Plant diversity positively affects short‐term soil carbon storage in experimental grasslands

Increasing atmospheric CO₂ concentration and related climate change have stimulated much interest in the potential of soils to sequester carbon. In ‘The Jena Experiment’, a managed grassland experiment on a former agricultural field, we investigated the link between plant diversity and soil carbon storage. The biodiversity gradient ranged from one to 60 species belonging to four functional groups. Stratified soil samples were taken to 30 cm depth from 86 plots in 2002, 2004 and 2006, and organic carbon contents were determined. Soil organic carbon stocks in 0–30 cm decreased from 7.3 kg C m^?2 in 2002 to 6.9 kg C m^?2 in 2004, but had recovered to 7.8 kg C m^?2 by 2006. During the first 2 years, carbon storage was limited to the top 5 cm of soil while below 10 cm depth, carbon was lost probably as short‐term effect of the land use change. After 4 years, carbon stocks significantly increased within the top 20 cm. More importantly, carbon storage significantly increased with sown species richness (log‐transformed) in all depth segments and even carbon losses were significantly smaller with higher species richness. Although increasing species diversity increased root biomass production, statistical analyses revealed that species diversity per se was more important than biomass production for changes in soil carbon. Below 20 cm depth, the presence of one functional group, tall herbs, significantly reduced carbon losses in the beginning of the experiment. Our analysis indicates that plant species richness and certain plant functional traits accelerate the build‐up of new carbon pools within 4 years. Additionally, higher plant diversity mitigated soil carbon losses in deeper horizons. This suggests that higher biodiversity might lead to higher soil carbon sequestration in the long‐term and therefore the conservation of biodiversity might play a role in greenhouse gas mitigation.     

Impact of climate change on grassland production and soil carbon worldwide

The impact of climate change and increasing atmospheric CO₂ was modelled for 31 temperate and tropical grassland sites, using the CENTURY model. Climate change increased net primary production, except in cold desert steppe regions, and CO₂ increased production everywhere. Climate change caused soil carbon to decrease overall, with a loss of 4 Pg from global grasslands after 50 years. Combined climate change and elevated CO₂ increased production and reduced global grassland C losses to 2 Pg, with tropical savannas becoming small sinks for soil C. Detection of statistically significant change in plant production would require a 16% change in measured plant production because of high year to year variability in plant production. Most of the predicted changes in plant production are less than 10%.     

天山中段北坡森林土壤有机碳库稳定性组分沿海拔的分异规律

在高纬度高海拔区域气温增幅更大的背景下,高山亚高山森林土壤有机碳稳定性组分分配比关系以及由于此差异导致对增温的反馈效应均有待深入阐释。天山森林是以雪岭云杉(Picea Schrenkiana)为单优树种的温带针叶林,在天山北坡中山带(海拔约1760—2800 m)呈垂直落差超过1000 m的带状斑块分布,便于排除混交树种的影响,而量化土壤有机碳库稳定性组分分配比关系沿海拔的分异规律,及其对气候变化的响应情况。沿海拔梯度设置森林样地并分层采集土样,研究各土层土壤总有机碳库(C_SOC)、活性碳库(C_a)、缓效性碳库(C_s)、惰性碳库(C_p)、微生物量碳(MBC)在海拔梯度上的变化特征,通过碳库活度(A)、碳库活度指数(AI)、碳库指数(CPI)、土壤碳密度(SOCD),探讨天山森林土壤有机碳稳定性组分沿海拔的分异特征。结果表明：(1)随着海拔的升高,天山中段北坡云杉森林土壤C_a占比逐步升高,C_s和C_p占比逐步降低,这意味着天山中段北坡云杉...     

Transplantation of organic surface horizons of boreal soils into warmer regions alters microbiology but not the temperature sensitivity of decomposition

