Soil respiration after six years of continuous drought stress in the tropical rainforest in Southwest China

Climate models predict that droughts will increase in Southeast Asia, yet little is known about how soil respiration (Rs) and its components heterotrophic respiration (Rh) and autotrophic respiration (Ra) will change following drought years. To clarify this issue and to detect underlying mechanisms, we conducted a 2-year field experiment in the seventh and eighth year of long-term artificially droughted plots within a tropical rainforest in …