Differences in Soil CO2 Efflux and Microbial Community Composition Among Slope Aspects in a Mountain Oak Forest

As one of the main terrain factors, the slope aspect generally shows remarkable effects on microclimate and vegetation distribution. The purpose of this study was to determine the potential effects of the slope aspect on soil respiration and the soil microbial community in a temperate mountain forest. A field investigation was carried out in a mountain oak forest located at different slope aspects (northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest), and soil respiration was continuously measured for 12 months. The soil’s bacterial and fungal taxa were analyzed during the growing season. Our results showed that average soil respiration on the southwest and southeast slope aspects was 72.9% higher than the average on the northeast and northwest slope aspects. The coefficient of variation of soil respiration had the highest value on the northwest aspect (20.9%) and the lowest value on the southeast aspect (6.9%). The southeast slope had significantly higher soil respiration and temperature sensitivity compared to the other three slope aspects. The slope aspect substantially affected the soil’s bacterial and fungal r/K strategy, showing the lowest values on the northwest aspect and the highest values on the southeast aspect. Differences in bacterial r/K, the ratio of microbial biomass carbon (MBC) to soil organic carbon (SOC), and SOC among slope aspects contributed to a 43%, 38%, and 32% variation in soil respiration, respectively. The variation of soil temperature across slope aspects showed an indirect effect on soil respiration through changing bacterial r/K and MBC/SOC. Our findings highlight that terrain plays a critical role in regulating the spatial heterogeneity of soil respiration in mountain forests, which could be explained by the differences in SOC and microbial community composition across slope aspects.