Responses of greenhouse gas fluxes to climate extremes in a semiarid grassland

Linfeng Li; Wenyu Fan; Xiaoming Kang; Yanfen Wang; Xiaoyong Cui; Chengyuan Xu; Kevin L. Griffin; Yanbin Hao

doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2016.07.039

Responses of greenhouse gas fluxes to climate extremes in a semiarid grassland

Linfeng Li, Wenyu Fan, Xiaoming Kang, Yanfen Wang, Xiaoyong Cui, Chengyuan Xu, Kevin L. Griffin, Yanbin Hao

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Climate extremes are expected to increase in frequency and intensity as a consequence of anthropogenic climate change attributed to the rise of atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs). However, studies on the impacts of climate extremes on terrestrial ecosystems are limited. Here, we experimentally imposed extreme drought and a heat wave (∼60-year recurrence) to investigate their effects on GHGs fluxes of a semiarid grassland in China. We estimated a 16% and 38% percent reduction in net ecosystem CO₂ uptake caused by the heat wave and drought respectively, but via different mechanisms. Drought reduced gross ecosystem productively (GEP) and to a lower extent ecosystem respiration (ER). By contrast, the simulated heat wave suppressed only GEP while ER remained stable. The climate extremes also created a legacy effect on GEP and NEE lasting until the end of the growing season, whereas ER recovered immediately. Although CH₄ and N₂O fluxes were unaffected by the heat wave, drought promoted CH₄ uptake and suppressed N₂O emission during the treatment period. The effect of drought on GHGs fluxes generally overwhelmed that of the heat wave treatment, and there were no interactive effects of these two types of climate extremes. Our results showed that responses of ecosystem GHGs exchange to climate extremes are strongly regulated by soil moisture status. In conclusion, future amplification of climate extremes could decrease the sink for GHGs, especially CO₂, in this semiarid grasslands.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	32-42
Number of pages	11
Journal	Atmospheric Environment
Volume	142
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2016.07.039
Publication status	Published - 1 Oct 2016
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Financial support was provided by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KJRH2015-010 ), Special Funds for Sciences and Education Fusion of University of Chinese Academy of Science , the National Nonprofit Institute Research Grant of CAFINT (Grant No. CAFYBB2014QB026 ), the National Youth Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31300417 ). We greatly appreciate the assistance from Inner Mongolia Grassland Ecosystem Research Station and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd

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10.1016/j.atmosenv.2016.07.039

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title = "Responses of greenhouse gas fluxes to climate extremes in a semiarid grassland",

abstract = "Climate extremes are expected to increase in frequency and intensity as a consequence of anthropogenic climate change attributed to the rise of atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs). However, studies on the impacts of climate extremes on terrestrial ecosystems are limited. Here, we experimentally imposed extreme drought and a heat wave (∼60-year recurrence) to investigate their effects on GHGs fluxes of a semiarid grassland in China. We estimated a 16% and 38% percent reduction in net ecosystem CO2 uptake caused by the heat wave and drought respectively, but via different mechanisms. Drought reduced gross ecosystem productively (GEP) and to a lower extent ecosystem respiration (ER). By contrast, the simulated heat wave suppressed only GEP while ER remained stable. The climate extremes also created a legacy effect on GEP and NEE lasting until the end of the growing season, whereas ER recovered immediately. Although CH4 and N2O fluxes were unaffected by the heat wave, drought promoted CH4 uptake and suppressed N2O emission during the treatment period. The effect of drought on GHGs fluxes generally overwhelmed that of the heat wave treatment, and there were no interactive effects of these two types of climate extremes. Our results showed that responses of ecosystem GHGs exchange to climate extremes are strongly regulated by soil moisture status. In conclusion, future amplification of climate extremes could decrease the sink for GHGs, especially CO2, in this semiarid grasslands.",

