Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Simulating warmer and drier climate increases root production but decreases root decomposition in an alpine grassland on the Tibetan plateau

  • Regular Article
  • Published:
Plant and Soil Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Future ecosystem structure and function will largely depend on root responses to climate change. However, few studies have explored the responses of root production and decomposition to simultaneous warming and altered precipitation in high-latitude and high-altitude ecosystems.

Methods

Using ingrowth core and root bag methods, we investigated root production and decomposition dynamics from 2013 to 2015 in a full-factorial warming (control, 1.5 ~ 1.8 °C warming) and precipitation (dry (−50% precipitation), ambient, and wet (+50% precipitation)) experiment established in 2011 in a Tibetan alpine grassland.

Results

Warming and precipitation effects on root production were independent. Dry plus warming treatments increased root production, while wet treatments did not significantly affect root production. In contrast, root decomposition accelerated along the increasing precipitation gradient. Warming tended to decrease root decomposition under dry treatments but did not affect root decomposition under wet treatments. The different responses of root production among the treatments were mainly driven by changes in soil moisture, whereas those of root decomposition were mainly due to the changes in the root carbon nitrogen ratio, soil microbial biomass and soil moisture.

Conclusions

Given that altered precipitation had contrasting effects on root production and decomposition, our findings indicate that root-derived carbon may accumulate in soils on the Tibetan Plateau where precipitation decreases but not in the areas with projected increasing precipitation under future warming.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allison SD, Treseder KK (2008) Warming and drying suppress microbial activity and carbon cycling in boreal forest soils. Glob Change Biol 14:2898-2909

    Google Scholar 

  • Allison SD, Wallenstein MD, Bradford MA (2010) Soil-carbon response to warming dependent on microbial physiology. Nat Geosci 3:336–340

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Alvarezuria P, Körner C (2007) Low temperature limits of root growth in deciduous and evergreen temperate tree species. Funct Ecol 21:211–218

    Google Scholar 

  • Austin AT (2002) Differential effects of precipitation on production and decomposition along a rainfall gradient in Hawaii. Ecology 83:328–338

    Google Scholar 

  • Bai W, Wan S, Niu S, Liu W, Chen Q, Wang Q, Zhang W, Han X, Li L (2010) Increased temperature and precipitation interact to affect root production, mortality, and turnover in a temperate steppe: implications for ecosystem C cycling. Glob Chang Biol 16:1306–1316

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown ME, Chang MC (2014) Exploring bacterial lignin degradation. Curr Opin Chem Biol 19:1–7

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Burton AJ, Pregitzer KS, Hendrick RL (2000) Relationships between fine root dynamics and nitrogen availability in Michigan northern hardwood forests. Oecologia 125:389–399

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Buytaert W, Cuesta-Camacho F, Tobón C (2015) Potential impacts of climate change on the environmental services of humid tropical alpine regions. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 20:19–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Chapin FS (1983) Direct and indirect effects of temperature on arctic plants. Polar Biol 2(1):47–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Chapin FS, Maston PA, Mooney HA (2011) Principles of terrestrial ecosystem ecology. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen H, Zhu Q, Peng C, Wu N, Wang Y, Fang X, Gao Y, Zhu D, Yang G, Tian J, Kang X, Piao S, Ouyang H, Xiang W, Luo Z, Jiang H, Song X, Zhang Y, Yu G, Zhao X, Gong P, Yao T, Wu J (2013) The impacts of climate change and human activities on biogeochemical cycles on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau. Glob Chang Biol 19:2940–2955

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dawes MA, Philipson CD, Fonti P, Bebi P, Hättenschwiler S, Hagedorn F, Rixen C (2015) Soil warming and CO2 enrichment induce biomass shifts in alpine tree line vegetation. Glob Chang Biol 21:2005–2021

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Day TA, Ruhland CT, Xiong FS (2010) Warming increases aboveground plant biomass and C stocks in vascular-plant-dominated Antarctic tundra. Glob Chang Biol 14:1827–1843

    Google Scholar 

  • de Vries FT, Griffiths RI, Knight CG, Nicolitch O, Williams A (2020) Harnessing rhizosphere microbiomes for drought-resilient crop production. Science 368:270–274

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dong M, Jiang Y, Zheng C, Zhang D (2012) Trends in the thermal growing season throughout the Tibetan plateau during 1960-2009. Agric For Meteorol 166-167:201–206

    Google Scholar 

  • Ernakovich JG, Hopping KA, Berdanier AB, Simpson RT, Kachergis EJ, Steltzer H, Wallenstein MD (2015) Predicted responses of arctic and alpine ecosystems to altered seasonality under climate change. Glob Chang Biol 20:3256–3269

    Google Scholar 

  • Gimbel KF, Felsmann K, Baudis M, Puhlmann H, Gessler A, Bruelheide H, Kayler Z, Ellerbrock RH, Ulrich A, Welk E (2015) Drought in forest understory ecosystems-a novel rainfall reduction experiment. Biogeosciences 12:961–975

