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Effects of Simulated Climate Warming and Grazing on Photosynthesis and Respiration of Permafrost Meadow Plant Community

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Abstract

The melting of permafrost and the degradation of alpine meadow ecosystems caused by climate warming and high-intensity human activities have imposed serious threats to local and global ecological security. In order to estimate the effects of climate warming and grazing interference on the photosynthesis and respiration of alpine meadow plant community in permafrost regions, warming – infrared radiator is applied to simulate the climate warming (increasing temperature by +2°С). The winter grazing level is simulated by mowing the aboveground biomass of all plants. The responses of permafrost meadow community in terms of photosynthesis, respiration, surface soil temperature and moisture, as well as the carbon balance to simulated different climate warming and grazing level were analyzed and discussed. The results showed that: (1) the surface soil temperature in climate warming and grazing plots is significantly higher than in Ck plots (P < 0.01); (2) warming and warming + grazing plots enhanced community photosynthesis and respiration (P < 0.01); (3) warming and warming + grazing treatments increased community aboveground biomass (P < 0.05); (4) the photosynthetic rate increased in the second year, then decreased in the third year when both temperature and grazing level increased during the growing season. However, the ecosystem respiration increasingly increased year by year; (5) compared with the control groups, warming and grazing treatments resulted in an increase in carbon sequestration of the permafrost meadow community during the growing season.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors express their sincere appreciation to the reviewers and editors for their time and effort.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, College of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Qinghai University, 810016, Xining, Qinghai Province, China

    Chengyi Li, Xilai Li & Qi Chen

  2. College of Life Science, Fudan University, 200438, Shanghai, China

    Yuanwu Yang

  3. Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology Chinese Academy of Sciences, 810001, Xining, Qinghai Province, China

    Huakun Zhou

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  1. Chengyi Li
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Correspondence to Chengyi Li or Yuanwu Yang.

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This study was supported by the national natural science fund project (31560151, 31560668, 31460151), science and technology plan projects in Qinghai province (2017-ZJ-728), the department of applied basic research project in Qinghai province (2014-ZJ-779), the Qinghai province department project (2017-HZ-802), the ministry of education Yangtze river scholars and innovation team development plan (IRT-17R62) funding, international cooperation and communion department of project (teaching department letter [2017] 860).

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Chengyi Li, Yang, Y., Li, X. et al. Effects of Simulated Climate Warming and Grazing on Photosynthesis and Respiration of Permafrost Meadow Plant Community. Russ J Ecol 51, 224–232 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1067413620030042

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1067413620030042

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