Journal ArticleDOI
Ecosystem carbon stocks and their changes in China’s grasslands
TLDR
Spatial patterns and temporal dynamics of grassland biomass were closely correlated with precipitation, while changes in soil C stocks exhibited close associations with soil moisture and soil texture, indicating that grassland ecosystems are C neutral.Abstract:
The knowledge of carbon (C) stock and its dynamics is crucial for understanding the role of grassland ecosystems in China’s terrestrial C cycle. To date, a comprehensive assessment on C balance in China’s grasslands is still lacking. By reviewing pub-lished literature, this study aims to evaluate ecosystem C stocks (both vegetation biomass and soil organic C) and their changes in China’s grasslands. Our results are summarized as follows: (1) biomass C density (C stock per area) of China’s grasslands differed greatly among previous studies, ranging from 215.8 to 348.1 g C m −2 with an average of 300.2 g C m −2 . Likewise, soil C density also varied greatly between 8.5 and 15.1 kg C m −2 . In total, ecosystem C stock in China’s grasslands was estimated at 29.1 Pg C. (2) Both the magnitude and direction of ecosystem C changes in China’s grasslands differed greatly among previous studies. According to recent reports, neither biomass nor soil C stock in China’s grasslands showed a significant change during the past 20 years, indicating that grassland ecosystems are C neutral. (3) Spatial patterns and temporal dynamics of grassland biomass were closely correlated with precipitation, while changes in soil C stocks exhibited close associations with soil moisture and soil texture. Human activities, such as livestock grazing and fencing could also affect ecosystem C dynamics in China’s grasslands.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Ecosystem organic carbon storage and their drivers across the drylands of China
Longwei Dong,Yuanfu Mao and Xiaoying Sun,Jin-mei Ran,Weigang Hu,Mingfei Ji,Qiajun Du,Junlan Xiong,Haiyang Gong,Shuran Yao,Muhammad Adnan Akram,Yahui Zhang,Qingqing Hou,Hailing Li,Ying Sun,Jin Lu,Xiaoting Wang,Muhammad Aqeel,Jianxiao Zhu,Michael W. I. Schmidt,Karl J. Niklas,Jianming Deng +20 more
TL;DR: Li et al. as discussed by the authors surveyed 763 plots and collected 5091 soil samples from 170 sites covering grassland and desert ecosystems across the drylands of China, finding that 10.96 Pg organic carbon is stored in these ecosystems.
Journal ArticleDOI
Underlying mechanism on source-sink carbon balance of grazed perennial grass during regrowth: Insights into optimal grazing regimes of restoration of degraded grasslands in a temperate steppe.
TL;DR: Although C assimilation decreased under medium and heavy grazing, S. grandis could optimize source-sink relationships and above- and belowground C allocation to support regrowth after grazing by the regulating activities of SPS, SS and other hormones.
Journal ArticleDOI
Pulse Effect of Precipitation: Spatial Patterns and Mechanisms of Soil Carbon Emissions
TL;DR: In this article, the authors conducted continuous and high-frequency measurements of soil CO2 release rates (Rs) for 48 hours after simulated precipitation, along a transected precipitation gradient of different grassland types (i.e., covering meadow, typical, and desert) in Inner Mongolia, China.
DissertationDOI
On the carbon dynamics of Australian subalpine grasslands
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of differences in climate on carbon balance in subalpine grassland ecosystems were investigated at two climatologically contrasting sites during 2007/08: a cooler, wetter site that sustains winter snow cover (Dargo), and a warmer, drier site that does not (Nimmo).
Journal ArticleDOI
Changes in Livestock Grazing Efficiency Incorporating Grassland Productivity: The Case of Hulun Buir, China
TL;DR: In this paper, a stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) model was used to evaluate the technical efficiency of grass-based livestock husbandry and identify the key influencing factors, which showed that the maximum value of technical efficiency was up to 0.90 and the average value was around 0.53.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Temperature sensitivity of soil carbon decomposition and feedbacks to climate change
TL;DR: This work has suggested that several environmental constraints obscure the intrinsic temperature sensitivity of substrate decomposition, causing lower observed ‘apparent’ temperature sensitivity, and these constraints may, themselves, be sensitive to climate.
Journal ArticleDOI
The carbon balance of terrestrial ecosystems in China
TL;DR: It is found that northeast China is a net source of CO2 to the atmosphere owing to overharvesting and degradation of forests, and southern China accounts for more than 65 per cent of the carbon sink, which can be attributed to regional climate change, large-scale plantation programmes active since the 1980s and shrub recovery.
Journal ArticleDOI
Ecosystem stability and compensatory effects in the Inner Mongolia grassland
TL;DR: The study provides new insights for better management and restoration of the rapidly degrading Inner Mongolia grassland and corroborate some previous findings of compensatory effects.
Journal ArticleDOI
Variations in satellite-derived phenology in China's temperate vegetation.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the possible impact of recent climate changes on growing season duration in the temperate vegetation of China, using the advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR)/normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) biweekly time-series data collected from January 1982 to December 1999 and concurrent mean temperature and precipitation data.
Journal ArticleDOI
Primary production and rain use efficiency across a precipitation gradient on the Mongolia Plateau.
Yongfei Bai,Jianguo Wu,Jianguo Wu,Qi Xing,Qingmin Pan,Jianhui Huang,Dianling Yang,Xingguo Han +7 more
TL;DR: The results clearly indicate that the patterns of both ANPP and RUE are scale dependent, and the seemingly conflicting patterns of RUE in space vs. time suggest distinctive underlying mechanisms, involving interactions among precipitation, soil N, and biotic factors.