Changes in soil carbon, the largest terrestrial carbon pool, are critical for the global carbon cycle, atmospheric CO₂ levels and climate. Climate warming is predicted to be most pronounced in the northern regions and therefore the large soil carbon pool residing in boreal forests will be subject to larger global warming impact than soil carbon pools in the temperate or the tropical forest. A major uncertainty in current estimates of the terrestrial carbon balance is related to decomposition of soil organic matter (SOM). We hypothesized that when soils are exposed to warmer climate the structure of the ground vegetation will change much more rapidly than the dominant tree species. This change will alter the quality and amount of litter input to the soil and induce changes in microbial communities, thus possibly altering the temperature sensitivity of SOM decomposition. We transferred organic surface soil sections from the northern borders of the boreal forest zone to corresponding forest sites in the southern borders of the boreal forest zone and studied the effects of warmer climate after an adaptation period of 2 years. The results showed that initially ground vegetation and soil microbial community structure and community functions were different in northern and southern forest sites and that 2 years of exposure to warmer climate was long enough to cause changes in these ecological indicators. The rate of SOM decomposition was approximately equally sensitive to temperature irrespective of changes in vegetation or microbial communities in the studied forest sites. However, as temperature sensitivity of the decomposition increases with decreasing temperature regime, the proportional increase in the decomposition rate in northern latitudes could lead to significant carbon losses from the soils.     

Elevated CO2 and temperature increase soil C losses from a soybean–maize ecosystem

Warming temperatures and increasing CO₂ are likely to have large effects on the amount of carbon stored in soil, but predictions of these effects are poorly constrained. We elevated temperature (canopy: +2.8 °C; soil growing season: +1.8 °C; soil fallow: +2.3 °C) for 3 years within the 9th–11th years of an elevated CO₂ (+200 ppm) experiment on a maize–soybean agroecosystem, measured respiration by roots and soil microbes, and then used a process‐based ecosystem model (DayCent) to simulate the decadal effects of warming and CO₂ enrichment on soil C. Both heating and elevated CO₂ increased respiration from soil microbes by ~20%, but heating reduced respiration from roots and rhizosphere by ~25%. The effects were additive, with no heat × CO₂ interactions. Particulate organic matter and total soil C declined over time in all treatments and were lower in elevated CO₂ plots than in ambient plots, but did not differ between heat treatments. We speculate that these declines indicate a priming effect, with increased C inputs under elevated CO₂ fueling a loss of old soil carbon. Model simulations of heated plots agreed with our observations and predicted loss of ~15% of soil organic C after 100 years of heating, but simulations of elevated CO₂ failed to predict the observed C losses and instead predicted a ~4% gain in soil organic C under any heating conditions. Despite model uncertainty, our empirical results suggest that combined, elevated CO₂ and temperature will lead to long‐term declines in the amount of carbon stored in agricultural soils.     

Modeling the Impact of Exotic Annual Brome Grasses on soil Organic Carbon Storage in a Northern Mixed-Grass Prairie

Annual brome grasses, Bromus japonicus and B. tectorum, are common invaders of northern mixed-grass prairie, and have been shown to alter the structure and function of prairie ecosystems, including plant biomass production and litter decomposition. To build on previous findings, our objective was to model the impact of annual brome grasses on soil organic carbon storage as a step towards forecasting ecological change. Specifically, we measured differences in carbon storage between patches dominated by annual bromes and perennial grasses, in addition to evaluating key plant functional characteristics that impact carbon storage. Using the CENTURY model, we simulated high- and low-brome vegetation based on differences in functional characteristics, allowing us to extrapolate the findings from the field study across a broader time scale. We sampled a prairie site in 1996 and 1997 to quantify differences between the high- and low-brome cover plots. High-brome plots averaged 40% brome cover, while the low-brome plots averaged 1% brome cover. We found differences in functional attributes for growth characteristics and litter quality, as well as minor differences in edaphic variables between the plots. Based on field measurements, more soil organic carbon was stored under high-brome vegetation than low-brome, but the differences were not statistically significant. Results from model simulations were consistent with field measurements, and suggested that this prairie ecosystem was not significantly impacted by the functional differences between high- and low-brome vegetation for the first 50 years after the brome invasion under historical management and climate. However, the model results also showed that the differences in soil organic carbon storage continue to diverge after 50 years and consequently could be significant in the future.     

