Response of soil moisture and temperature to grazing intensity in a Leymus chinensis steppe, Inner Mongolia

Zhao, Ying; Peth, Stephan; Reszkowska, Agnieszka; Gan, Lei; Krümmelbein, Julia; Peng, Xinhua; Horn, Rainer

doi:10.1007/s11104-010-0460-9

Cited by 65 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…In a L. chinensis steppe of the Inner Mongolia, vegetation height and density reduction by grazing increased soil temperature, decreased soil moisture and therefore decreased grassland productivity [21]. Soil temperature warming also may increase the soil respiration, consume more soil organic matter, alter the carbon cycles, and accelerate the harm of grassland desertification and sandstorms [12,18].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of vegetation height and density on soil temperature variations

et al. 2013

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Reduction in vegetation cover caused by human activities has a great impact on soil temperature. It is important to assess how soil temperature responds to reduction of vegetation height and density. In this paper we first report the trends of mean annual soil surface and air temperatures recorded at the meteorological stations near the Ecological Research Station for Grassland Farming (ERSGF) from 1961 to 2007, then we setup an experiment using reed (Phragmites australis) stalks with different heights and densities to simulate effects of different vegetation height and density on soil and air temperatures. The warming rates of the mean annual soil and air temperatures were 0.043 and 0.041°C a 1 , respectively. Changes of soil temperature were characterized by both increased mean annual maximum and minimum soil temperatures. At the experimental site, mean daily temperature, mean daily maximum soil and air temperatures increased significantly. In contrast, mean daily minimum soil temperature increased significantly while mean daily minimum air temperature decreased significantly as the height and density of reed stalks reduced during the experimental period. Mean diurnal soil temperature ranges were smaller than mean diurnal air temperature ranges. These results highlight that the importance of vegetation cover on soil and air temperatures. There is general consensus that the global climate has changed rapidly, and the global mean surface temperature has increased by 0. 74C between 1906 and 2005 [1]. The warming pattern shows that mean annual minimum temperature has increased almost two orders of magnitude of maximum temperature, i.e. an asymmetric diurnal temperature increase [2,3]. Apart from studies on atmospheric temperature continuously published, more focus on variation of soil temperature and its factors has emerged recently [4][5][6][7][8][9]. Soil temperature is a crucial factor involved in determining/affecting the rates of biochemical reactions and has a strong influence on plant and root growth [2,6]. Diurnal soil temperature range is particularly important in plant growth, such as seed germination and early season growth which are highly correlated with daily maximum temperature of the soil rather than with air temperature [7]. Similar to increased air temperature, soil temperature also increases based on the long-term trend. Hu and Feng [8] reported that soil temperature at 10 cm depth increased 0.031C a 1 from 1967 to 2002 in the contiguous United States. A study recorded 27-year soil temperature at 5 depths showed a significant increase at a grassland in the Netherlands, and the warming rate of soil temperature was higher than air tem-

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of vegetation height and density on soil temperature variations

et al. 2013

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“…In our study, we found that litter C input under the MG scenario was significantly decreased by 36 % in comparison with the NG scenario due to the effects of moderate grazing. Grazing can affect microbial community composition and activity, and by that soil respiration directly by increasing soil compaction (Chen and Wang 2000), decreasing soil porosity and soil water content (Risch et al 2007;Zhao et al 2011), return of organic matter and nutrient to the soil in relatively labile forms as dung and urine (Augustine and McNaughton 1998), and by affecting soil microclimate and microbial biomass carbon (Liu et al 2012;Rui et al 2011). Grazing can also affect soil respiration indirectly by removing live plant biomass and, hence, decreasing substrate availability for soil biota (Wan and Luo 2003), or by altering plant community composition and canopy structure, which in turn can affect the chemical composition of litter input into the soil (Lecain et al 2000;Schönbach et al 2011;Sun et al 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of grazing on CO2 balance in a semiarid steppe: field observations and modeling

et al. 2013

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Purpose Carbon (C) dynamics in grassland ecosystem contributes to regional and global fluxes in carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) concentrations. Grazing is one of the main structuring factors in grassland, but the impact of grazing on the C budget is still under debate. In this study, in situ net ecosystem CO 2 exchange (NEE) observations by the eddy covariance technique were integrated with a modified process-oriented biogeochemistry model (denitrification-decomposition) to investigate the impacts of grazing on the long-term C budget of semiarid grasslands. Materials and methods NEE measurements were conducted in two adjacent grassland sites, non-grazing (NG) and moderate grazing (MG), during 2006-2007. We then used daily weather data for 1978-2007 in conjunction with soil properties and grazing scenarios as model inputs to simulate grassland productivity and C dynamics. The observed and simulated CO 2 fluxes under moderate grazing intensity were compared with those without grazing. Results and discussion NEE data from 2-year observations showed that moderate grazing significantly decreased grassland ecosystem CO 2 release and shifted the ecosystem from a negative CO 2 balance (releasing 34.00 g Cm −2 ) at the NG site to a positive CO 2 balance (absorbing −43.02 g Cm −2 ) at the MG site. Supporting our experimental findings, the 30-year simulation also showed that moderate grazing significantly enhances the CO 2 uptake potential of the targeted grassland, shifting the ecosystem from a negative CO 2 balance (57.08±16.45 g Cm −2 year −1 ) without grazing to a positive CO 2 balance (−28.58 ± 14.60 g C m −2 year −1 ) under moderate grazing. The positive effects of grazing on CO 2 balance could primarily be attributed to an increase in productivity combined with a significant decrease of soil heterotrophic respiration and total ecosystem respiration.Conclusions We conclude that moderate grazing prevails over no-management practices in maintaining CO 2 balance in semiarid grasslands, moderating and mitigating the negative effects of global climate change on the CO 2 balance in grassland ecosystems.

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“…The soil depth is 100e150 cm (Wang and Cai, 1988). Detailed plant and soil characteristics are shown in Table 1 (Zhao et al, 2011). These data are not available at CG.…”

Section: Site Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, at the UG79 site, precipitation was measured (52202 Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge, RM Young, USA) at a height of 1 m. At both stations, a CR5000 data logger (Campbell Scientific, USA) was used to record the data. At UG79, WG and HG, soil moisture at 5 cm depth was measured using horizontally inserted Theta-probes (Type ML2x, Delta-T Devices Ltd, Cambridge, UK) and data were recorded by automatic Data Logger (DL2e Data Logger, Delta-T Devices Ltd, Cambridge, UK) (Zhao et al, 2011).…”

Section: Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%