Distribution of soil carbon in different grassland types of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

作     者：LIU Shu-li DU Yan-gong ZHANG Fa-wei LIN Li LI Yi-kang GUO Xiao-wei LI Qian CAO Guang-min 

作者机构：Northwest Institute of Plateau BiologyChinese Academy of SciencesQinghai 810001China University of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing 100049China 

出 版 物：《Journal of Mountain Science》 (山地科学学报（英文）)

年 卷 期：2016年第13卷第10期

页      面：1806-1817页

核心收录：

学科分类：07[理学] 0713[理学-生态学] 

基　　金：supported by the“Natural Science Foundation of China(41030105)" “Strategic Priority Research Program-Climate Change:Carbon Budget and Related Issues”of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(XDA05050404) 

主　　题：Soil organic carbon Soil inorganic carbon Different grassland types Carbon distribution Storage 

摘      要：Accurate estimate of soil carbon storage is essential to reveal the role of soil in global carbon cycle. However, there is large uncertainty on the estimation of soil organic carbon(SOC) storage in grassland among previous studies, and the study on soil inorganic carbon(SIC) is still lack. We surveyed 153 sites during plant peak growing season and estimated SOC and SIC for temperate desert, temperate steppe, alpine steppe, steppe meadow, alpine meadow and swamp, which covered main grassland in the Qinghai Plateau during 2011 to 2012. The results showed that the vertical and spatial distributions of SOC and SIC varied by grassland types. The SOC amount mainly decreased from southeast to northwest, whereas the SIC amount increased from southeast to northwest. The magnitude of SOC amount in the top 50 cm across grassland types ranked by: swamp alpine meadow steppe meadow temperate steppe alpine steppe temperate desert, while the SIC amount showed an opposite order. There was a great deal of variation in proportion of SOC and SIC among different grassland types(from 55.17 to 94.59 for SOC and 5.14 to 44.83 for SIC). The total SOC and SIC storage was 5.78 Pg and 1.37 Pg, respectively, in the top 50 cm of soil in Qinghai Province. The mixed linear model revealed that grassland types was the predominant factor in spatial variations of SOC amount while grassland types and soil p H accounted for those of SIC amount. Our results suggested that the community shift of alpine meadow towards alpine grassland induced by climate warming would decrease carbon sequestration capacity by 6.0 kg C m2.