Soil respiration in Tibetan alpine grasslands: belowground biomass and soil moisture, but not soil temperature, best explain the large-scale patterns.
The Tibetan Plateau is an essential area to study the potential feedback effects of soils to climate change due to the rapid rise in its air temperature in the past several decades and the large amounts of soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks, particularly in the permafrost. Yet it is one of the most un...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:1cb76c5e27434ae1b7a8555ffbe69f6d 2023-05-15T17:58:13+02:00 Soil respiration in Tibetan alpine grasslands: belowground biomass and soil moisture, but not soil temperature, best explain the large-scale patterns. Yan Geng Yonghui Wang Kuo Yang Shaopeng Wang Hui Zeng Frank Baumann Peter Kuehn Thomas Scholten Jin-Sheng He 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0034968 https://doaj.org/article/1cb76c5e27434ae1b7a8555ffbe69f6d EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3324551?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0034968 https://doaj.org/article/1cb76c5e27434ae1b7a8555ffbe69f6d PLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 4, p e34968 (2012) Medicine R Science Q article 2012 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0034968 2022-12-31T03:36:26Z The Tibetan Plateau is an essential area to study the potential feedback effects of soils to climate change due to the rapid rise in its air temperature in the past several decades and the large amounts of soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks, particularly in the permafrost. Yet it is one of the most under-investigated regions in soil respiration (Rs) studies. Here, Rs rates were measured at 42 sites in alpine grasslands (including alpine steppes and meadows) along a transect across the Tibetan Plateau during the peak growing season of 2006 and 2007 in order to test whether: (1) belowground biomass (BGB) is most closely related to spatial variation in Rs due to high root biomass density, and (2) soil temperature significantly influences spatial pattern of Rs owing to metabolic limitation from the low temperature in cold, high-altitude ecosystems. The average daily mean Rs of the alpine grasslands at peak growing season was 3.92 µmol CO(2) m(-2) s(-1), ranging from 0.39 to 12.88 µmol CO(2) m(-2) s(-1), with average daily mean Rs of 2.01 and 5.49 µmol CO(2) m(-2) s(-1) for steppes and meadows, respectively. By regression tree analysis, BGB, aboveground biomass (AGB), SOC, soil moisture (SM), and vegetation type were selected out of 15 variables examined, as the factors influencing large-scale variation in Rs. With a structural equation modelling approach, we found only BGB and SM had direct effects on Rs, while other factors indirectly affecting Rs through BGB or SM. Most (80%) of the variation in Rs could be attributed to the difference in BGB among sites. BGB and SM together accounted for the majority (82%) of spatial patterns of Rs. Our results only support the first hypothesis, suggesting that models incorporating BGB and SM can improve Rs estimation at regional scale. Article in Journal/Newspaper permafrost Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles PLoS ONE 7 4 e34968 |
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Medicine R Science Q Yan Geng Yonghui Wang Kuo Yang Shaopeng Wang Hui Zeng Frank Baumann Peter Kuehn Thomas Scholten Jin-Sheng He Soil respiration in Tibetan alpine grasslands: belowground biomass and soil moisture, but not soil temperature, best explain the large-scale patterns. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
The Tibetan Plateau is an essential area to study the potential feedback effects of soils to climate change due to the rapid rise in its air temperature in the past several decades and the large amounts of soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks, particularly in the permafrost. Yet it is one of the most under-investigated regions in soil respiration (Rs) studies. Here, Rs rates were measured at 42 sites in alpine grasslands (including alpine steppes and meadows) along a transect across the Tibetan Plateau during the peak growing season of 2006 and 2007 in order to test whether: (1) belowground biomass (BGB) is most closely related to spatial variation in Rs due to high root biomass density, and (2) soil temperature significantly influences spatial pattern of Rs owing to metabolic limitation from the low temperature in cold, high-altitude ecosystems. The average daily mean Rs of the alpine grasslands at peak growing season was 3.92 µmol CO(2) m(-2) s(-1), ranging from 0.39 to 12.88 µmol CO(2) m(-2) s(-1), with average daily mean Rs of 2.01 and 5.49 µmol CO(2) m(-2) s(-1) for steppes and meadows, respectively. By regression tree analysis, BGB, aboveground biomass (AGB), SOC, soil moisture (SM), and vegetation type were selected out of 15 variables examined, as the factors influencing large-scale variation in Rs. With a structural equation modelling approach, we found only BGB and SM had direct effects on Rs, while other factors indirectly affecting Rs through BGB or SM. Most (80%) of the variation in Rs could be attributed to the difference in BGB among sites. BGB and SM together accounted for the majority (82%) of spatial patterns of Rs. Our results only support the first hypothesis, suggesting that models incorporating BGB and SM can improve Rs estimation at regional scale. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Yan Geng Yonghui Wang Kuo Yang Shaopeng Wang Hui Zeng Frank Baumann Peter Kuehn Thomas Scholten Jin-Sheng He |
author_facet |
Yan Geng Yonghui Wang Kuo Yang Shaopeng Wang Hui Zeng Frank Baumann Peter Kuehn Thomas Scholten Jin-Sheng He |
author_sort |
Yan Geng |
title |
Soil respiration in Tibetan alpine grasslands: belowground biomass and soil moisture, but not soil temperature, best explain the large-scale patterns. |
title_short |
Soil respiration in Tibetan alpine grasslands: belowground biomass and soil moisture, but not soil temperature, best explain the large-scale patterns. |
title_full |
Soil respiration in Tibetan alpine grasslands: belowground biomass and soil moisture, but not soil temperature, best explain the large-scale patterns. |
title_fullStr |
Soil respiration in Tibetan alpine grasslands: belowground biomass and soil moisture, but not soil temperature, best explain the large-scale patterns. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Soil respiration in Tibetan alpine grasslands: belowground biomass and soil moisture, but not soil temperature, best explain the large-scale patterns. |
title_sort |
soil respiration in tibetan alpine grasslands: belowground biomass and soil moisture, but not soil temperature, best explain the large-scale patterns. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0034968 https://doaj.org/article/1cb76c5e27434ae1b7a8555ffbe69f6d |
genre |
permafrost |
genre_facet |
permafrost |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 4, p e34968 (2012) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3324551?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0034968 https://doaj.org/article/1cb76c5e27434ae1b7a8555ffbe69f6d |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0034968 |
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PLoS ONE |
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7 |
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e34968 |
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