Soil respiration associated with plant succession at the meadow steppes in Songnen Plain, Northeast China

doi:10.1093/jpe/rtu006

Abstract

Abstract: Aims Soil CO₂ emission from steppes is affected by soil properties and vegetation in different successional stages. Primary and secondary succession of plants frequently occurred at the meadow steppe in Songnen Plain, Northeast China, which indicates the large uncertainty associated with CO₂ emission in this environment. This study aims to investigate the temporal variations of soil respiration (Rs) and the effect of plant succession on cumulative soil CO₂ emission during the growing season.
Methods Using a LI-6400 soil CO₂ flux system, Rs of five vegetation types which represented different stages of plant succession in meadow steppes of Songnen Plain, China, was investigated during the growing seasons of 2011 and 2012.
Important findings Soil temperature (Ts) was the dominant controlling factor of Rs, which could explain ~64% of the change in CO₂ fluxes. The Q 10 values of Rs were ranged from 2.0 to 6.7, showing a decreasing trend with the plant successional stages. The cumulative CO₂ emission increased with the degree of vegetation succession and it averaged to 316±6g C m ?2 (ranges: 74.8±6.7 to 516.5±11.4g C m ?2) during the growing season. The magnitude of soil CO₂ emission during the growing season was positively correlated with aboveground plant biomass, soil organic carbon content and mean soil water content, while negatively linked to mean Ts, pH, electrical conductivity and exchangeable sodium percentages. The results implied that soil CO₂ emission increased with the development of plant communities toward more advanced stages. Our findings provided valuable information for understanding the variations of CO₂ emission in the process of vegetation succession.

Key words: soil respiration, CO₂, plant succession, cumulative CO₂ emission, meadow steppe

摘要：
Aims Soil CO₂ emission from steppes is affected by soil properties and vegetation in different successional stages. Primary and secondary succession of plants frequently occurred at the meadow steppe in Songnen Plain, Northeast China, which indicates the large uncertainty associated with CO₂ emission in this environment. This study aims to investigate the temporal variations of soil respiration (Rs) and the effect of plant succession on cumulative soil CO₂ emission during the growing season.
Methods Using a LI-6400 soil CO₂ flux system, Rs of five vegetation types which represented different stages of plant succession in meadow steppes of Songnen Plain, China, was investigated during the growing seasons of 2011 and 2012.
Important findings Soil temperature (Ts) was the dominant controlling factor of Rs, which could explain ~64% of the change in CO₂ fluxes. The Q 10 values of Rs were ranged from 2.0 to 6.7, showing a decreasing trend with the plant successional stages. The cumulative CO₂ emission increased with the degree of vegetation succession and it averaged to 316±6g C m ?2 (ranges: 74.8±6.7 to 516.5±11.4g C m ?2) during the growing season. The magnitude of soil CO₂ emission during the growing season was positively correlated with aboveground plant biomass, soil organic carbon content and mean soil water content, while negatively linked to mean Ts, pH, electrical conductivity and exchangeable sodium percentages. The results implied that soil CO₂ emission increased with the development of plant communities toward more advanced stages. Our findings provided valuable information for understanding the variations of CO₂ emission in the process of vegetation succession.

Ming Wang, Xingtu Liu, Jitao Zhang, Xiujun Li, Guodong Wang, Xiaoyu Li, Weiwei Chen. Soil respiration associated with plant succession at the meadow steppes in Songnen Plain, Northeast China[J]. J Plant Ecol, 2015, 8(1): 51-60.

