Linkages of aboveground plant carbon accumulation rate with ecosystem multifunctionality in alpine grassland, Qingzang Plateau

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2020.0180

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims As one of the major terrestrial ecosystems of the world, a small fluctuation of grassland soil carbon (C) would affect the carbon cycle of the terrestrial ecosystem and ecosystem multifunctionlity (EMF). The carbon accumulation rate (CAR) of aboveground community well reflects the capacity and efficiency of carbon sequestration in a field from the start to the peak of a growing season. The changes in plant CAR could influence the ability of above- and below-ground community. Currently, the majority of studies have primarily focused on the relationship between community diversity and EMF, while the linkages of CAR with EMF were understudied. We aimed to explore the process and underlying mechanism of how CAR affecting EMF in alpine grassland community. Our results would improve the understanding of EMF maintenance mechanism and provide theoretical support for alpine ecosystem management.
Methods We conducted a field transect survey which consists of a total of 115 sample sites of alpine grasslands on the Qingzang Plateau from July to August 2015. The ecosystem multifunctionality index (M) was calculated from 13 key ecosystem parameters including soil organic carbon content, total nitrogen content, total phosphorus content above- and belowground biomass etc. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI, 1982-2013) was adopted to obtain the phenology in 2015. We calculated the CAR value. To explore the underlying mechanism of how CAR affecting EMF, the annual total precipitation and temperature were extracted by the method of thin disk smooth spline interpolation based on observations of meteorological stations from 2011-2015.
Important findings Belowground biomass, soil organic carbon content, total phosphorus content and microbial biomass carbon content had high weighting for CAR (0.58, 0.80, 0.83 and 0.79) and M (1.05, 0.98, 1.02 and 0.97). There was a significantly positive correlation between CAR and M (R² = 0.45, p < 0.01). Our findings suggested that the synergism of plant community and soil elements affected CAR and further regulated EMF under the influences of precipitation and temperature.

Key words: ecosystem multifunctionlity, carbon accumulation rate, alpine grassland, soil organic carbon, Qingzang Plateau

SUN Jian, WANG Yi, LIU Guo-Hua. Linkages of aboveground plant carbon accumulation rate with ecosystem multifunctionality in alpine grassland, Qingzang Plateau[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2021, 45(5): 496-506.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2020.0180

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2021/V45/I5/496

Figures/Tables 6

Fig. 1 Sample sites in the study area (A), definition of carbon accumulation rate (CAR): the biomass production of plants from the timing of start of growing season (SOS) to the timing of the peak of growing season (POS)(B), frequency distribution of ecosystem multifunctionality index (M)(C), and frequency distribution of CAR (D).

Fig. 2 Bivariate plots using linear mixed-effect models depicting the relationships of ecosystem multifunctionality index (M)(A) and carbon accumulation rate (CAR)(B) with ecosystem parameters of aboveground biomass (AGB), belowground biomass (BGB), leaf carbon (LC), leaf nitrogen (LN), leaf phosphorus (LP), microbial biomass carbon (MBC), microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN), soil available nitrogen (SAN), soil available phosphorus (SAP), soil organic carbon (SOC), soil total nitrogen (STN), soil total phosphorus (STP) content and soil water content (SWC)(mean ± SD). Except for EMF, other data were normalized.

Fig. 3 Relationship between ecosystem multifunctionality index (M) and carbon accumulation rate (CAR). CAR is ln-transformed data.

Fig. 4 Relationships between ecosystem multifunctionality index (M), carbon accumulation rate (CAR) and different ecosystem parameters. Belowground biomass (BGB), soil organic carbon (SOC), soil total phosphorus (STP) and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) content are ln-transformed data. The shade part indicates the 95% confidence interval.

Fig. 5 Influence of annual total precipitation (ATP) and annual mean temperature (AMT) to ecosystem multifunctionality index (M) and carbon accumulation rate (CAR). ATP is ln-transformed data and AMT is (AMT + 12 °C) ln-transformed data. The shaded part indicates the 95% confidence interval.

Fig. 6 Direct and indirect impacts of climatic and key factors on ecosystem multifunctionality index (M) and carbon accumulation rate (CAR). Path with significant effect is shown in the figure (p < 0.05), solid line represents direct effect and dotted line represents indirect effect; black arrow indicates positive effect and red arrow indicates negative effect. AMT, annual mean temperature; ATP, annual total precipitation; BGB, belowground biomass; MBC, microbial biomass carbon content; SOC, soil organic carbon content; STP, soil total nitrogen content.

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