Soil respiration in the cloud forest and dry deciduous forest of Serrania de Macuira, Colombia.

Soil respiration was studied in the elfin cloud forest and in the dry deciduous forest of Serrania de Macuira, Guajira Peninsula, Colombia. At the end of the 1985 rainy season, soil respiration was significantly higher (P < 0.001) in the cloud forest (mean daily CO2 evolution = 511 mg CO2 m-2 hr-') than in the dry deciduous forest (251 mg CO2 m-2 hr-'). In both forests, carbon dioxide evolution was higher during the night than during the day. The differences between day and night values in the cloud forest were attributed to the daily variation in fog interception. Day and night values differed more in the cloud forest than in the deciduous forest. High soil respiration rates in the cloud forest as compared to the deciduous forest were attributed to the relatively high temperature (24?C), and water content of the soils (31%), and to the abundant earthworms (64 earthworms m-2).