Effects of litter removal and addition on ecosystem carbon fluxes in a typical steppe

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2016.0083

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims Our objectives were to investigate: 1) How does litter affect the ecosystem carbon fluxes in mature and degraded community ecosystems? and 2) What are the effects of litter on the ecosystem carbon fluxes of the two ecosystems?

Methods The study was carried out at Baiyinxile Ranch experiment site, which is located in the semiarid agriculture-pasture transition region in southeastern Nei Mongol, China. The treatments were litter removal (50% and 100%) in mature community and litter addition (50% and 100%) in degraded community. We measured net ecosystem CO₂ exchange (NEE) by the chamber method during the growing season of 2013 and 2014.

Important findings Our results showed that there were significant seasonal changes of NEE in both mature and degraded community. After the consecutive treatments for two years, in mature community, the 50% litter removal significantly increased NEE and the 100% litter removal significantly reduced the NEE, while litter removal had no significant effect on the ecosystem gross primary productivity (GEP) and ecosystem respiration (ER). In the degraded community, litter addition significantly increased NEE and GEP and had no effect on ER. Meanwhile, neither litter removal nor litter addition had significant effect on the total ecosystem respiration (ER). In both communities, the correlation between GEP and soil temperature at 10 cm was significantly positive (p < 0.05). However, the changes of GEP and NEE under litter treatments was contrary to the changes of soil temperature, and consistent with the changes of soil moisture content at 10 cm depth. We concluded that the mechanism underlying the effects of litter removal and addition on the carbon flux of ecosystem was mainly attributed to soil moisture and above ground biomass.

http://jtp.cnki.net/bilingual/detail/html/ZWSB201803010

Key words: litter, gross ecosystem productivity, ecosystem respiration, net ecosystem CO₂exchange

ZHANG Su-Yan, JIANG Hong-Zhi, WANG Yang, ZHANG Yan-Jie, LU Shun-Bao, BAI Yong-Fei. Effects of litter removal and addition on ecosystem carbon fluxes in a typical steppe[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2018, 42(3): 349-360.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2016.0083

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2018/V42/I3/349

Figures/Tables 8

Fig. 1 Dynamics of daily mean temperature (curve) and daily precipitation (bars) in 2014 and 2015.

Table 1 The amounts (g·m-2) of litter removal under different treatments in the mature community in 2013 and 2014

处理 Treatment	2013	2014
对照 Control	0	0
剪碎凋落物, 不移除0, litter cut but not removed	0	0
凋落物去除50% 50% litter removal	333	61
凋落物去除100% 100% litter removal	667	122

Table 2 The amounts (g·m-2) of litter addition under different treatments in the degraded community in 2013 and 2014

处理 Treatment	2013	2014
对照 Control	0	0
凋落物添加50% 50% litter addition	333	61
凋落物添加100% 100% litter addition	667	122

Fig. 2 Effects of litter removal in the mature community and litter addition in the degraded community on soil temperature and soil moisture in 2014 and 2015 (mean ± SE). Different small letters a, b and c indicate significant differences among treatments in the same community (p < 0.05). ns indicates no significant differences among treatments (p > 0.05). -50%, litter removal of 50%; -100%, litter removal of 100%; +50%, 50% litter addition; +100%, 100% litter addition.

Fig. 3 Effects of litter removal in the mature community and litter addition in the degraded community on aboveground biomass (mean ± SE). Different small letters a and b indicate significant differences among treatments in the same community (p < 0.05). ns indicates no significant differences among treatments (p > 0.05). -50%, litter removal of 50%; -100%, litter removal of 100%; +50%, 50% litter addition; +100%, 100% litter addition.

Table 3 Effects of litter removal and addition on gross ecosystem productivity (GEP), ecosystem respiration (ER) and net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE) based on repeated measures ANOVA

指标 Index	因素 Factor	自由度 Degree of freedom	p值 p value
指标 Index	因素 Factor	自由度 Degree of freedom	成熟群落 Mature community	退化群落 Degraded community
GEP	时间 Time	5	0.000^****	0.000^****
	处理 Treatment	2	0.132	0.037^*
	时间×处理 Time × treatment	10	0.000^****	0.000^****
ER	时间 time	5	0.000^****	0.000^****
	处理 Treatment	2	0.605	0.709
	时间×处理 Time × treatment	10	0.047^*	0.189
NEE	时间 Time	5	0.000^****	0.000^****
	处理 Treatment	2	0.008^**	0.018^*
	时间×处理 Time × treatment	10	0.000^****	0.013^*

Fig. 4 Seasonal dynamics of net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE), ecosystem respiration (ER) and gross ecosystem productivity (GEP) under litter removal and addition treatments in the two communities. Different small letters a, b, and c indicate significant differences among treatments (p < 0.05). ns indicates no significant difference among treatments (p > 0.05). -50%, litter removal of 50%; -100%, litter removal of 100%; +50%, 50% litter addition; +100%, 100% litter addition.

Fig. 5 Correlation analysis of the two communitiess of net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE), ecosystem respiration (ER) and gross ecosystem productivity (GEP) and soil temperature under litter removal and addition treatments. -50%, litter removal of 50%; -100%, litter removal of 100%; +50%, 50% litter addition; +100%, 100% litter addition.

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