A Pilot National Network for Monitoring Soil Respiration in Russia: First Results and Prospects of Development

Soil respiration (SR) is one of the largest fluxes in the global carbon cycle, exceeding anthropogenic CO2 emission by more than an order of magnitude. Estimation of the heterotrophic component of SR is necessary to assess the carbon balance on the ecosystem and on the regional, national, and global scales. Within the framework of the most important national innovation project “Development of a System of Ground-based and Remote Monitoring of Carbon Pools and Greenhouse Gas Fluxes on the Territory of the Russian Federation,” the first Russian national network is organized to monitor CO2 emission from soils and other linked parameters. The SR values and the relationship with the temperature of the upper 5- to 10-cm layer of soil (TS) are analyzed for the first time on the territory of Russia based on methodologically identical field measurements conducted simultaneously in the summer period (June–August 2023) at 75 monitoring sites in the different ecosystems in the main Russian bioclimatic zones from the tundra to the semidesert. The positive effect of soil temperature on the mean summer SR rate and the maximum monthly SR values is observed in the interval of mean TS from 10 to 20°C. Among the ecosystems studied, the lowest SR values are recorded in tundra and bog ecosystems, while the highest values are in the forest–steppe. Amongst the forest ecosystems, the lowest SR rates are characteristic of larch forests, while the highest SR values are observed in broadleaved forests of the forest–steppe zone. To clarify the regularities obtained, it is necessary to expand studies in all bioclimatic zones, but mainly in agrocenoses, tundra, and steppe ecosystems.