Abstract: Isolated individual processes of ecosystem carbon (C) cycles have largely shaped our understanding of C cycle processes under environmental change. Yet, in reality, C cycle processes are inter-related and hierarchical. How these processes respond to warming and grazing has rarely been investigated in a single manipulative experiment. Moreover, biodiversity loss is a major driver of ecosystem change under environmental change, but whether these responses are mechanistically linked to biodiversity remains unclear. Here, we performed a 5-year field manipulative warming with seasonal grazing experiment in an alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Our results showed that both warming and moderate grazing decreased net ecosystem productivity (NEP) by 42.1% and 38.3%, and their interaction decreased it by 56.2% during the summer grazing period. However, they had no significant effects on NEP during the winter grazing period. Overall, annual gross primary productivity (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (Re) were mainly determined by aboveground rather than belowground processes, and Re variation which was mainly controlled by aboveground respiration explained 50% of the variation in annual NEP under warming and grazing. Moreover, lower species richness induced by warming and grazing caused smaller NEP with smaller net primary productivity and higher aboveground respiration. The responses of aboveground C cycle processes were greater than that of belowground C cycle processes, suggesting asymmetric above- and belowground responses to warming and grazing. Therefore, our findings suggested that there were higher GPP and Re with lower C sequestration (‘two high with one low patterns’) under warming and moderate grazing. Plant diversity modulated the responses of soil C sequestration to warming and grazing. It is essential to understand the underlying mechanisms of the effects of biodiversity on hierarchical C cycle processes under combined warming and grazing in the future.

Key words: Hierarchical responses of carbon cycles, plant diversity, warming, summer and winter grazing, alpine meadow, Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau