Classification and Net Primary Productivity of the Southern China’s Grasslands Ecosystem Based on Improved Comprehensive and Sequential Classiifcation System (CSCS) Approach

• Published in: 农业科学学报（英文版） no. 4; pp. 893 - 903
• Main Authors: SUN Zheng-guo, SUN Cheng-ming, ZHOU Wei, JU Wei-min, LI Jian-long
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: College of Animal Sciences and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, P.R.China%School of Life Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, P.R.China%International Institute for Earth System Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, P.R.China 2014
• Subjects: net primary productivity (NPP); improved CSCS; southern China; grasslands classes and types; hydro-thermal pattern
• ISSN: 2095-3119

This research classiifed vegetation types and evaluated net primary productivity (NPP) of southern China’s grasslands based on the improved comprehensive and sequential classiifcation system (CSCS), and proposed 5 thermal grades and 6 humidity grades. Four classes of grasslands vegetation were recognized by improved CSCS, namely, tundra grassland class, typical grassland class, mixed grassland class and alpine grassland class. At the type level, 14 types of vegetations (9 grasslands and 5 forests) were classiifed. The NPP had a trend to decrease from east to west and south to north, and the annual mean NPP was estimated to be 656.3 g Cm-2yr-1. The NPP value of alpine grassland class was relatively high, generally more than 1200 g Cm-2yr-1. The NPP value of mixed grassland class was in a range from 1000 to 1200 g Cm-2yr-1. Tundra grassland class was located in southeastern Tibet with high elevation, and its NPP value was the lowest (<600 g Cm-2yr-1). The typical grassland class distributed in most of the area, and its NPP value was generally from 600 to 1000 g Cm-2yr-1. The total NPP value in the study area was 68.46 TgC. The NPP value of typical grassland class was the highest (48.44 TgC), and mixed grassland class was the second (16.54 TgC), followed by alpine grassland class (3.22 TgC), with tundra grassland class being the lowest (0.25 TgC). For all the grasslands types, the total NPP of forest meadow was the highest (34.81TgC), followed by sparse forest brush (16.54 TgC), and montane meadow was the lowest (0.01TgC).