Relationship between basal soil respiration and the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration and their key controlling factors across terrestrial ecosystems

Purpose The purposes of this study are to characterize the relationship between basal soil respiration at 0 °C ( R 0 ) and the temperature sensitivity ( Q 10 ) of soil respiration and climate, soil, and vegetation factors and to establish R 0 and Q 10 models. Materials and methods We compiled R 0 and Q 10 and variables (i.e., climate factors, soil properties, and vegetation characteristics) that were measured in various terrestrial ecosystems. Results and discussion The results showed that both R 0 and Q 10 could generally be fitted by a normal distribution curve across various ecosystems, but they varied greatly among the different ecosystems. The lowest median R 0 and Q 10 appeared in the desert, while the highest median R 0 and Q 10 appeared in the deciduous broad-leaf forest and deciduous needle-leaf forest ecosystems, respectively. The relationship between R 0 and Q 10 across different soil depths varied among the different ecosystems, with the highest and lowest R 2 occurring in the cropland ( R 2 = 0.701) and evergreen needle-leaf forest ( R 2 = 0.095), respectively. A model that included Q 10 , fine root production and the ratio of soil organic carbon to total nitrogen (TN) explained 75.0% ( R 2 = 0.750) of the variation in R 0 , with a P value less than 0.001. Q 10 was further expressed as a model ( R 2 = 0.663, P