Changes in productivity and carbon storage of grasslands in China under future global warming scenarios of 1.5°C and 2°C

doi:10.1093/jpe/rtz024

J Plant Ecol ›› 2019, Vol. 12 ›› Issue (5): 804-814.DOI: 10.1093/jpe/rtz024

• Research Articles • Previous Articles Next Articles

Changes in productivity and carbon storage of grasslands in China under future global warming scenarios of 1.5°C and 2°C

Zhaoqi Wang¹, Jinfeng Chang², Shushi Peng^1,*, , Shilong Piao¹, Philippe Ciais² and Richard Betts^3,4

¹ Sino-French Institute for Earth System Science, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
² Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
³ College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4PS, UK
⁴ Met Office Hadley Centre, Exeter EX1 3PB, UK
^*Corresponding address. College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; E-mail: speng@pku.edu.cn

Received:2018-08-12 Revised:2019-03-25 Accepted:2019-05-06 Published:2019-10-01

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims

The impacts of future global warming of 1.5°C and 2°C on the productivity and carbon (C) storage of grasslands in China are not clear yet, although grasslands in China support ~45 million agricultural populations and more than 238 million livestock populations, and are sensitive to global warming.

Methods

This study used a process-based terrestrial ecosystem model named ORCHIDEE to simulate C cycle of alpine meadows and temperate grasslands in China. This model was driven by high-resolution (0.5° × 0.5°) climate of global specific warming levels (SWL) of 1.5°C and 2°C (warmer than pre-industrial level), which is downscaled by EC-EARTH3-HR v3.1 with sea surface temperature and sea-ice concentration as boundary conditions from IPSL-CM5-LR (low spatial resolution, 2.5° × 1.5°) Earth system model (ESM).

Important Findings

Compared with baseline (1971–2005), the mean annual air temperature over Chinese grasslands increased by 2.5°C and 3.7°C under SWL1.5 and SWL2, respectively. The increase in temperature in the alpine meadow was higher than that in the temperate grassland under both SWL1.5 and SWL2. Precipitation was also shown an increasing trend under SWL2 over most of the Chinese grasslands. Strong increases in gross primary productivity (GPP) were simulated in the Chinese grasslands, and the mean annual GPP (GPP_MA) increased by 19.32% and 43.62% under SWL1.5 and SWL2, respectively. The C storage increased by 0.64 Pg C and 1.37 Pg C under SWL1.5 and SWL2 for 50 years simulations. The GPP_MA was 0.670.880.39 (0.82) (model meanmaxmin (this study)), 0.851.240.45 (0.97) and 0.941.300.61 (1.17) Pg C year−1 under baseline, SWL1.5 and SWL2 modeled by four CMIP5 ESMs (phase 5 of the Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project Earth System Models). In contrast, the mean annual net biome productivity was −18.554.47−40.37 (−3.61),18.6564.03−2.03 (10.29) and 24.1538.778.38 (24.93) Tg C year−1 under baseline, SWL1.5 and SWL2 modeled by the four CMIP5 ESMs. Our results indicated that the Chinese grasslands would have higher productivity than the baseline and can mitigate climate change through increased C sequestration under future global warming of 1.5°C and 2°C with the increase of precipitation and the global increase of atmospheric CO₂ concentration.

Key words: productivity, carbon storage, specific warming level, grassland, climate change

Zhaoqi Wang, Jinfeng Chang, Shushi Peng, , Shilong Piao, Philippe Ciais and Richard Betts. Changes in productivity and carbon storage of grasslands in China under future global warming scenarios of 1.5°C and 2°C[J]. J Plant Ecol, 2019, 12(5): 804-814.

