Divergent responses of ecosystem respiration components to livestock exclusion on the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau

Chen, Ji; Luo, Yiqi; Xia, Jianyang; Zhou, Xuhui; Niu, Shuli; Shelton, Shelby; Guo, Wei; Liu, Suixin; Dai, Wenting; Cao, Junji

doi:10.1002/ldr.2981

Cited by 24 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 86 publications

(126 reference statements)

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“…This phenomenon might be due to the different living habits of yak and Tibetan sheep (Cheng et al 2016). For the three grassland types, grazing reduced grassland AGB and BGB, which is consistent with previous studies (Chen et al 2018;Yan and Lu 2015;Zhao et al 2016).…”

Section: Response Of Grassland Biomass To Grazingsupporting

confidence: 90%

A Meta-Analysis of The Effects of Grazing On Plant Diversity, Biomass and Soil Properties of Alpine Grassland On The Tibetan Plateau

Li¹,

Liu²,

Zhou³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Aim As one of the main human disturbance factors in the alpine grassland on the Tibetan Plateau, grazing not only directly affects grassland plant diversity and biomass, but also indirectly changes soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) of grassland. Despite of extensive field grazing experiments, the impacts of grazing on grassland diversity, soil C and N remain uncertain due to different grazing management.Methods We conducted a meta-analysis of 70 peer-reviewed publications to evaluate the general response of 11 variables related to alpine grassland plant-soil ecosystems to grazing.Results The results showed that grazing significantly increased species richness, Shannon-Wiener index and Pielou evenness index by 9.8%, 7.3% and 3.7%, respectively. Aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, soil organic carbon, soil total nitrogen, soil C: N ratio and soil moisture decreased by 41.9%, 17.7%, 13.1%, 12.6%, 3.3% and 20.8%, respectively. Soil bulk density and soil pH increased by 17.5% and 2.2%, respectively. Specifically, moderate grazing, long-duration (>5 years) and winter grazing contributed to the increase in the species richness, Shannon-Wiener index, and Pielou evenness index. Aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, soil organic carbon, soil total nitrogen and soil C: N ratio showed a decreasing trend with enhanced grazing intensity. Furthermore, grazing duration, grazing season, livestock type and grassland type also affected alpine grassland plant diversity, biomass, soil C and N.Conclusions Grazing is beneficial to the maintenance of plant diversity, but negatively affects the storage of soil C and N in alpine grassland on the Tibetan Plateau. We suggest that grazing should follow intermediate grazing practice and synthesize other appropriate grazing patterns, such as seasonal and rotation grazing, thus, further research on grazing management is needed in this regard.

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Section: Response Of Grassland Biomass To Grazingsupporting

confidence: 90%

A Meta-Analysis of The Effects of Grazing On Plant Diversity, Biomass and Soil Properties of Alpine Grassland On The Tibetan Plateau

Li¹,

Liu²,

Zhou³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…Detailed plant community composition before and after fire is presented in Table S1. Other information associated with the study site may be found in Chen, Zhou, et al (), Chen, Lou, et al () and Guo et al ().…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting responses after fires of the source components of soil respiration and ecosystem respiration

Chen

Zhang

Luo

et al. 2019

European J Soil Science

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Wildfire is an important ecological disturbance that can have cascading effects on ecosystem carbon (C) fluxes. Ecosystem respiration (ER) and soil respiration (SR) account for two of the largest terrestrial C fluxes to the atmosphere, and they play critical roles in regulating C–climate feedbacks. Here, the responses of ER, SR and their source components to experimental burning in a meadow grassland on the Tibetan Plateau were investigated. Fire treatment increased ER by 9% but decreased SR by 15%. The contrasting post‐fire responses of SR and ER can be explained by the behaviour of their source components; that is, fire increased aboveground plant respiration (Ragb) by 37%, but decreased heterotrophic respiration (HR) by 21%. Increases in ER and Ragb were mainly related to enhanced plant productivity, whereas smaller SR and HR were associated with reductions in microbial biomass and soil moisture. Accounting for the responses of ER, SR and their intrinsic components has advanced our understanding of how fire affects ecosystem C fluxes. Highlights Fire treatment increased ecosystem respiration (ER) and aboveground plant respiration. Fire treatment decreased soil respiration (SR) and heterotrophic respiration (HR). Increases in ER and aboveground plant respiration were related to plant productivity. Reductions in SR and HR were caused by the suppressed microbial activity.

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“…As one of the most important ecological disturbances in terrestrial ecosystems, herbivores are anticipated to have considerable effects on SOC decomposition (Chen, Shi, & Cao, 2015; Pellis et al, 2019; Zhou et al, 2018). Yet, despite numerous studies in recent decades that reported soil processes in grazed grassland at different grazing intensity (Chen et al, 2018; Klumpp et al, 2009; Mcsherry & Ritchie, 2013; Väisänen, Sjögersten, Large, Drage, & Stark, 2015), the influence of herbivory on SOC decomposition is still rigorously debated (Viglizzo, Ricard, Taboada, & Vázquez‐Amábile, 2019). One of the major uncertainties associated with grazed grassland is how SOC decomposition varies along topo‐edaphic gradients (Risch, Jurgensen, & Frank, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Herbivores stimulate respiration from labile and recalcitrant soil carbon pools in grasslands of Yellowstone National Park

Chen

Frank

2020

Land Degrad Dev

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Quantifying the effects of grazing on soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition is of crucial importance for understanding soil C dynamics. However, less attention has been paid to the pool-specific SOC decomposition and the underlying factors associated with each C pool, representing critical knowledge gaps on soil C dynamics. In this study, we applied a state-of-the-art Bayesian data assimilation technique to re-analyze previous soil incubation data to examine how herbivores influenced the fraction and cumulative respiration of labile and recalcitrant soil C pools from seven edaphically diverse sites in Yellowstone National Park, whereas those variables were not explored in the earlier study. Our results showed that grazing significantly increased cumulative respiration from both labile and recalcitrant C pools. Greater cumulative respiration from the labile C pool was related to grazers increasing labile C pool fractions, while higher cumulative respiration from the recalcitrant C pool was associated with grazers accelerating the decomposition rate of the recalcitrant C pool. Cumulative respiration from both labile and recalcitrant C pools was positively correlated with shoot biomass, soil gravimetric moisture, and soil C and nitrogen content. Our results underscore how knowledge of pool-specific SOC decomposition can provide a better mechanistic understanding of soil C dynamics along topo-edaphic gradients in grazed grassland.

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Divergent responses of ecosystem respiration components to livestock exclusion on the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau

Cited by 24 publications

References 86 publications

A Meta-Analysis of The Effects of Grazing On Plant Diversity, Biomass and Soil Properties of Alpine Grassland On The Tibetan Plateau

A Meta-Analysis of The Effects of Grazing On Plant Diversity, Biomass and Soil Properties of Alpine Grassland On The Tibetan Plateau

Contrasting responses after fires of the source components of soil respiration and ecosystem respiration

Herbivores stimulate respiration from labile and recalcitrant soil carbon pools in grasslands of Yellowstone National Park

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