Interactive effects of understory removal and fertilization on soil respiration in subtropical Eucalyptus plantations

Aims It has been well recognized that understory vegetation plays an important role in driving forest ecosystem processes and functioning. In subtropical plantation forests, understory removal and fertilization have been widely applied; however, our understanding on how understory removal affects soil respiration and how the process is regulated by fertilization is limited. Here, we conducted an under story removal experiment combined with fertilization to evaluate the effects of the two forest management practices and their inter actions on soil respiration in subtropical forest in southern China. Methods The study was conducted in a split-plot design with fertilization as the whole-plot factor, understory removal as the subplot factor and block as the random factor in subtropical Eucalyptus plantations. In total, there were four treatments: control with unfertilized and intact understory (CK), understory removal but without fertilization (UR), with fertilization but without understory removal (FT) and with fertilization + understory removal (FT + UR). Eucalyptus above- and belowground biomass increment, fine root biomass, soil temperature, soil moisture and soil respiration were measured in the present