Chin J Plan Ecolo ›› 2015, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (7): 661-673.DOI: 10.17521/cjpe.2015.0063

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Net ecosystem exchange of CO2 on sunny and cloudy days over a reed wetland in the Yellow River Delta, China

CHU Xiao-Jing1,2, HAN Guang-Xuan1,*(), XING Qing-Hui1,2, YU Jun-Bao1, WU Li-Xin3, LIU Hai-Fang3, WANG Guang-Mei1, MAO Pei-Li1   

  1. 1Key Laboratory of Coastal Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, Shandong 264003, China
    2University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
    3Administration Bureau of the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve, Dongying, Shandong 257091, China
  • Online:2015-07-01 Published:2015-07-22
  • Contact: Guang-Xuan HAN
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    # Co-first authors

Abstract: Aims Clouds and aerosols change the radiation level on the land surface and indirectly alter the microclimate. Shifts in sunny and cloudy days, for example, would affect the net ecosystem exchange of CO2 (NEE) between land surface and the atmosphere. Our objective was to analyze the influence of shifts in sunny and cloudy days on NEE, its responses to light and temperature in a reed (Phragmites australis) wetland in the Yellow River Delta, China. Methods Using the eddy covariance technique, we measured the temporal changes in NEE during the growing season over the reed wetland. We selected 12 paired-days during the measurement period following two criteria: (1) the two paired days are adjacent, with one sunny day and another cloudy day; (2) no rain event during the two days. We assumed that: (1) live biomass and leaf area index (LAI) are the same during any paired-days; (2) soil moisture has no significant difference between the two adjacent days. With these criteria, we expected that radiation condition exerted the major control on NEE. Important findings Diurnal change of NEE showed a distinct U-shaped pattern on both sunny and cloudy days, but with substantial variation in its amplitude. During the daytime, NEE on sunny days was significantly higher (p < 0.01) than that on the cloudy days (n = 12). The daytime NEE response to photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) was modeled with the rectangular hyperbolic function (Eq. (1)) for both sunny and cloudy days. There appeared a significant reduction (p < 0.01) in light-saturated NEE (Amax) on cloudy days compared to the sunny days. Similarly, there was a significant decrease (p < 0.01) in daytime ecosystem respiration (Reco,daytime) on cloudy days as compared to that of the sunny day although there existed significant exponential relationships between Reco,daytime and air temperature on both sunny and cloudy days. In addition, the temperature sensitivity of ecosystem respiration (Q10) on cloudy days (1.9) was significantly lower than that of sunny days (5.5). Stepwise multiple regression analyses suggested that PAR and T explained 63% of the changes in NEE between sunny and cloudy days. By taking advantage of the natural shift of sunny and cloudy days without disturbance to the plant-soil system, our results indicated that cloud cover significantly reduced the absorption capacity of CO2 in the wetland. Thus, it is necessary to take into account the shits between sunny and cloudy days on NEE when predicting the ecosystem responses to future climate in the wetland.

Key words: sunny day, cloudy day, net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE), daytime ecosystem respiration (Reco, daytime), light response, temperature response