Responses of soil respiration to experimental warming in an alpine steppe on the Tibetan Plateau

High-latitude and high-altitude ecosystems store large amounts of carbon (C) and play a vital role in the global C cycle. Soil respiration (R-S) in these ecosystems is believed to be extremely sensitive to climate warming and could potentially trigger positive C-climate feedback. However, this evide...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental Research Letters
Main Authors: Wang, Guanqin, Li, Fei, Peng, Yunfeng, Yu, Jianchun, Zhang, Dianye, Yang, Guibiao, Fang, Kai, Wang, Jun, Mohammat, Anwar, Zhou, Guoying, Yang, Yuanhe
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: IOP PUBLISHING LTD 2019
Subjects:
climate warming
meta-analysis
carbon cycle
carbon-climate feedback
alpine ecosystem
arctic ecosystem
Environmental Sciences
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
PERMAFROST CARBON
AUTOTROPHIC RESPIRATION
ECOSYSTEM RESPIRATION
ORGANIC-CARBON
CLIMATE-CHANGE
CO2 EFFLUX
NITROGEN
PLANT
TEMPERATURE
MOISTURE
Environmental Sciences & Ecology
Arctic
Climate change
permafrost
Tundra
Online Access:http://ir.ibcas.ac.cn/handle/2S10CLM1/19817
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab3bbc
Description
Summary:High-latitude and high-altitude ecosystems store large amounts of carbon (C) and play a vital role in the global C cycle. Soil respiration (R-S) in these ecosystems is believed to be extremely sensitive to climate warming and could potentially trigger positive C-climate feedback. However, this evidence is largely derived from wet ecosystems, with limited observations from dry ecosystems. Here, we explored the responses of R-S, autotrophic (R-A), and heterotrophic (R-H) respiration under experimental warming in a dry ecosystem, an alpine steppe on the Tibetan Plateau. We assessed the effects of soil temperature and moisture dynamics on R-S, R-A, and R-H and performed a meta-analysis to examine whether the warming effects observed were similar to those reported in wet ecosystems, including Tibetan alpine meadow and arctic ecosystem. Experimental warming did not alter R-S, R-A, and R-H in this alpine steppe, likely because decreased soil moisture constrained positive warming effects. In contrast, the meta-analysis revealed that R-S exhibited a significant increase under experimental warming in both the Tibetan alpine meadow and arctic wet tundra. These results demonstrate that R-S exhibits different responses to climate warming between dry and wet ecosystems, suggesting potential more complex C-climate feedback in cold regions.

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