Coupling-decoupling of soil CO2 and CH4 fluxes and their responses to temperature in arid and semi-arid regions of China

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2021.0390

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims Arid and semi-arid regions are typical ecologically fragile areas, and they also have an important impact on global warming. Those regions are considered to be important CH₄ sinks since most soils are under aerobic conditions. Studies have found that along with the increase of CH₄ uptake velocity, the rate of CO₂ emissions also has increased. This study was carried out to examine whether there is an offset phenomenon and under what environmental conditions it occurs.

Methods Based on the integration of soil greenhouse gas fluxes and relevant environmental data in arid and semi-arid regions of China, correlations between soil CO₂ and soil CH₄ fluxes, on seasonal and daily scales, were analyzed.

Important findings The results showed that there were three levels of soil CO₂ and soil CH₄ flux, i.e., synergy (positively correlated), offset (negatively correlated), and random (not correlated). Among which, the proportion of random relationships was the highest, on seasonal and daily scales 83% and 54%, respectively. Compared to water content and vegetation conditions, air temperature correlated with the correlations between the two fluxes more strongly, showing a quadratic relationship (the absolute values of correlation coefficients between fluxes decreased with increasing temperature). On a seasonal scale, the mean air temperature during the sampling period determined the correlations between the fluxes with an accuracy of 92%, and the air temperature threshold of flux coupling-decoupling was 12.5 °C. On the daily scale, the diurnal air temperature difference determined fluxes relationships with an accuracy of 79% and the temperature threshold of flux coupling-decoupling was 15.2 °C. In addition, when the soil was in the state of absorbing CH₄ on a daily scale, the relationship between soil CH₄fluxand soil CO₂flux was positive in more cases. This phenomenon was difficult to explain by temperature alone. We speculate that a one-way coupling relationship between soil respiration and CH₄ oxidation formed through O₂ competition, that is, soil respiration would inhibit the CH₄ oxidation by consuming O₂, resulting in an increase in soil CO₂ emissions and a decrease in CH₄ absorption. The study suggests that coupling-decoupling of soil CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes might be driven by a mechanism of temperature regulation linked with oxygen competition regulation. Climate warming may cause decoupling of the two fluxes across space and time and increase the complexity of carbon cycles, thereby increasing the uncertainty of regional carbon flux estimations.

Key words: coupling-decoupling, soil CO₂ flux, soil CH₄ flux, temperature, arid and semi-arid region

YANG Meng, YU Gui-Rui. Coupling-decoupling of soil CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes and their responses to temperature in arid and semi-arid regions of China[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2022, 46(12): 1497-1507.

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https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2022/V46/I12/1497

Figures/Tables 8

Fig. 1 Soil CO2 flux, CH4 flux and their ratio of arid and semi-arid region in China. Boxplots show 25th (Q1) and 75th (Q3) percentiles, and the horizontal lines within the boxes are the median; the whiskers are Q1 - 1.5IQR (interquartile range) and Q3 + 1.5IQR; dotes are outlier values.

Fig. 2 Proportions of the three correlations between soil CO2 and CH4 flux of arid and semi-arid regions in China. A, B, Flux correlations on seasonal scale. C, D, Flux correlations on daily scale. Inner slices of A and C denote the proportions of CH4 emission and CH4 absorption in the total sample size; inner slices of B and D denote the proportions of samples from different ecosystem types in the total sample size; outer slices denote the proportions of samples with different correlations between soil CO2 and CH4 flux in the total sample size; the inner slices correspond to the outer slices of the same sector.

Fig. 3 Relationships between air temperature, moisture, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and correlations between soil CO2 and CH4 flux on seasonal scale (mean ± SE). MAP, mean annual precipitation; MAT, mean annual air temperature; MSP, mean seasonal precipitation; MST, mean seasonal air temperature.

Fig. 4 Performance of using mean air temperature of sampling season (MST) to determine correlations between the two types of fluxes. A, B, and C are when MST was lower than 12.5 °C, the proportion of soil CO2 and CH4 flux simultaneously significantly correlated with air temperature, the proportion of soil CO2 significantly correlated with air temperature, and the proportion of soil CH4 flux significantly correlated with air temperature, respectively. D, E, and F are the three types of proportions when MST was not lower than 12.5 °C. Percentages are the proportion of the current node sample size to the total sample size. Three decimals from left to right are the sample proportions of actual negative correlation, unsignificant correlation and positive correlation which were divided into that node.

Fig. 5 Relationships between air temperature, moisture and correlations between soil CO2 and CH4 flux on daily scale (mean ± SE). DTD, daily air temperature difference of the observing day; MDP, mean precipitation of the observing day; MDT, mean air temperature of the observing day.

Fig. 6 Performance of using diurnal air temperature difference (DTD) to determine correlations between the two types of fluxes. Percentages are the proportion of the current node sample size to the total sample size. Three decimals from left to right are the sample proportions of actual negative correlation, unsignificant correlation and positive correlation which were divided into that node.

Fig. 7 A temperature-regulated soil CO2 and CH4 flux coupling-decoupling mechanisms.

Fig. 8 Hypothesis of correlation between soil CO2 flux and CH4 flux on daily scale.

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Coupling-decoupling of soil CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes and their responses to temperature in arid and semi-arid regions of China

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