The abiotic contribution to total CO₂ flux for soils in arid zone

As an important component of ecosystem carbon budgets, soil carbon dioxide (CO2) flux is determined by a combination of a series of biotic and abiotic processes. Although there is evidence that the abiotic component can be important in total soil CO2 flux, its relative importance has never been systematically assessed. In this study, the total soil CO2 flux (Rtotal) was partitioned into biotic (Rbiotic) and abiotic (Rabiotic) components over eight typical landscapes in a desert–oasis ecotone, including cotton field, hops field, halophyte garden, reservoir edge, native saline desert, alkaline soil, dune crest and interdune lowland in the Gurbantunggut Desert, and the relative importance of these two components was analyzed. Results showed that Rabiotic always contributed to Rtotal for the eight landscapes, but the degree of contribution varied greatly. In the cotton and hops fields, the ratio of Rabiotic to Rtotal was extremely low (< 10 %); whereas Rabiotic was dominant in the alkaline soil and dune crest. Statistically, Rabiotic/Rtotal decreased logarithmically with rising Rbiotic, suggesting that Rabiotic strongly affected Rtotal when Rbiotic was low. This pattern confirms that soil CO2 flux is predominantly biological in most ecosystems, but Rabiotic can dominate when biological processes are weak. On a diurnal basis, Rabiotic resulted in no net gain or loss of carbon but its effect on instantaneous CO2 flux was significant. Temperature dependence of Rtotal varied among the eight landscapes, determined by the predominant components of CO2 flux: with Rbiotic driven by soil temperature and Rabiotic regulated by the rate of change in temperature. Namely, declining temperature resulted in negative Rabiotic (CO2 went into soil), while rising temperature resulted in a positive Rabiotic (CO2 released from soil). Furthermore, without recognition of Rabiotic, Rbiotic would have been either overestimated (for daytime) or underestimated (for nighttime). Thus, recognition that abiotic component in total soil CO2 flux is ubiquitous in soils has widespread consequences for the understanding of carbon cycling. While the abiotic flux will not change net daily soil CO2 exchange and not likely directly constitute a carbon sink, it can alter transient soil CO2 flux significantly, either in magnitude or in its temperature dependency.