJ (2001) Organic matter accumulation and organ-
ic soils. In: Richardson JL, Vepraskas MJ (eds) Wetland soils:
944
Genesis, hydrology, landscapes, and classification. Lewis Publ,
Boca Raton, pp 137–162
Conant RT, Steinweg JM, Haddix ML, Paul EA, Plante AF, Six J
(2008) Experimental warming shows that decomposition temper-
ature sensitivity increases with soil organic matter recalcitrance.
Ecology 89:2384–2391
Conant RT, Ryan MG, Agrens GI, Birge HE, Davidson EA, Eliasson
PE, Evans SE, Frey SD, Giardina CP, Hopkins FM, Hyvonen R,
Kirschbaum MUF, Lavallee JM, Leifield J, Parton WJ, Steinweg
JM, Wallenstein MD, Martin Wetterstedt JA, Bradford MA (2011)
Temperature and soil organic matter decomposition rates – syn-
thesis of current knowledge and a way forward. Global Change
Biology 17:3392–3404
Curiel Yuste J, Baldocchi DD, Gershenson A, Goldstein A, Mission L,
Wong S (2007) Microbial soil respiration and its dependency on
carbon inputs, soil temperature and moisture. Global Change
Biology 13:2018–2035
Dahl TE (1990) Wetland losses in the United States: 1780’s to 1980’s.
U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service,
Washington. DC
Eswaran H, Van Den Berg E, Reich P (1993) Organic carbon in soils of
the world. Soil Science Society of America Journal 57:192–194
Everett KR (1983) Histosols. In: Wilding LP, Smeck NE, Hall GF (eds)
Pedogensis and soil taxonomy II. The soil orders. Elsevier
Scientific Publishers, Amsterdam, pp 1–53
Ewing JM, Vepraskas MJ (2006) Estimating primary and secondary
subsidence in an organic soil 15, 20, and 30 years after drainage.
Wetlands 26:119–130
Fang C, Moncrieff JB (2001) The dependence of soil CO2 efflux on
temperature. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 33:155–165
Fang C, Smith P, Moncrieff JB, Smith JU (2005) Similar response of
labile and resistant soil organic matter pools to changes in tem-
perature. Nature 433:57–59
Fierer N, Craine JM, McLauchlan K, Schimel JP (2005) Litter quality and
the temperature sensitivity of decomposition. Ecology 86:320–326
Ilstedt U, Nordgren A, Malmer A (2000) Optimum soil water for soil
respiration before and after amendment with glucose in humid
tropical acrisols and a boreal mor layer. Soil Biology and
Biochemistry 32:1591–1599
Kirkman LK, Lide RF, Wein G, Sharitz RR (1996) Vegetation changes
and land-use legacies of depressional wetlands of the western
coastal plain of South Carolina. Wetlands 16:564–576
Kirschbaum MUF (1995) The temperature dependence of soil organic
matter decomposition and the effect of global warming on soil
organic C storage. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 27:753–760
Linn DM, Doran JW (1984) Effect of water-filled pore space on carbon
dioxide and nitrous oxide production in tilled and nontilled soils.
Soil Science Society of America Journal 48:1267–1272
Wetlands (2012) 32:939–944
Lomander A, Kätterer T, Andrèn O (1998) Carbon dioxide evolution
from top- and subsoil as affected by moisture and constant and
fluctuating temperature. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 30:2017–
2022
Luo Y, Zhou X (2006) Soil respiration and the environment. Academic,
New York
Nadelhoffer KJ, Giblin AE, Shaver GR, Laundre JA (1991) Effects of
temperature and substrate quality on element mineralization in six
arctic soils. Ecology 72:242–253
Prouty WF (1952) Carolina bays and their origin. Geological Society
of America Bulletin 63:167–224
Qualls RG, CJ Richardson (2008) Decomposition of litter and peat in
the everglades: the influence of P concentrations. In Everglades
Experiments: Lessons for Ecosystem Restoration. Springer, New
York
Raich JW, Schlesinger WH (1992) The global carbon dioxide flux in
soil respiration and its relationship to vegetation and climate.
Tellus 44B:81–99
Reichstein M, Subke J, Angeli AC, Tenhunen JD (2000) Temperature
dependence of carbon mineralization: conclusions from a long-
term incubation of subalpine soil samples. Soil Biology and
Biochemistry 32:947–958
Reichstein M, Tenhunen JD, Roupsard O, Ourcival J-M, Rambal S,
Dore S, Valentini R (2002) Ecosystem respiration in two
Mediterranean evergreen Holm Oak forests: drought effects and
decomposition dynamics. Functional Ecology 16:27–39
Reichstein M, Bednorz F, Broll G, Kätterer T (2005) Does the temper-
ature sensitivity of decomposition of soil organic matter depend
upon water content, soil horizon, or incubation time? Global
Change Biology 11:1754–1767
Soil Survey Staff (2008) Soil Series Classification Database. USDA-
NRCS. Lincoln, NE. Available via http://soils.usda.gov/technical/
classification/scfile/index.html. Accessed on 22 Dec. 2011
Soil Survey Staff (2010) Keys to soil taxonomy, 11th edn. US Dep. of
Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Washington,
DC
Taggart MJ, Heitman JL, Vepraskas M, Burchell M (2011) Surface
shading effects on soil C loss in a temperate muck soil. Geoderma
163:238–246
Wen X-F, Yu G-R, Sun X-M, Li Q-K, Liu Y-F, Zhang L-M, Ren C-Y,
Fu Y-L, Li Z-Q (2006) Soil moisture effect on the temperature
dependence of ecosystem respiration in a subtropical Pinus plan-
tation of southeastern China. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
137:166–175
Zak DR, Holmes WE, MacDonald NW, Pregitzer KS (1999) Soil
temperature, matric potential, and the kinetics of microbial respi-
ration and nitrogen mineralization. Soil Science Society of
America Journal 63:575–584