    Google Scholar 

  • Han H, Guo X, Yu H (2016) Variable selection using mean decrease accuracy and mean decrease gini based on random forest. International conference on software engineering

  • IPCC (2013) Climate change 2013: the physical science basis. Contribution of working group i to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Iversen CM, Sloan VL, Sullivan PF, Euskirchen ES, Mcguire AD, Norby RJ, Walker AP, Warren JM, Wullschleger SD (2015) The unseen iceberg: plant roots in arctic tundra. New Phytol 205:34–58

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jia J, Cao ZJ, Liu CZ, Zhang ZH, Lin L, Wang YY, Haghipour N, Wacker L, Bao HY, Dittmar T, Simpson M, Yang H, Crowther TW, Eglinton TI, He J-S, Feng XJ (2019) Climate warming alters subsoil but not topsoil carbon dynamics in alpine grassland. Glob Chang Biol 00:1–11

    Google Scholar 

  • Jonsdottir IS, Magnusson B, Gudmundsson J, Elmarsdottir A, Hjartarson H (2005) Variable sensitivity of plant communities in Iceland to experimental warming. Glob Chang Biol 11:553–563

    Google Scholar 

  • Kandeler E, Tscherko D, Bardgett RD, Hobbs PJ, Kampichler C, Jones TH (1998) The response of soil microorganisms and roots to elevated CO2 and temperature in a terrestrial model ecosystem. Plant Soil 202:251–262

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kemp PR, Reynolds JF, Virginia RA, Whitford WG (2003) Decomposition of leaf and root litter of Chihuahuan desert shrubs: effects of three years of summer drought. J Arid Environ 53:21–39

    Google Scholar 

  • King JS, Pregitzer KS, Zak DR, Holmes WE, Schmidt K (2005) Fine root chemistry and decomposition in model communities of north-temperate tree species show little response to elevated atmospheric CO2 and varying soil resource availability. Oecologia 146:318–328

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Knapp AK, Ciais P, Smith MD (2017) Reconciling inconsistencies in precipitation-productivity relationships: implications for climate change. New Phytol 214:41–47

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kou L, Jiang L, Fu X, Dai X, Wang H, Li S (2018) Nitrogen deposition increases root production and turnover but slows root decomposition in Pinus elliottii plantations. New Phytol 218:1450–1461

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lavelle P, Blanchart E, Martin A, Martin S, Barois I, Schaefer R, Xi P (1993) A hierarchical model for decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems: application to soils of the humid tropics. Biotropica 25:130–150

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin Y, King JY (2014) Effects of UV exposure and litter position on decomposition in a California grassland. Ecosystems 17:158–168

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lin L, Zhu B, Chen C, Zhang Z, Wang QB, He J-S (2016) Precipitation overrides warming in mediating soil nitrogen pools in an alpine grassland ecosystem on the Tibetan plateau. Sci Rep 6:31438

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Liu Y, Liu S, Wan S, Wang J, Wang H, Liu K (2017) Effects of experimental throughfall reduction and soil warming on fine root biomass and its decomposition in a warm temperate oak forest. Sci Total Environ 574:1448–1455

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Liu H, Mi Z, Lin L, Wang Y, Zhang Z, Zhang F, Wang H, Liu L, Zhu B, Cao G, Zhao X, Sanders N, Classen A, Reich P, He J-S (2018) Shifting plant species composition in response to climate change stabilizes grassland primary production. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 115:4051–4056

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Luo CY, Xu GP, Chao ZG, Wang SP, Lin XW, Hu YG, Zhang ZH, Duan JC, Chang XF, Su AL (2010) Effect of warming and grazing on litter mass loss and temperature sensitivity of litter and dung mass loss on the Tibetan plateau. Glob Chang Biol 16:1606–1617

    Google Scholar 

  • Majdi H, Öhrvik J (2010) Interactive effects of soil warming and fertilization on root production, mortality, and longevity in a Norway spruce stand in northern Sweden. Glob Chang Biol 10:182–188

    Google Scholar 

  • Mokany K, Raison RJ, Prokushkin AS (2010) Critical analysis of root:shoot ratios in terrestrial biomes. Glob Chang Biol 12:84–96

    Google Scholar 

  • Niu S, Wu M, Han Y, Xia J, Li L, Wan S (2010) Water-mediated responses of ecosystem carbon fluxes to climatic change in a temperate steppe. New Phytol 177:209–219

    Google Scholar 

  • Norby RJ, Ledford J, Reilly CD, Miller NE, O'Neill EG (2004) Fine-root production dominates response of a deciduous forest to atmospheric CO2 enrichment. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 101:9689–9693

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Olson JS (1963) Energy storage and the balance of producers and decomposers in ecological systems. Ecology 44:322–331