[1]	Kai Di, Zhongmin Hu, Mei Wang, Ruochen Cao, Minqi Liang, Genan Wu, Ruru Chen, Guangcun Hao and Yaolong Zhao. Recent greening of grasslands in northern China driven by increasing precipitation [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2021, 14(5): 843-853.
[2]	Yan-Yu Hu, Zhi-Wei Zhang, Shuang-Li Hou, Jun-Jie Yang and Xiao-Tao Lü. Annual mowing mitigates the negative legacy effects of N enrichment on grassland nutrient use efficiency [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2021, 14(5): 959-969.
[3]	Wentao Luo, Xiaoguang Wang, Karl Auerswald, Zhengwen Wang, Michael I. Bird, Christopher J. Still, Xiao-Tao Lü and Xingguo Han. Effects of plant intraspecific variation on the prediction of C₃/C₄ vegetation ratio from carbon isotope composition of topsoil organic matter across grasslands [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2021, 14(4): 628-637.
[4]	Yang Yu, Lang Zheng, Yijun Zhou, Weiguo Sang, Jianing Zhao, Lu Liu, Chao Li and Chunwang Xiao. Changes in soil microbial community structure and function following degradation in a temperate grassland [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2021, 14(3): 384-397.
[5]	Bi-Ru Zhu, Xiao-Meng Li, Da-Yong Zhang and Wan-Jin Liao. Effects of latitudinal variation on field and common garden comparisons between native and introduced groundsel (Senecio vulgaris) populations [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2021, 14(3): 414-424.
[6]	Markus S. Germany, Helge Bruelheide and Alexandra Erfmeier. Drivers of understorey biomass: tree species identity is more important than richness in a young forest [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2021, 14(3): 465-477.
[7]	Huajie Diao, Paul Kardol, Kuanhu Dong and Changhui Wang. Effects of nitrogen addition and mowing on nitrogen- and water-use efficiency of Artemisia frigida in a grassland restored from an abandoned cropland [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2021, 14(3): 515-526.
[8]	Kaili Cheng, Zhongmin Hu, Shenggong Li, Qun Guo, Yanbin Hao and Wenping Yuan. Improvement of predicting ecosystem productivity by modifying carbon–water–nitrogen coupling processes in a temperate grassland [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2021, 14(1): 10-21.
[9]	Ming-Hua Song, Johannes H.C. Cornelissen, Yi-Kang Li, Xing-Liang Xu, Hua-Kun Zhou, Xiao-Yong Cui, Yan-Fen Wang, Rong-Yan Xu and Qi Feng. Small-scale switch in cover–perimeter relationships of patches indicates shift of dominant species during grassland degradation [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2020, 13(6): 704-712.
[10]	Nara O. Vogado, Michael J. Liddell, Susan G. W. Laurance , Mason J. Campbell, Alexander W. Cheesman , Jayden E. Engert, Ana C. Palma , Françoise Y. Ishida and Lucas A. Cernusak. The effects of an experimental drought on the ecophysiology and fruiting phenology of a tropical rainforest palm [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2020, 13(6): 744-753.
[11]	Norbert Kunert, and Ivana Tomaskova. Leaf turgor loss point at full hydration for 41 native and introduced tree and shrub species from Central Europe [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2020, 13(6): 754-756.
[12]	Antony N. Waigwa, Brian Njoroge Mwangi, Gituru R. Wahiti, Fred Omengo, Yadong Zhou and Qingfeng Wang. Variation of morphological and leaf stoichiometric traits of two endemic species along the elevation gradient of Mount Kenya, East Africa [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2020, 13(6): 785-792.
[13]	Eamon Haughey, Jennifer C. McElwain and John A. Finn. Variability of water supply affected shoot biomass and root depth distribution of four temperate grassland species in monocultures and mixtures [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2020, 13(5): 554-562.
[14]	Kelly A. Steinberg, Kim D. Eichhorst and Jennifer A. Rudgers. Riparian plant species differ in sensitivity to both the mean and variance in groundwater stores [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2020, 13(5): 621-632.
[15]	Min Long, Juanjuan Zhang, Zhengyi Liu, Luyao Zhou, Fanglong Su, Rui Xiao, Yi Wang, Hui Guo and Shuijin Hu . Can the scaling of plant nitrogen to phosphorus be altered by global change? An empirical test [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2020, 13(4): 442-449.

Changes in productivity and carbon storage of grasslands in China under future global warming scenarios of 1.5°C and 2°C

PDF

Knowledge

Abstract

Cite this article

share this article

References

Related Articles 15

Recommended Articles

Metrics

Comments