Rapid rebound of soil respiration following partial stand disturbance by tree girdling in a temperate deciduous forest

Forests serve an essential role in climate change mitigation by removing CO₂ from the atmosphere. Within a forest, disturbance events can greatly impact C cycling and subsequently influence the exchange of CO₂ between forests and the atmosphere. This connection makes understanding the forest C cycle response to disturbance imperative for climate change research. The goal of this study was to examine the temporal response of soil respiration after differing levels of stand disturbance for 3 years at the Black Rock Forest (southeastern NY, USA; oaks comprise 67 % of the stand). Tree girdling was used to mimic pathogen attack and create the following treatments: control, girdling all non-oaks (NOG), girdling half of the oak trees (O50), and girdling all the oaks (OG). Soil respiratory rates on OG plots declined for 2 years following girdling before attaining a full rebound of belowground activity in the third year. Soil respiration on NOG and O50 were statistically similar to the control for the duration of the study although a trend for a stronger decline in respiration on O50 relative to NOG occurred in the first 2 years. Respiratory responses among the various treatments were not proportional to the degree of disturbance and varied over time. The short-lived respiratory response on O50 and OG suggests that belowground activity is resilient to disturbance; however, sources of the recovered respiratory flux on these plots are likely different than they were pre-treatment. The differential taxon response between oaks and non-oaks suggests that after a defoliation or girdling event, the temporal response of the soil respiratory flux may be related to the C allocation pattern of the affected plant group.