Carbon dioxide emission from the soil surface in a bilberry-sphagnum pine forest of the Middle Taiga

The dynamics of the carbon dioxide emissions from the surface of a gleyic iron-illuvial sandy peat podzolic soil under a mature bilberry-sphagnum pine forest were studied during the growing seasons of 2008–2010. The maximum rates of the CO 2 emission were observed in late July-early August, and the minimum rates were in October. In the hot summer of 2010, an additional maximum was observed in June. A close positive correlation existed between the intensity of the CO 2 emission and the soil temperature ( r = 0.71, α = 0.05), whereas no significant correlation was found between the CO 2 emission and the soil water content. The coefficient of multiple correlation between the rate of the CO 2 emission and the hydrothermic soil characteristics reached 0.57 (at α = 0.05). The total CO 2 emission from the soil surface during the growing season was estimated at 68–100 g of C m −2 .