Spatial patterns of soil and ecosystem respiration regulated by biological and environmental variables along a precipitation gradient in semi-arid grasslands in China

Precipitation is a key environmental factor in determining ecosystem structure and function. Knowledge of how soil and ecosystem respiration responds to climate change (e.g., precipitation) and human activities (e.g., grazing or clipping) is crucial for assessing the impacts of climate change on ter...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecological research 2016-07, Vol.31 (4), p.505-513
Main Authors: Xu, Wenfang, Li, Xianglan, Liu, Wei, Li, Linghao, Hou, Longyu, Shi, Huiqiu, Xia, Jiangzhou, Liu, Dan, Zhang, Haicheng, Chen, Yang, Cai, Wenwen, Fu, Yang, Yuan, Wenping
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavioral Sciences
Biomass
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Carbon
Climate change
Ecology
Ecosystem respiration
Ecosystem structure
Ecosystems
Environmental factors
Environmental impact
Evolutionary Biology
Forestry
Grassland management
Grasslands
Land use
Life Sciences
Original Article
Plant Sciences
Precipitation
Precipitation gradient
Respiration
Soil respiration
Soils
Terrestrial ecosystems
Zoology
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Summary:Precipitation is a key environmental factor in determining ecosystem structure and function. Knowledge of how soil and ecosystem respiration responds to climate change (e.g., precipitation) and human activities (e.g., grazing or clipping) is crucial for assessing the impacts of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems and for improving model simulations and predictions of future global carbon (C) cycling in response to human activities. In this study, we examined the spatial patterns of soil and ecosystem respiration along a precipitation gradient from 167.7 to 398.1 mm in a semi-arid grassland. Our results showed that soil and ecosystem respiration increased linearly with increasing mean annual precipitation. The trends were similar to those of shoot biomass, litter and soil total C content along the precipitation gradient. Our results indicated that precipitation was the primary controlling factor in determining the spatial pattern of soil and ecosystem respiration in semi-arid grasslands in China. The linear/nonlinear relationships in this study describing the variations of the ecosystem carbon process with precipitation can be useful for model development, parameterization and validation at the regional scale to improve predictions of how carbon processes in grasslands respond to climate change, land use and grassland management.
ISSN:0912-3814
1440-1703
DOI:10.1007/s11284-016-1355-x