Soil Chemical Analysis

For base year 2010, anthropogenic activities created ~210 (190 to 230) TgN of reactive nitrogen Nr from N2. This human-caused creation of reactive nitrogen in 2010 is at least 2 times larger than the rate of natural terrestrial creation of ~58 TgN (50 to 100 TgN yr−1) (Table 6.9, Section 1a). Note that the estimate of natural terrestrial biological fixation (58 TgN yr−1) is lower than former estimates (100 TgN yr−1, Galloway et al., 2004), but the ranges overlap, 50 to 100 TgN yr−1 vs. 90 to 120 TgN yr−1, respectively). Of this created reactive nitrogen, NOx and NH3 emissions from anthropogenic sources are about fourfold greater than natural emissions (Table 6.9, Section 1b). A greater portion of the NH3 emissions is deposited to the continents rather than to the oceans, relative to the deposition of NOy, due to the longer atmospheric residence time of the latter. These deposition estimates are lower limits, as they do not include organic nitrogen species. New model and measurement information (Kanakidou et al., 2012) suggests that incomplete inclusion of emissions and atmospheric chemistry of reduced and oxidized organic nitrogen components in current models may lead to systematic underestimates of total global reactive nitrogen deposition by up to 35% (Table 6.9, Section 1c). Discharge of reactive nitrogen to the coastal oceans is ~45 TgN yr−1 (Table 6.9, Section 1d). Denitrification converts Nr back to atmospheric N2. The current estimate for the production of atmospheric N2 is 110 TgN yr−1 (Bouwman et al., 2013).

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Carbon and Other Biogeochemical Cycles

Terrestrial net primary production (NPP) quantifies the amount of atmospheric carbon fixed by plants and accumulated as biomass. Previous studies have shown that climate constraints were relaxing with increasing temperature and solar radiation, allowing an upward trend in NPP from 1982 through 1999. The past decade (2000 to 2009) has been the warmest since instrumental measurements began, which could imply continued increases in NPP; however, our estimates suggest a reduction in the global NPP of 0.55 petagrams of carbon. Large-scale droughts have reduced regional NPP, and a drying trend in the Southern Hemisphere has decreased NPP in that area, counteracting the increased NPP over the Northern Hemisphere. A continued decline in NPP would not only weaken the terrestrial carbon sink, but it would also intensify future competition between food demand and proposed biofuel production.

Drought-Induced Reduction in Global Terrestrial Net Primary Production from 2000 Through 2009

In response to ecosystem degradation from rapid economic development, China began investing heavily in protecting and restoring natural capital starting in 2000. We report on China's first national ecosystem assessment (2000-2010), designed to quantify and help manage change in ecosystem services, including food production, carbon sequestration, soil retention, sandstorm prevention, water retention, flood mitigation, and provision of habitat for biodiversity. Overall, ecosystem services improved from 2000 to 2010, apart from habitat provision. China's national conservation policies contributed significantly to the increases in those ecosystem services.

Improvements in ecosystem services from investments in natural capital

Prefaces Acknowledgements 1. Mountains and their climatological study 2. Geographical controls of mountain meteorological elements 3. Circulation systems related to orography 4. Climatic characteristics of mountains 5. Regional case studies 6. Mountain bioclimatology 7. Changes in mountain climates Appendix General index Author index.

Mountain Weather and Climate

This study analyzes the temporal change of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for temperate grasslands in China and its correlation with climatic variables over the period of 1982–1999. Average NDVI of the study area increased at rates of 0.5% yr−1 for the growing season (April–October), 0.61% yr−1 for spring (April and May), 0.49% yr−1 for summer (June–August), and 0.6% yr−1 for autumn (September and October) over the study period. The humped-shape pattern between coefficient of correlation (R) of the growing season NDVI to precipitation and growing season precipitation documents various responses of grassland growth to changing precipitation, while the decreased R values of NDVI to temperature with increase of temperature implies that increased temperature declines sensitivity of plant growth to changing temperature. The results also suggest that the NDVI trends induced by climate changes varied between different vegetation types and seasons.

NDVI-based increase in growth of temperate grasslands and its responses to climate changes in China

Based on the data from China’s second national soil survey and field observations in northwest China, we estimated soil organic carbon (SOC) storage in China and investigated its spatial and vertical distribution. China’s SOC storage in a depth of 1 meter was estimated as 69.1 Pg (1015 g), with an average density of 7.8 kg m−2. About 48% of the storage was concentrated in the top 30 cm. The SOC density decreased from the southeast to the northwest, and increased from arid to semi-humid zone in northern China and from tropical to cold-temperate zone in the eastern part of the country. The vertical distribution of SOC differed in various climatic zones and biomes; SOC distributed deeper in arid climate and water-limited biomes than in humid climate. An analysis of general linear model suggested that climate, vegetation, and soil texture significantly influenced spatial pattern of SOC, explaining 78.2% of the total variance, and that climate and vegetation interpreted 78.9% of the total variance in the vertical SOC distribution.