[1]	Guodong Zhang, Guiyao Zhou, Xuhui Zhou, Lingyan Zhou, Junjiong Shao, Ruiqiang Liu, Jing Gao, Yanghui He, Zhenggang Du, Jianwei Tang and Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo. Effects of tree mycorrhizal type on soil respiration and carbon stock via fine root biomass and litter dynamic in tropical plantations [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2023, 16(1): 0-.
[2]	Huajie Diao, Xiaopeng Chen, Ge Wang, Qiushi Ning, Shuya Hu, Wei Sun, Kuanhu Dong and Changhui Wang. The response of soil respiration to different N compounds addition in a saline–alkaline grassland of northern China [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2022, 15(5): 897-910.
[3]	Wanlu Zhai, Yi Wang, Junwei Luan, Shirong Liu. Effects of nitrogen addition on clonal integration between mother and daughter ramets of Moso bamboo: a ¹³C-CO₂ pulse labeling study [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2022, 15(4): 756-770.
[4]	Zhiyuan Hu, Jiaqi Zhang, Yizhou Du, Kangwei Shi, Guangqian Ren, Babar Iqbal, Zhicong Dai, Jian Li, Guanlin Li and Daolin Du. Substrate availability regulates the suppressive effects of Canada goldenrod invasion on soil respiration [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2022, 15(3): 509-523.
[5]	Lihua Zhang, Junfeng Wang, Ruifeng Zhao, Yafei Guo and Lianyi Hao. Aboveground net primary productivity and soil respiration display different responses to precipitation changes in desert grassland [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2022, 15(1): 57-70.
[6]	Ruo-Nan Shen, Yang-Jian Zhang, Jun-Tao Zhu, Ning Chen, Yao Chen, Guang Zhao, Yi-Xuan Zhu, Ze Tang and Wen-Yu Li. The interactive effects of nitrogen addition and increased precipitation on gross ecosystem productivity in an alpine meadow [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2022, 15(1): 168-179.
[7]	Zhaoxia Jiang, Hongfeng Bian, Li Xu, Mingxu Li and Nianpeng He. Effects of pulse precipitation on soil organic matter mineralization in forests: spatial variation and controlling factors [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2021, 14(5): 970-980.
[8]	Raúl Ochoa-Hueso, Rani Carroll, Juan Piñeiro and Sally A. Power. Understorey plant community assemblage of Australian Eucalyptus woodlands under elevated CO₂ is modulated by water and phosphorus availability [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2021, 14(3): 478-490.
[9]	Qing-Lai Dang, Jacob Marfo, Fengguo Du, Rongzhou Man and Sahari Inoue. CO₂ stimulation and response mechanisms vary with light supply in boreal conifers [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2021, 14(2): 291-300.
[10]	Wenli Zhang, Jiquan Chen, Ju Liu, Fangqing Chen, Quanfa Zhang, Zutao Ouyang, Changliang Shao, Yi Fan and Wennian Xu. Spatiotemporal variations of CO₂ fluxes in a Cynodon-dominated riparian zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR), China [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2018, 11(6): 877-886.
[11]	Guang Zhao, Gangcai Liu, Wanze Zhu, Jixia Zhao, Xuemei Wang, Yaoyao Wang, Min Jia. Stem CO₂ efflux of Abies fabri in subalpine forests in the Gongga Mountains, Eastern Tibetan Plateau [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2017, 10(6): 1001-1011.
[12]	Lai Jiang, Suhui Ma, Zhang Zhou, Tianli Zheng, Xingxing Jiang, Qiong Cai, Peng Li, Jianxiao Zhu, Yide Li, Jingyun Fang. Soil respiration and its partitioning in different components in tropical primary and secondary mountain rain forests in Hainan Island, China [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2017, 10(5): 791-799.
[13]	Chao Wang, Yinlei Ma, Stefan Trogisch, Yuanyuan Huang, Yan Geng, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Jin-Sheng He. Soil respiration is driven by fine root biomass along a forest chronosequence in subtropical China [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2017, 10(1): 36-46.
[14]	Yuan Wen, Jamie L. Schuler, Shirong Liu, Pu Mou, Hui Wang, Haolong Yu, Jingxin Wang. Soil carbon dynamics in a Pinus massoniana plantation following clear-cutting and slash removal [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2016, 9(1): 20-29.
[15]	Yiyong Li, Juxiu Liu, Genyun Chen, Guoyi Zhou, Wenjuan Huang, Guangcai Yin, Deqiang Zhang, Yuelin Li. Water-use efficiency of four native trees under CO₂ enrichment and N addition in subtropical model forest ecosystems [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2015, 8(4): 411-419.