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author = "Linfeng Li and Wenyu Fan and Xiaoming Kang and Yanfen Wang and Xiaoyong Cui and Chengyuan Xu and Griffin, {Kevin L.} and Yanbin Hao",

note = "Funding Information: Financial support was provided by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KJRH2015-010 ), Special Funds for Sciences and Education Fusion of University of Chinese Academy of Science , the National Nonprofit Institute Research Grant of CAFINT (Grant No. CAFYBB2014QB026 ), the National Youth Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31300417 ). We greatly appreciate the assistance from Inner Mongolia Grassland Ecosystem Research Station and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2016 Elsevier Ltd",

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AU - Li, Linfeng

AU - Fan, Wenyu

AU - Kang, Xiaoming

AU - Wang, Yanfen

AU - Cui, Xiaoyong

AU - Xu, Chengyuan

AU - Griffin, Kevin L.

AU - Hao, Yanbin

N1 - Funding Information: Financial support was provided by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KJRH2015-010 ), Special Funds for Sciences and Education Fusion of University of Chinese Academy of Science , the National Nonprofit Institute Research Grant of CAFINT (Grant No. CAFYBB2014QB026 ), the National Youth Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31300417 ). We greatly appreciate the assistance from Inner Mongolia Grassland Ecosystem Research Station and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Publisher Copyright: © 2016 Elsevier Ltd

PY - 2016/10/1

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N2 - Climate extremes are expected to increase in frequency and intensity as a consequence of anthropogenic climate change attributed to the rise of atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs). However, studies on the impacts of climate extremes on terrestrial ecosystems are limited. Here, we experimentally imposed extreme drought and a heat wave (∼60-year recurrence) to investigate their effects on GHGs fluxes of a semiarid grassland in China. We estimated a 16% and 38% percent reduction in net ecosystem CO2 uptake caused by the heat wave and drought respectively, but via different mechanisms. Drought reduced gross ecosystem productively (GEP) and to a lower extent ecosystem respiration (ER). By contrast, the simulated heat wave suppressed only GEP while ER remained stable. The climate extremes also created a legacy effect on GEP and NEE lasting until the end of the growing season, whereas ER recovered immediately. Although CH4 and N2O fluxes were unaffected by the heat wave, drought promoted CH4 uptake and suppressed N2O emission during the treatment period. The effect of drought on GHGs fluxes generally overwhelmed that of the heat wave treatment, and there were no interactive effects of these two types of climate extremes. Our results showed that responses of ecosystem GHGs exchange to climate extremes are strongly regulated by soil moisture status. In conclusion, future amplification of climate extremes could decrease the sink for GHGs, especially CO2, in this semiarid grasslands.

AB - Climate extremes are expected to increase in frequency and intensity as a consequence of anthropogenic climate change attributed to the rise of atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs). However, studies on the impacts of climate extremes on terrestrial ecosystems are limited. Here, we experimentally imposed extreme drought and a heat wave (∼60-year recurrence) to investigate their effects on GHGs fluxes of a semiarid grassland in China. We estimated a 16% and 38% percent reduction in net ecosystem CO2 uptake caused by the heat wave and drought respectively, but via different mechanisms. Drought reduced gross ecosystem productively (GEP) and to a lower extent ecosystem respiration (ER). By contrast, the simulated heat wave suppressed only GEP while ER remained stable. The climate extremes also created a legacy effect on GEP and NEE lasting until the end of the growing season, whereas ER recovered immediately. Although CH4 and N2O fluxes were unaffected by the heat wave, drought promoted CH4 uptake and suppressed N2O emission during the treatment period. The effect of drought on GHGs fluxes generally overwhelmed that of the heat wave treatment, and there were no interactive effects of these two types of climate extremes. Our results showed that responses of ecosystem GHGs exchange to climate extremes are strongly regulated by soil moisture status. In conclusion, future amplification of climate extremes could decrease the sink for GHGs, especially CO2, in this semiarid grasslands.

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KW - CO flux

KW - Extreme drought

KW - Heat wave

KW - NO flux

KW - Soli water content

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VL - 142

SP - 32

EP - 42

JO - Atmospheric Environment

JF - Atmospheric Environment

ER -

Responses of greenhouse gas fluxes to climate extremes in a semiarid grassland

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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