Storage, patterns and environmental controls of soil organic carbon in China

Aim To investigate large-scale patterns of above-ground and below-ground biomass partitioning in grassland ecosystems and to test the isometric theory at the community level.

Location  Northern China, in diverse grassland types spanning temperate grasslands in arid and semi-arid regions to alpine grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau.

Methods  We investigated above-ground and below-ground biomass in China's grasslands by conducting five consecutive sampling campaigns across the northern part of the country during 2001–05. We then documented the root : shoot ratio (R/S) and its relationship with climatic factors for China's grasslands. We further explored relationships between above-ground and below-ground biomass across different grassland types.

Results  Our results indicated that the overall R/S of China's grasslands was larger than the global average (6.3 vs. 3.7). The R/S for China's grasslands did not show any significant trend with either mean annual temperature or mean annual precipitation. Above-ground biomass was nearly proportional to below-ground biomass with a scaling exponent (the slope of log–log linear relationship between above-ground and below-ground biomass) of 1.02 across various grassland types. The slope did not differ significantly between temperate and alpine grasslands or between steppe and meadow.

Main conclusions  Our findings support the isometric theory of above-ground and below-ground biomass partitioning, and suggest that above-ground biomass scales isometrically with below-ground biomass at the community level.

Large-scale pattern of biomass partitioning across China's grasslands

Anthropogenic acid deposition may lead to soil acidification, with soil buffering capacity regulating the magnitude of any soil pH change. However, little evidence is available from large-scale observations. Here, we evaluated changes in soil pH across northern China's grasslands over the last two decades using soil profiles obtained from China's Second National Soil Inventory during the 1980s and a more recent regional soil survey during 2001–2005. A transect from the central-southern Tibetan Plateau to the eastern Inner Mongolian Plateau, where Kriging interpolation provided robust predictions of the spatial distribution of soil pH, was then selected to examine pH changes during the survey period. Our results showed that soil pH in the surface layer had declined significantly over the last two decades, with an overall decrease of 0.63 units (95% confidence interval = 0.54–0.73 units). The decline of soil pH was observed in both alpine grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau and temperate grasslands on the Inner Mongolian Plateau. Soil pH decreased more intensively in low soil carbonate regions, while changes of soil pH showed no significant associations with soil cation exchange capacity. These results suggest that grassland soils across northern China have experienced significant acidification from the 1980s to 2000s, with soil carbonates buffering the increase in soil acidity. The buffering process may induce a large loss of carbon from soil carbonates and thus alter the carbon balance in these globally important ecosystems.

Significant soil acidification across northern China's grasslands during 1980s–2000s

Climate warming is likely to accelerate the decomposition of soil organic carbon (SOC) which may lead to an increase of carbon release from soils, and thus provide a positive feedback to climate change. However, SOC dynamics in grassland ecosystems over the past two decades remains controversial. In this study, we estimated the magnitude of SOC stock in northern China's grasslands using 981 soil profiles surveyed from 327 sites across the northern part of the country during 2001–2005. We also examined the changes of SOC stock by comparing current measurements with historical records of 275 soil profiles derived from China's National Soil Inventory during the 1980s. Our results showed that, SOC stock in the upper 30 cm in northern China's grasslands was estimated to be 10.5 Pg C (1 Pg=1015 g), with an average density (carbon stock per area) of 5.3 kg C m−2. SOC density (SOCD) did not show significant association with mean annual temperature, but was positively correlated with mean annual precipitation. SOCD increased with soil moisture and reached a plateau when soil moisture was above 30%. Site-level comparison indicated that grassland SOC stock did not change significantly over the past two decades, with a change of 0.08 kg C m−2, ranging from −0.30 to 0.46 kg C m−2 at 95% confidence interval. Transect-scale comparison confirmed that grassland SOC stock remained relatively constant from 1980s to 2000s, suggesting that soils in northern China's grasslands have been carbon neutral over the last 20 years.

Anwar Mohammat

Papers

NDVI-based increase in growth of temperate grasslands and its responses to climate changes in China

Storage, patterns and environmental controls of soil organic carbon in China

Large-scale pattern of biomass partitioning across China's grasslands

Significant soil acidification across northern China's grasslands during 1980s–2000s

Soil carbon stock and its changes in northern China's grasslands from 1980s to 2000s