Warming Reduces Carbon Losses from Grassland Exposed to Elevated Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

The flux of carbon dioxide (CO₂) between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere may ameliorate or exacerbate climate change, depending on the relative responses of ecosystem photosynthesis and respiration to warming temperatures, rising atmospheric CO₂, and altered precipitation. The combined effect of these global change factors is especially uncertain because of their potential for interactions and indirectly mediated conditions such as soil moisture. Here, we present observations of CO₂ fluxes from a multi-factor experiment in semi-arid grassland that suggests a potentially strong climate – carbon cycle feedback under combined elevated [CO₂] and warming. Elevated [CO₂] alone, and in combination with warming, enhanced ecosystem respiration to a greater extent than photosynthesis, resulting in net C loss over four years. The effect of warming was to reduce respiration especially during years of below-average precipitation, by partially offsetting the effect of elevated [CO₂] on soil moisture and C cycling. Carbon losses were explained partly by stimulated decomposition of soil organic matter with elevated [CO₂]. The climate – carbon cycle feedback observed in this semiarid grassland was mediated by soil water content, which was reduced by warming and increased by elevated [CO₂]. Ecosystem models should incorporate direct and indirect effects of climate change on soil water content in order to accurately predict terrestrial feedbacks and long-term storage of C in soil.     

Enhanced winter soil frost reduces methane emission during the subsequent growing season in a boreal peatland

Winter climate change may result in reduced snow cover and could, consequently, alter the soil frost regime and biogeochemical processes underlying the exchange of methane (CH₄) in boreal peatlands. In this study, we investigated the short‐term (1–3 years) vs. long‐term (11 years) effects of intensified winter soil frost (induced by experimental snow exclusion) on CH₄ exchange during the following growing season in a boreal peatland. In the first 3 years (2004–2006), lower CH₄ emissions in the treatment plots relative to the control coincided with delayed soil temperature increase in the treatment plots at the beginning of the growing season (May). After 11 treatment years (in 2014), CH₄ emissions were lower in the treatment plots relative to the control over the entire growing season, resulting in a reduction in total growing season CH₄ emission by 27%. From May to July 2014, reduced sedge leaf area coincided with lower CH₄ emissions in the treatment plots compared to the control. From July to August, lower dissolved organic carbon concentrations in the pore water of the treatment plots explained 72% of the differences in CH₄ emission between control and treatment. In addition, greater Sphagnum moss growth in the treatment plots resulted in a larger distance between the moss surface and the water table (i.e., increasing the oxic layer) which may have enhanced the CH₄ oxidation potential in the treatment plots relative to the control in 2014. The differences in vegetation might also explain the lower temperature sensitivity of CH₄ emission observed in the treatment plots relative to the control. Overall, this study suggests that greater soil frost, associated with future winter climate change, might substantially reduce the growing season CH₄ emission in boreal peatlands through altering vegetation dynamics and subsequently causing vegetation‐mediated effects on CH₄ exchange.     

Snow depth, soil freezing and nitrogen cycling in a northern hardwood forest landscape

Increases in soil freezing associated with decreases in snow cover have been identified as a significant disturbance to nitrogen (N) cycling in northern hardwood forests. We created a range of soil freezing intensity through snow manipulation experiments along an elevation gradient at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (HBEF) in the White Mountains, NH USA in order to improve understanding of the factors regulating freeze effects on nitrate (NO₃ ^?) leaching, nitrous oxide (N₂O) flux, potential and in situ net N mineralization and nitrification, microbial biomass carbon (C) and N content and respiration, and denitrification. While the snow manipulation treatment produced deep and persistent soil freezing at all sites, effects on hydrologic and gaseous losses of N were less than expected and less than values observed in previous studies at the HBEF. There was no relationship between frost depth, frost heaving and NO₃ ^? leaching, and a weak relationship between frost depth and winter N₂O flux. There was a significant positive relationship between dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and NO₃ ^? concentrations in treatment plots but not in reference plots, suggesting that the snow manipulation treatment mobilized available C, which may have stimulated retention of N and prevented treatment effects on N losses. While the results support the hypothesis that climate change resulting in less snow and more soil freezing will increase N losses from northern hardwood forests, they also suggest that ecosystem response to soil freezing disturbance is affected by multiple factors that must be reconciled in future research.     

Rapid loss of an ecosystem engineer: Sphagnum decline in an experimentally warmed bog

