Soil CO2 efflux from urban turfgrass: A major microbe-derived soil carbon process

Given lawns cultivation are expanding rapidly with urbanization in China and plays an important role in regional carbon cycle, but little is know about its carbon cycling. In this study, soil CO
2
efflux (soil respiration, R
s
) was partitioned into root (R
r
) and microbial (R
h
) components by using a deep-collar insertion method in Zoysia matrella lawns. Results indicated that both R
r
and R
h
presented pronounced seasonal patterns and were highly dependent on soil temperature and biomass. The annual R
r
and R
h
were 435 gC/(m
²
·y) and 1249 gC/(m
²
·y), respectively, thus the annual value of RC was 25.8%. These results suggest that the R
s
of lawns in subtropical China is mainly microbe-derived.