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Soil CO2 production seasonality at a number of depths was investigated in a temperate forest in Japan and in a tropical montane forest in Thailand. The CO2 production rates were evaluated by examining differences in the estimated soil CO2 flux at adjacent depths. The temperate forest had clear temperature seasonality and only slight rainfall seasonality, whereas the tropical montane forest showed clear rainfall seasonality and only slight temperature seasonality. In the temperate forest, the pattern of seasonal variation in soil respiration was similar at all depths, except the deepest (0.65 m–), and respiration was greater in summer and less in winter. The contribution of the shallowest depth (around 0.1 m) was more than 50% of total soil-surface CO2 flux all year round, and the annual mean contribution was about 75%. CO2 production mostly appeared to increase with temperature in shallower layers. In contrast, in the tropical forest, soil CO2 production seasonality appeared to differ with depth. The CO2 production rate in the shallowest layer was high during the rainy season and low during the dry season. Soil CO2 production at greater depths (0.4 and 0.5 m–) showed the opposite seasonality to that in the shallower layer (around 0.1 m). As a result, the contribution from the shallow depth was greatest in the tropical forest during the rainy season (more than 90%), whereas it decreased during the dry season (about 50%). CO2 production appeared to be controlled by soil water at all depths, and the different ranges of water saturation seemed to cause the difference in seasonality at each depth. Our results suggest the importance of considering the vertical distribution of soil processes, particularly in areas where soil water is a dominant controller of soil respiration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The raindrop size distribution of throughfall and open rainfall was monitored continuously during a rainfall event using laser raindrop-sizing instruments (LD gauges), in order to calculate the raindrop impact energy in a plantation of mature Japanese cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa), where surface erosion at the forest floor had been a problem. Data from two rainfall events were analyzed. The LD gauges recorded qualitative raindrop size distribution, and the capture rate during each rainfall event was used to manipulate raindrop data quantitatively. Throughfall and open rainfall comparisons revealed several important differences. First, throughfall raindrops were fewer in number and larger in size than open rainfall drops. In one rainfall event, for example, throughfall raindrops were less than one-fifth as frequent as open rainfall raindrops; in addition, the maximum throughfall raindrop diameter was 6.35 mm compared to 3.31 mm for open rainfall raindrops. Second, throughfall raindrops that were larger than the largest open rainfall raindrops comprised 63.8% of the throughfall precipitation by volume. Third, total raindrop impact energy from throughfall was over twice that of open rainfall. Moreover, comparison of throughfall events implied that throughfall raindrops did not always have a uniform distribution between different events or among different periods of time in one rainfall event, in contrast to findings in previous studies which showed that throughfall raindrops had a uniform size distribution independent of rainfall intensity. It is possible that an abrupt transition of throughfall intensity from low to high changes the distribution of throughfall raindrops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]