Analysing the spatial variation of soil respiration during the early growing season of different grasslands in China

Jie Liu; Ni Huang; Li Wang; Xiaoyu Lin; Luying Zhu; Zheng Niu; Yuelin Zhang; Wensheng Duan

doi:10.7717/peerj.18480

Analysing the spatial variation of soil respiration during the early growing season of different grasslands in China

PeerJ. 2024 Nov 28:12:e18480. doi: 10.7717/peerj.18480. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Jie Liu^{1

2}, Ni Huang¹, Li Wang¹, Xiaoyu Lin^{1

2}, Luying Zhu^{1

2}, Zheng Niu^{1

2}, Yuelin Zhang¹, Wensheng Duan¹

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
² College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Background: As one of the most essential vegetation types, grasslands play a vital role in the global carbon cycle. However, current researches on the spatial variation (SV) of soil respiration (R _s) in grasslands faces great uncertainties.

Methods: The SV of R _s was analysed by obtaining R _s during the early growing season of three types of grasslands (i.e., alpine meadow, desert steppe, and typical steppe) and related impact factors at 19 sites.

Results: The results demonstrated that during the early growing season, the R _s of the alpine meadow was the highest, followed by the typical steppe and desert steppe. Moreover, soil temperature was the primary factor affecting the SV of R _s in desert steppe. In contrast, soil water content influenced the SV of R _s in typical steppe. This study increases our understanding of the SV of R _s during the early growing season of different grasslands. It provides an important reference for accurately estimating the SV of R _s in grasslands at various time scales.

Keywords: Early growing season; Grasslands; Soil respiration; Spatial variation.

MeSH terms

Carbon Cycle
Carbon Dioxide / analysis
Carbon Dioxide / metabolism
China
Grassland*
Seasons*
Soil* / chemistry
Temperature

Substances

Soil
Carbon Dioxide

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos. 42371361 and 41771465). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.