Responses of a rice–wheat rotation agroecosystem to experimental warming

• Published in: Ecological research Vol. 28; no. 6; pp. 959 - 967
• Main Authors: Cheng, Hao, Ren, Wenwei, Ding, Lele, Liu, Zengfu, Fang, Changming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo Springer Japan 01.11.2013; Springer; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Agricultural ecosystems; Agricultural practices; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Behavioral Sciences; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Carbon dioxide; Climate change; Crop production; Crop rotation; Ecology; Evapotranspiration; Evolutionary Biology; Experimental warming; Forestry; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General agroecology; General agroecology. Agricultural and farming systems. Agricultural development. Rural area planning. Landscaping; General agronomy. Plant production; General aspects; Generalities. Agricultural and farming systems. Agricultural development; Global warming; Grain; Growing season; Life Sciences; Organic carbon; Original Article; Phenology; Plant Sciences; Respiration; Rice; Rice–winter wheat rotation; Soil respiration; Soil surfaces; Soil temperature; Soils; Surface temperature; Synecology; Water use; Wheat; Winter wheat; Zoology; Rice–winter wheat rotation; Soil respiration; Experimental warming; Evapotranspiration; Warming; Monocotyledones; Rice―winter wheat rotation; Experimental study; Agroecosystem; Soils; Oryza; Gramineae; Angiospermae; Cereal; Spermatophyta; Respiration; Wheat; Triticum aestivum
• ISSN: 0912-3814; 1440-1703
• DOI: 10.1007/s11284-013-1078-1

Climate change is likely to affect agroecosystems in many ways. This study was performed to investigate how a rice–winter wheat rotation agroecosystem in southeast China would respond to global warming. By using an infrared heater system, the soil surface temperature was maintained about 1.5 °C above ambient milieu over 3 years. In the third growing season (2009–2010), the evapotranspiration (ET) rate, crop production, soil respiration, and soil carbon pool were monitored. The ET rate was 23 % higher in the warmed plot as compared to the control plot during the rice paddy growing season, and the rice grain yield was 16.3 % lower, but there was no significant difference in these parameters between the plots during the winter wheat-growing season. The phenology of the winter wheat shifted under experimental warming, and ET may decrease late in the winter wheat-growing season. Experimental warming significantly enhanced soil respiration, with mean annual soil respiration rates of 2.57 ± 0.17 and 1.96 ± 0.06 μmol CO 2 m −2  s −1 observed in the warmed and control plots, respectively. After 3 years of warming, a significant decrease in the total organic carbon was observed, but only in the surface soil (0–5 cm). Warming also stimulated the belowground biomass, which may have compensated for any heat-induced loss of soil organic carbon. Paddy rice seemed to be more vulnerable to warming than winter wheat in terms of water-use efficiency and grain production.