Litter decomposition and soil CO2 efflux on the Mediterranean island of Pianosa

Mediterranean ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to changes in climate and land use forecasted for the near future, with likely perturba- tions of the carbon cycle. The aim of our study was to quantify particular aspects of the carbon cycle in typical Mediterranean ecosystems, in particular (1) the decay rates of litter from common tree and shrub species, (2) the efflux of CO2 from the soil and its relation to soil and litter moisture, and (3) the dynamics of the stable isotope 13 C during litter decomposition. Field work was conducted on the island Pianosa, which comprises a range of common Mediterranean ecosystem types. Litter decay rates of three selected species (Cistus monspenliensis, Pistacia lentiscus and Juniperus phoenicia) were found to be low with an average of 70 % of initial mass remaining after 2 years of field incubation. Over the same period, all litter types showed only a slight (<10 %) net loss of N. Despite relatively high initial N contents, litter decay rates were comparable to those reported in the literature, suggesting that C and N dynamics are decoupled during litter decomposition. Over the two years of incubation, 13 C dynamics were not unanimous between the three litter types, with only a slight enrichment in one species. Continuation of this ongoing experiment is likely to resolve the long term effects of decomposition on 13 C enrichment on litter. Soil CO2 efflux was found to be unusually high (peak rates of over 9 μmol m-2 s-1 ), owing to both high soil water content and soil temperature during an intensive measuring campaign in October 2003. Mean daily fluxes in woodland ecosystems were significantly higher than in either macchia or ex agricultural ecosystems, exceeding the latter about twofold. However, when scaled to the relative surface representation on Pianosa, the highest contribution of daily soil CO2 efflux stems from Macchia type vegetation, followed by abandoned agricultural sites and woodland ecosystems (around 20, 22, and 8.5 t C d-1 , respectively). With the exception of one site, soil CO2 efflux correlated positi- vely with litter content at different sites across the island. Rather than causing the higher fluxes directly, higher litter contents are likely to indicate higher site productivity rates, resulting in higher CO2 turnover dynamics and hence higher overall soil CO2 efflux rates. Owing to the only small range of soil moisture conditions during the measuring campaign, no dependence of soil CO2 efflux on soil moisture could be detected. However, a range of moisture conditions between sites was noted, indicating the significance of site specific conditions also within the same ecosystem types.