Plant diversity modulates hierarchical responses of carbon cycle processes to warming and grazing in an alpine meadow

doi:10.1093/jpe/rtaf031

J Plant Ecol ›› Advance articles DOI:10.1093/jpe/rtaf031

Plant diversity modulates hierarchical responses of carbon cycle processes to warming and grazing in an alpine meadow

Wangwang Lv¹, Jianping Sun¹, Bowen Li¹, Yang Zhou¹, Caiyun Luo², Zhenhua Zhang², Jingya Lv^1,3, Lanying Chen⁴, Yonghui Wang⁵, Jin-sheng He⁶, Tsechoe Dorji¹, Jinzhi Ding¹, Shiping Wang^1,4*

¹State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
²Northwestern Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008, China.
³University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
⁴Tibet University, Lasa 850000, China
⁵Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021, China
⁶Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

^*Corresponding author: Shiping Wang, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China. Tel: 0086-10-84097096; E-mail: wangsp@itpcas.ac.cn; ORCID: 0000-0002-5113-7117

Online:2025-04-10 Published:2025-04-10
Supported by:
This work was supported by projects from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Project for Young Scientists in Basic Research (YSBR-037), the Postdoctoral Fellowship Program of CPSF (GZB20240779), projects of the Naqu Science and Technology Bureau (NQKJ-2023-03) and the Ali Science and Technology Bureau (QYTZZX-AL2022-05) of Xizang Autonomous Region.

Abstract

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

Wangwang Lv, Jianping Sun, Bowen Li, Yang Zhou, Caiyun Luo, Zhenhua Zhang, Jingya Lv, Lanying Chen, Yonghui Wang, Jin-sheng He, Tsechoe Dorji, Jinzhi Ding, Shiping Wang. Plant diversity modulates hierarchical responses of carbon cycle processes to warming and grazing in an alpine meadow[J]. J Plant Ecol, DOI: 10.1093/jpe/rtaf031.

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Plant diversity modulates hierarchical responses of carbon cycle processes to warming and grazing in an alpine meadow

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