Sphagnum mosses are keystone components of peatland ecosystems. They facilitate the accumulation of carbon in peat deposits, but climate change is predicted to expose peatland ecosystem to sustained and unprecedented warming leading to a significant release of carbon to the atmosphere. Sphagnum responses to climate change, and their interaction with other components of the ecosystem, will determine the future trajectory of carbon fluxes in peatlands. We measured the growth and productivity of Sphagnum in an ombrotrophic bog in northern Minnesota, where ten 12.8‐m‐diameter plots were exposed to a range of whole‐ecosystem (air and soil) warming treatments (+0 to +9°C) in ambient or elevated (+500 ppm) CO₂. The experiment is unique in its spatial and temporal scale, a focus on response surface analysis encompassing the range of elevated temperature predicted to occur this century, and consideration of an effect of co‐occurring CO₂ altering the temperature response surface. In the second year of warming, dry matter increment of Sphagnum increased with modest warming to a maximum at 5°C above ambient and decreased with additional warming. Sphagnum cover declined from close to 100% of the ground area to <50% in the warmest enclosures. After three years of warming, annual Sphagnum productivity declined linearly with increasing temperature (13–29 g C/m² per °C warming) due to widespread desiccation and loss of Sphagnum. Productivity was less in elevated CO₂ enclosures, which we attribute to increased shading by shrubs. Sphagnum desiccation and growth responses were associated with the effects of warming on hydrology. The rapid decline of the Sphagnum community with sustained warming, which appears to be irreversible, can be expected to have many follow‐on consequences to the structure and function of this and similar ecosystems, with significant feedbacks to the global carbon cycle and climate change.     

放牧强度对内蒙古荒漠草原土壤有机碳及其空间异质性的影响

放牧是内蒙古荒漠草原主要利用方式之一,研究不同放牧强度下土壤有机碳分布规律对退化草原恢复以及推广精准放牧技术具有重要的指导意义。基于不同放牧强度长期放牧样地（0、0.93、1.82、2.71羊单位hm^-2（a/2）^-1）,采用高样本数量的取样设计并结合地统计学分析方法,研究荒漠草原土壤有机碳及其空间异质性。结果表明：中度放牧会显著降低0-30 cm土层全氮含量（P<0.05）,全磷含量随放牧强度增强出现先降低后升高趋势;放牧样地土壤有机碳含量均显著低于对照样地（P<0.05）,不同放牧强度处理土壤有机碳含量没有显著差异;土壤有机碳密度受放牧影响在0-20 cm土层出现显著下降（P<0.05）,变化趋势同有机碳含量相似,碳氮比在重度放牧区0-10 cm土层显著降低（P<0.05）。土壤有机碳空间异质性和异质性斑块的破碎程度随放牧强度增加而增大;土壤有机碳含量与海拔高度在对照、轻度放牧和中度放牧区均呈极显著负相关（P<0.01）,在重度放牧区土壤有机碳含量和海拔无显著相关性;土壤有机碳含量与土壤全氮、全磷含量均呈极显著正相关（P<0.01）。综上所述,放牧降低土壤有机碳含量,提高土壤有机碳空间异质性,土壤有机碳含量的空间变异受海拔和土壤养分含量等因素的共同影响。     

Long‐term enhanced winter soil frost alters growing season CO2 fluxes through its impact on vegetation development in a boreal peatland

At high latitudes, winter climate change alters snow cover and, consequently, may cause a sustained change in soil frost dynamics. Altered winter soil conditions could influence the ecosystem exchange of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and, in turn, provide feedbacks to ongoing climate change. To investigate the mechanisms that modify the peatland CO₂ exchange in response to altered winter soil frost, we conducted a snow exclusion experiment to enhance winter soil frost and to evaluate its short‐term (1–3 years) and long‐term (11 years) effects on CO₂ fluxes during subsequent growing seasons in a boreal peatland. In the first 3 years after initiating the treatment, no significant effects were observed on either gross primary production (GPP) or ecosystem respiration (ER). However, after 11 years, the temperature sensitivity of ER was reduced in the treatment plots relative to the control, resulting in an overall lower ER in the former. Furthermore, early growing season GPP was also lower in the treatment plots than in the controls during periods with photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) ≥800 μmol m^?2 s^?1, corresponding to lower sedge leaf biomass in the treatment plots during the same period. During the peak growing season, a higher GPP was observed in the treatment plots under the low light condition (i.e. PPFD 400 μmol m^?2 s^?1) compared to the control. As Sphagnum moss maximizes photosynthesis at low light levels, this GPP difference between the plots may have been due to greater moss photosynthesis, as indicated by greater moss biomass production, in the treatment plots relative to the controls. Our study highlights the different responses to enhanced winter soil frost among plant functional types which regulate CO₂ fluxes, suggesting that winter climate change could considerably alter the growing season CO₂ exchange in boreal peatlands through its effect on vegetation development.     

