Soil respiration following partial stand disturbance by tree girdling reveals a rapid rebound within a three-year period in a temperate forest

Disturbance events can greatly impact carbon cycling and subsequently alter the carbon storage service of a forest. The resulting atmosphere-biosphere feedback through CO2 makes understanding the carbon cycle response imperative for climate change research. The aim of this study was to examine the temporal response of soil respiration after a partial stand disturbance and to reassess the autotrophic contribution to soil respiration after three years at the Black Rock Forest (southeastern NY, USA). Tree girdling was used to initiate disturbance and create the following treatments: control (C), girdling all non-oaks (NO), girdling half of the oak trees (O50), girdling all the oaks (OG), and girdling all trees (ALL). Soil respiration was measured for three consecutive years. Respiratory rates on O50, OG, and ALL plots declined for two years following girdling before attaining a full rebound of belowground activity in the third year. Soil respiration on NO was similar to C for the duration of the study. The short lived respiratory response on O50, OG, and ALL aligns with patterns of reported NEP recovery after a pest or pathogen attack in other forested systems and suggests that belowground activity is resilient to disturbance. Respiratory responses among the various treatments were not proportional to the degree of disturbance experienced and varied through time. Based on the results from the first year of girdling, we previously estimated the autotrophic component to be 50 % of the total respiratory flux but continued declines in soil respiration rates into the second year provided an opportunity to make a more accurate estimate of 58 %.