Spatial patterns of soil and ecosystem respiration regulated by biological and environmental variables along a precipitation gradient in semi-arid grasslands in China

• Published in: Ecological research Vol. 31; no. 4; pp. 505 - 513
• Main Authors: Xu, Wenfang, Li, Xianglan, Liu, Wei, Li, Linghao, Hou, Longyu, Shi, Huiqiu, Xia, Jiangzhou, Liu, Dan, Zhang, Haicheng, Chen, Yang, Cai, Wenwen, Fu, Yang, Yuan, Wenping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo Springer Japan 01.07.2016; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Biomass; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Carbon; Climate change; Ecology; Ecosystem respiration; Ecosystem structure; Ecosystems; Environmental factors; Environmental impact; Evolutionary Biology; Forestry; Grassland management; Grasslands; Land use; Life Sciences; Original Article; Plant Sciences; Precipitation; Precipitation gradient; Respiration; Soil respiration; Soils; Terrestrial ecosystems; Zoology; China; China, People's Rep; Grasslands; Precipitation gradient; Biomass; Soil respiration; Ecosystem respiration
• ISSN: 0912-3814; 1440-1703
• DOI: 10.1007/s11284-016-1355-x

Precipitation is a key environmental factor in determining ecosystem structure and function. Knowledge of how soil and ecosystem respiration responds to climate change (e.g., precipitation) and human activities (e.g., grazing or clipping) is crucial for assessing the impacts of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems and for improving model simulations and predictions of future global carbon (C) cycling in response to human activities. In this study, we examined the spatial patterns of soil and ecosystem respiration along a precipitation gradient from 167.7 to 398.1 mm in a semi-arid grassland. Our results showed that soil and ecosystem respiration increased linearly with increasing mean annual precipitation. The trends were similar to those of shoot biomass, litter and soil total C content along the precipitation gradient. Our results indicated that precipitation was the primary controlling factor in determining the spatial pattern of soil and ecosystem respiration in semi-arid grasslands in China. The linear/nonlinear relationships in this study describing the variations of the ecosystem carbon process with precipitation can be useful for model development, parameterization and validation at the regional scale to improve predictions of how carbon processes in grasslands respond to climate change, land use and grassland management.