Seasonal Changes in Soil Respiration with An Elevation Gradient in <i>Abies nephrolepis</i> (Trautv.) Maxim. Forests in North China

Soil respiration (Rs) plays an important role in regulating carbon cycle of terrestrial ecosystems and presents temporal and spatial heterogeneity. Abies nephrolepis is a tree species that prefers the cold and wet environment and is mainly distributed in Northeast Asia and East Asia. The Rs variations of Abies nephrolepis forests communities are generally environmental-sensitive and can effectively reflect the adaptive responses of forest ecosystems to climate change. In this study, the growing-seasonal variations of Rs, soil temperature, soil water content and soil properties of Abies nephrolepis forests were analyzed along an altitude gradient (2000, 2100, 2200 and 2300 m) over two years on Wutai Mountain in North China. As the main results showed, soil respiration keeps the same change trend as soil temperature and reached peaks in July at 2000 m in 2019 and 2020. During 26^th July to 25^th October in 2019 and 27^th May to 23^rd October in 2020, on the whole, the soil temperature independently explained 76.2% of Rs variations while the soil water content independently explained 26.8%. Soil temperature and soil water content jointly explained 81.8% of Rs variations. Soil properties explained 61.8% and 69.6% of Rs variation in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Soil organic carbon content and soil enzyme activity had the signifi- cant (P < 0.01) negative and positive relationships, respectively, with Rs variation. With altitudes evaluated from 2000 to 2300 m, soil respiration temperature sensitivity (Q₁0) and the soil organic carbon content increased by 12.4% and 10.4%, respectively, while invertase activity, cellulase activity and urease activity dropped by 41.2%, 29.45% and 38.19%, respectively. The results demonstrate that (1) soil temperature is the major factor affecting Rs variations in Abies nephrolepis forests; (2) weakened microbial carbon metabolism in high-altitude areas results in the accumulation of soil organic carbon; (3) with a higher Q₁, forest ecosystems in high-altitude areas might be more easily affected by climate change; (4) climate warming might accelerate the consumption of soil organic carbon sink in forest ecosystems, especially in high-altitude areas.     

施肥对油茶园土壤呼吸和异养呼吸及其温度敏感性的影响

油茶是中国南方重要的木本食用油料树种,研究施肥对油茶园土壤呼吸及其温度敏感性的影响,对于估算中国南方典型种植园林温室气体排放及其对气候变化的响应具有重要意义。设置对照(CK)、施肥(OF)、断根(CK-T)和断根施肥(OF-T)4个处理,采用静态箱-气相色谱法,通过多年观测,分析探讨施肥对油茶园土壤呼吸和异养呼吸及其温度敏感性的影响。结果表明:(1)施肥对油茶园土壤呼吸和异养呼吸无显著影响。研究期间,各处理(OF、CK、OF-T、CK-T)土壤CO_2通量依次为(77.91±2.59)、(73.71±0.97)、(66.82±1.02)mg C m~(-2)h~(-1)和(66.84±3.94)mg C m~(-2)h~(-1);(2)各处理土壤呼吸温度敏感性(Q_(10))表现为OF-T(1.96±0.01)CK-T(1.79±0.03)OF(1.77±0.01)CK(1.75±0.03),其中,OF-T处理下Q_(10)显著高于其他3个处理,即施肥显著增加了断根处理土壤呼吸Q_(10);(3)施肥显著增加了土壤表层NH_4~+-N和NO_3~--N含量,Q_(10)与土壤表层NH_4~+-N和NO_3~--N含量表现出显著的正相关关系。     

A non-native invasive grass increases soil carbon flux in a Hawaiian tropical dry forest

