[Review of the factors influencing the temporal and spatial variability of soil respiration in terrestrial ecosystem].

Soil respiration is an important process in carbon cycling. Understanding the processes and controlling factors of soil respiration are crucial in investigating the terrestrial carbon cycling. This article reviews the investigations about the factors controlling the temporal and spatial variability of soil respiration. The temporal and spatial variability in soil respiration is linked with climate, vegetation and soil factors. Air temperature and precipitation generally contribute great to the variability of soil respiration. Leaf area index (LAI), litter fall and fine root biomass are three plant-related factors that can be employed to explained the variability of soil respiration, while soil carbon content and texture are two soil factors responsible for the variability of soil respiration. Generally, climate, vegetation and soil factors contribute collectively to the temporal and spatial variability of terrestrial soil respiration. Temperature and precipitation, on the one hand, directly affect the root and microbial respiration rates. On the other hand, temperature and precipitation indirectly affect soil respiration by influencing the plant and microbial growth and soil conditions. In order to understand the controlling factors of the temporal and spatial variability of soil respiration, there are four main issues need to be addressed. The issues include quantitatively partitioning the autotrophic and heterotrophic components of soil respiration, standardizing the method and scale of measuring soil respiration, coupling measurements of soil respiration with environmental factors and performing more measurements of soil respiration in wetland ecosystems.