Microbial Respiration
Benchmark Value
Scoring Curve
This curve shows how a field measurement for this indicator would score across all available benchmark forms in this context. The scoring engine uses 4 benchmarks together — the Point form drives the primary score, while 3 guard(s) constrain the result.
Contributing Benchmarks
Evidence & Context
The calculated value of approximately 84 mg CO₂-C kg⁻¹ day⁻¹ represents a robust estimate for a high-functioning conservation rainforest.
Microbial respiration, the flux of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the soil surface resulting from microbial metabolic activity.
Microbial respiration measures the carbon dioxide released from soil by microbes, indicating soil health in tropical rainforest conservation areas.
This benchmark is derived from field-measured soil respiration in a primary forest analogue and converted to mass-based units using a soil bulk density of 0.65 g/cm³ specific to Australian tropical rainforest Ferrosols. Confidence is high due to the use of peer-reviewed data from relevant, high-functioning ecosystems and transparent calculations.
Sources (1)
Reforestation, carbon sequestration and relationships between soil attributes in the Wet Tropics of Australia (Schmidt et al., 2014)
View Source