Non‐native plants are invading terrestrial ecosystems across the globe, yet little is known about how invasions impact carbon (C) cycling or how these impacts will be influenced by climate change. We quantified the effect of a non‐native C₄ grass invasion on soil C pools and fluxes in a Hawaiian tropical dry forest over 2 years in which annual precipitation was average (Year 1) and ～60% higher than average (Year 2). Work was conducted in a series of forested plots where the grass understory was completely removed (removal plots) or left intact (grass plots) for 3 years before experiment initiation. We hypothesized that grass invasion would: (i) not change total soil C pools, (ii) increase the flux of C into and out of soils, and (iii) increase the sensitivity of soil C flux to variability in precipitation. In grass plots, grasses accounted for 25–34% of litter layer C and ～70% of fine root C. However, no differences were observed between treatments in the size of any soil C pools. Moreover, grass‐derived C constituted a negligible fraction of the large mineral soil C pool (< 3%) despite being present in the system for ≥50 years. Tree litterfall was ～45% lower in grass plots, but grass‐derived litterfall more than compensated for this reduction in both years. Annual cumulative soil‐surface CO₂ efflux (R_soil) was ～40% higher in grass plots in both years, and increased in both treatments by ～36% in the wetter Year 2. Despite minimal grass‐derived mineral soil C, > 75% of R_soil in grass plots was of C₄ (i.e. grass) origin. These results demonstrate that grass invasion in forest ecosystems can increase the flux of C into and out of soils without changing total C pools, at least over the short term and as long as the native tree canopy remains intact, and that invasion‐mediated changes in belowground C cycling are sensitive to precipitation.     

Positive climate feedbacks of soil microbial communities in a semi‐arid grassland

Soil microbial communities may be able to rapidly respond to changing environments in ways that change community structure and functioning, which could affect climate–carbon feedbacks. However, detecting microbial feedbacks to elevated CO₂ (eCO₂) or warming is hampered by concurrent changes in substrate availability and plant responses. Whether microbial communities can persistently feed back to climate change is still unknown. We overcame this problem by collecting microbial inocula at subfreezing conditions under eCO₂ and warming treatments in a semi‐arid grassland field experiment. The inoculant was incubated in a sterilised soil medium at constant conditions for 30 days. Microbes from eCO₂ exhibited an increased ability to decompose soil organic matter (SOM) compared with those from ambient CO₂ plots, and microbes from warmed plots exhibited increased thermal sensitivity for respiration. Microbes from the combined eCO₂ and warming plots had consistently enhanced microbial decomposition activity and thermal sensitivity. These persistent positive feedbacks of soil microbial communities to eCO₂ and warming may therefore stimulate soil C loss.     

Litter type and soil minerals control temperate forest soil carbon response to climate change

Temperate forest soil organic carbon (C) represents a significant pool of terrestrial C that may be released to the atmosphere as CO₂ with predicted changes in climate. To address potential feedbacks between climate change and terrestrial C turnover, we quantified forest soil C response to litter type and temperature change as a function of soil parent material. We collected soils from three conifer forests dominated by ponderosa pine (PP; Pinus ponderosa Laws.); white fir [WF; Abies concolor (Gord. and Glend.) Lindl.]; and red fir (RF; Abies magnifica A. Murr.) from each of three parent materials, granite (GR), basalt (BS), and andesite (AN) in the Sierra Nevada of California. Field soils were incubated at their mean annual soil temperature (MAST), with addition of native ¹³C‐labeled litter to characterize soil C mineralization under native climate conditions. Further, we incubated WF soils at PP MAST with ¹³C‐labeled PP litter, and RF soils at WF MAST with ¹³C‐labeled WF litter to simulate a migration of MAST and litter type, and associated change in litter quality, up‐elevation in response to predicted climate warming. Results indicated that total CO₂ and percent of CO₂ derived from soil C varied significantly by parent material, following the pattern of GR>BS>AN. Regression analyses indicated interactive control of C mineralization by litter type and soil minerals. Soils with high short‐range‐order (SRO) mineral content exhibited little response to varying litter type, whereas PP litter enriched in acid‐soluble components promoted a substantial increase of extant soil C mineralization in soils of low SRO mineral content. Climate change conditions increased soil C mineralization greater than 200% in WF forest soils. In contrast, little to no change in soil C mineralization was noted for the RF forest soils, suggesting an ecosystem‐specific climate change response. The climate change response varied by parent material, where AN soils exhibited minimal change and GR and BS soils mineralized substantially greater soil C. This study corroborates the varied response in soil C mineralization by parent material and highlights how the soil mineral assemblage and litter type may interact to control conifer forest soil C response to climate change.     

