International Academy of Ecology and Environmental Sciences Proceedings of the International Academy of Ecology and Environmental Sciences 2220-8860 13 4 2023 12 1 Shrub invasion alters the soil CO2 efflux in tropical dry deciduous forests of Madhya Pradesh, Central India 173-185 EN Parvaiz Ahmad Lone Subashree Kothandaraman Javid Ahmad Dar Najeeb Ahmad Bhat Mohammed Latif Khan http://www.iaees.org/publications/journals/piaees/articles/2023-13(4)/shrub-invasion-alters-soil-CO2-efflux.pdf> Soil CO2 efflux was measured in uninvaded (UI; Lantana cover absent) and Lantana-invaded (LI; Lantana cover larger than 50%) sites in tropical forests of Central India. Significantly (P less than 0.05) higher mean monthly CO2 efflux was recorded in LI (396.6 +- 42.8 mg CO2 m-2 h-1) than UI (342.1 +- 37.6 mg CO2 m-2 h-1) sites and ranged from 157.6 - 736.7 mg CO2 m-2 h-1 in LI and 125.8 - 614.5 mg CO2 m-2 h-1 in UI sites in January and August respectively. The efflux peaked during the rainy season (mean 553.5 CO2 m-2 h-1) followed by summer (377.1 mg CO2 m-2 h-1) and the lowest in winter (259.2 mg CO2 m-2 h-1) season in LI sites. Significantly (P less than 0.05) lower soil temperature (TS) and higher soil moisture (MS) content were observed in LI sites, whereas the higher TS and lower MS were found in UI sites. The cumulative annual soil CO2 efflux was 4105.3 and 4759.2 mg CO2 m-2 h-1 for UI and LI sites respectively. Soil CO2 efflux was significantly positively correlated with Lantana density (requals to0.76), Lantana basal area (r equals to 0.79), standing crop litter (r equals to 0.92), TS (r equals to 0.49), MS (r equals to 0.59), SOC stock (r equals to 0.66), pH (r equals to 0.56) and with mean annual precipitation (MAP) (r equals to 0.94). The present study concludes that plant invasions could alter the CO2 efflux in tropical forests, which would lead to changes in both atmospheric and soil C. Therefore, a proper management strategy and long-term monitoring are necessary to contain Lantana's expansion and its impacts.