Soil respiration is an essential component of carbon (C) cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. Despite increasing awareness of the significance of aboveground-belowground interactions, little is known about tree diversity effects on soil respiration and the underlying mechanisms. Here, we conducted a 105-days microcosm experiment in a climate chamber to test the effects of tree diversity (1, 2, and 4 species) on soil respiration. We expected tree diversity to affect soil respiration through changes in tree growth and surface litter decomposition (indicated by the litter mass loss). Our results show that soil respiration varied among the four focal tree species and increased with tree species richness. Path analysis revealed tree growth as the main mechanism driving soil respiration and explaining the tree diversity effect in this short-term experiment. Our results indicate that tree diversity and particular tree traits regulate C dynamics through balancing C storage (plant productivity) and C release (soil respiration).

中文翻译：

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在中宇宙实验中，树木多样性通过加速树木生长来调节土壤呼吸

土壤呼吸是陆地生态系统中碳 (C) 循环的重要组成部分。尽管人们越来越意识到地上-地下相互作用的重要性，但人们对树木多样性对土壤呼吸的影响及其潜在机制知之甚少。在这里，我们在气候室中进行了为期 105 天的缩影实验，以测试树木多样性（1、2 和 4 种）对土壤呼吸的影响。我们预计树木多样性会通过树木生长和表面凋落物分解的变化（由凋落物质量损失表示）影响土壤呼吸。我们的研究结果表明，土壤呼吸在四种重点树种之间存在差异，并且随着树种丰富度的增加而增加。路径分析表明树木生长是驱动土壤呼吸的主要机制，并解释了该短期实验中的树木多样性效应。我们的研究结果表明，树木多样性和特定树木性状通过平衡 C 储存（植物生产力）和 C 释放（土壤呼吸）来调节 C 动态。