Future wood productivity of Pinus radiata in New Zealand under expected climatic changes

The physiologically based growth model CenW was used to simulate wood‐productivity responses of Pinus radiata forests to climate change in New Zealand. The model was tested under current climatic conditions against a comprehensive set of observations from growth plots located throughout the country. Climate change simulations were based on monthly climate change fields of 12 GCMs forced by the SRES B1, A1B and A2 emission scenarios for 2040 and 2090. Simulations used either constant or increasing CO₂ concentrations corresponding to the different emission scenarios. With constant CO₂, there were only slight growth responses to climate change across the country as a whole. More specifically, there were slight growth reductions in the warmer north but gains in the cooler south, especially at higher altitudes. For sites where P. radiata is currently grown, and across the full suite of GCMs and emission scenarios, changes in wood productivity averaged +3% for both 2040 and 2090. When increasing CO₂ concentration was also included, responses of wood productivity were generally positive, with average increases of 19% by 2040 and 37% by 2090. These responses varied regionally, ranging from relatively minor changes in the north of the country to very significant increases in the south, where the beneficial effect of increasing CO₂ combined with the beneficial effect of increasing temperatures. These relatively large responses to CO₂ depend on maintenance of the current adequate fertility levels in most commercial plantations. Productivity enhancements came at the expense of some soil‐carbon losses. Average losses for the country were simulated to average 3.5% under constant CO₂ and 1.5% with increasing CO₂ concentration. Again, there were regional differences, with larger losses for regions with lesser growth enhancements, and lesser reductions in regions where greater productivity enhancements could partly balance the effect of faster decomposition activity.     

Belowground carbon responses to experimental warming regulated by soil moisture change in an alpine ecosystem of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

Recent studies found that the largest uncertainties in the response of the terrestrial carbon cycle to climate change might come from changes in soil moisture under the elevation of temperature. Warming‐induced change in soil moisture and its level of influence on terrestrial ecosystems are mostly determined by climate, soil, and vegetation type and their sensitivity to temperature and moisture. Here, we present the results from a warming experiment of an alpine ecosystem conducted in the permafrost region of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau using infrared heaters. Our results show that 3 years of warming treatments significantly elevated soil temperature at 0–100 cm depth, decreased soil moisture at 10 cm depth, and increased soil moisture at 40–100 cm depth. In contrast to the findings of previous research, experimental warming did not significantly affect NH ₄ ⁺‐N, NO ₃ ⁻‐N, and heterotrophic respiration, but stimulated the growth of plants and significantly increased root biomass at 30–50 cm depth. This led to increased soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, and liable carbon at 30–50 cm depth, and increased autotrophic respiration of plants. Analysis shows that experimental warming influenced deeper root production via redistributed soil moisture, which favors the accumulation of belowground carbon, but did not significantly affected the decomposition of soil organic carbon. Our findings suggest that future climate change studies need to take greater consideration of changes in the hydrological cycle and the local ecosystem characteristics. The results of our study will aid in understanding the response of terrestrial ecosystems to climate change and provide the regional case for global ecosystem models.     

Terrestrial carbon‐cycle feedback to climate warming: experimental evidence on plant regulation and impacts of biofuel feedstock harvest

Feedback between global carbon (C) cycles and climate change is one of the major uncertainties in projecting future global warming. Coupled carbon–climate models all demonstrated a positive feedback between terrestrial C cycle and climate warming. The positive feedback results from decreased net primary production (NPP) in most models and increased respiratory C release by all the models under climate warming. Those modeling results present interesting hypotheses of future states of ecosystems and climate, which are yet to be tested against experimental results. In this study, we examined ecosystem C balance and its major components in a warming and clipping experiment in a North America tallgrass prairie. Infrared heaters have been used to elevate soil temperature by approximately 2 °C continuously since November 1999. Clipping once a year was to mimic hay or biofuel feedstock harvest. On average of data over 6 years from 2000 to 2005, estimated NPP under warming increased by 14% without clipping (P<0.05) and 26% with clipping (P<0.05) in comparison with that under control. Warming did not result in instantaneous increases in soil respiration in 1999 and 2000 but significantly increased it by approximately 8% without clipping (P<0.05) from 2001 to 2005. Soil respiration under warming increased by 15% with clipping (P<0.05) from 2000 to 2005. Warming‐stimulated plant biomass production, due to enhanced C₄ dominance, extended growing seasons, and increased nitrogen uptake and use efficiency, offset increased soil respiration, leading to no change in soil C storage at our site. However, biofuel feedstock harvest by biomass removal resulted in significant soil C loss in the clipping and control plots but was carbon negative in the clipping and warming plots largely because of positive interactions of warming and clipping in stimulating root growth. Our results demonstrate that plant production processes play a critical role in regulation of ecosystem carbon‐cycle feedback to climate change in both the current ambient and future warmed world.