    Google Scholar 

  • Padilla FM, Mommer L, de Caluwe H, Smit-Tiekstra AE, Visser EJ, de Kroon H (2019) Effects of extreme rainfall events are independent of plant species richness in an experimental grassland community. Oecologia 191:177–190

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Pausch J, Kuzyakov Y (2017) Carbon input by roots into the soil: quantification of rhizodeposition from root to ecosystem scale. Glob Chang Biol 00:1–12

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips DL, Johnson MG, Tingey DT, Catricala CE, Hoyman TL, Nowak RS (2006) Effects of elevated CO2 on fine root dynamics in a Mojave Desert community: a FACE study. Glob Chang Biol 12:61–73

    Google Scholar 

  • R Core Team (2015) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for statistical computing, Vienna

  • Rustad LE (2008) The response of terrestrial ecosystems to global climate change: towards an integrated approach. Sci Total Environ 404:222–235

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sardans J, Penuelas J, Estiarte M (2008) Changes in soil enzymes related to C and N cycle and in soil C and N content under prolonged warming and drought in a Mediterranean shrubland. Appl Soil Ecol 39:223–235

    Google Scholar 

  • Silver WL, Miya RK (2001) Global patterns in root decomposition: comparisons of climate and litter quality effects. Oecologia 129:407–419

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stuart-Haëntjens E, De Boeck HJ, Lemoine NP, Mänd P, Kröel-Dulay G, Schmidt IK, Jentsch A, Stampfli A, Wrl A, Bahn M (2018) Mean annual precipitation predicts primary production resistance and resilience to extreme drought. Sci Total Environ 636:360–366

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sun T, Hobbie SE, Berg B, Zhang H, Wang Q, Wang Z, Hattenschwiler S (2018) Contrasting dynamics and trait controls in first-order root compared with leaf litter decomposition. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 115:10392–10397

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • van Wijk MT (2011) Understanding plant rooting patterns in semi-arid systems: an integrated model analysis of climate, soil type and plant biomass. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 20:331–342

    Google Scholar 

  • Wan SQ, Norby RJ, Pregitzer KS, Ledford J, O'Neill EG (2004) CO2 enrichment and warming of the atmosphere enhance both productivity and mortality of maple tree fine roots. New Phytol 162:437–446

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitford W, Duval BD (2019) Ecology of desert systems. Academic Press, New York

  • Wilcox KR, Shi Z, Gherardi LA, Lemoine NP, Koerner SE, Hoover DL, Bork E, Byrne KM, Cahill J, Collins SL, Evans S, Gilgen AK, Holub P, Jiang LF, Knapp AK, LeCain D, Liang JY, Pablo G-P, Penuelas J, Pockman WT, Smith MD, Sun SH, White SR, Yahdjian L, Zhu K, Luo YQ (2017) Asymmetric responses of primary productivity to precipitation extremes: a synthesis of grassland precipitation manipulation experiments. Glob Chang Biol 23:1–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu ZT, Dijkstra P, Koch GW, Peñuelas J, Hungate BA (2011) Responses of terrestrial ecosystems to temperature and precipitation change: a meta-analysis of experimental manipulation. Glob Chang Biol 17:927–942

    Google Scholar 

  • Xia X, Niu S, Sherry RA, Zhou X, Zhou J, Luo Y (2012) Interannual variability in responses of belowground net primary productivity (NPP) and NPP partitioning to long-term warming and clipping in a tallgrass prairie. Glob Chang Biol 18:1648–1656

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu G, Hu Y, Wang S, Zhang Z, Chang X, Duan J, Luo C, Chao Z, Su A, Lin Q (2010) Effects of litter quality and climate change along an elevation gradient on litter mass loss in an alpine meadow ecosystem on the Tibetan plateau. Plant Ecol 209:257–268

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu ZF, Zhao CZ, Yin HJ, Liu Q (2015) Warming and forest management interactively affect the decomposition of subalpine forests on the eastern Tibetan plateau: a four-year experiment. Geoderma 240:223–228

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang X, Sun S, Yong S, Zhou Z, Wang R (2007) Vegetation map of the people’s republic of China (1: 1000000). Geological Publishing House, Beijing

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang F, Quan Q, Song B, Sun J, Chen Y, Zhou Q, Niu S (2017) Net primary productivity and its partitioning in response to precipitation gradient in an alpine meadow. Sci Rep 7:15193

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was financially sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31630009 and 31901168) and Shanghai Sailing Program (19YF1413200).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jin-Sheng He.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Michael Luke McCormack.

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

(DOCX 705 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Liu, H., Lin, L., Wang, H. et al. Simulating warmer and drier climate increases root production but decreases root decomposition in an alpine grassland on the Tibetan plateau. Plant Soil 458, 59–73 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-020-04551-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-020-04551-y

Keywords

Navigation