Carbon flux in deserts depends on soil cover type: A case study in the Gurbantunggute desert, North China

Su, Yonghong; Wu, Li; Zhou, Zaixing; Liu, Y.B.; Zhang, Yuan Ming

doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2012.12.006

Cited by 73 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…However, this does not necessarily mean that overall they are a C source. A cyanolichen-dominated biocrust from the Gurbantunggut Desert, China, was reported as quite a large C source with a loss of −48.8 ± 5.4 to −50.9 ± 3.8 g C m −2 yr −1 (Su et al, 2012(Su et al, , 2013, and a very similar biocrust type of the arid grassland of the Colorado Plateau, USA, showed surprisingly similar values of −62 ± 8 g C m −2 yr −1 (Darrouzet-Nardi et al, 2015). How can this astonishing and, at first glance, contradictory fact be explained?…”

Section: Seasonality and Co 2 Balancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All investigations, including our own study that showed biocrusts having a net CO 2 uptake over the year, used gas exchange devices with a separate cuvette where the samples had to be removed from the biocrust (Brostoff et al, 2005;Feng et al, 2014) except the study of Wilske et al (2008Wilske et al ( , 2009, in which a top soil chamber measured the biocrust in situ. All other studies with a negative C balance used top soil chambers where the biocrust was measured in situ (Bowling et al, 2011;Su et al, 2013;Darrouzet-Nardi et al, 2015). The main difference we could find in these studies was the thickness of the biocrust plus the sub-crust (soil) layer used.…”

Section: Seasonality and Co 2 Balancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The main difference we could find in these studies was the thickness of the biocrust plus the sub-crust (soil) layer used. While the studies revealing biocrusts to be CO 2 emitters used collars penetrating 20 to 35 cm into the soil (Bowling et al, 2011;Su et al, 2013;Darrouzet-Nardi et al, 2015), the studies attributing biocrusts to be CO 2 gainers during the course of 1 year either used pieces of biocrust of 1 to 5 cm thickness (this study; Brostoff et al, 2005;Feng et al, 2014), or a collar penetrating only 5.5 cm into the soil (Wilske et al, 2008(Wilske et al, , 2009). The metabolic activity of heterotrophic organisms as well as respiration of roots from nearby plants of deeper soil levels apparently influence the CO 2 gas exchange measurements accordingly as indicated in the investigation of Bowling et al (2011).…”

Section: Seasonality and Co 2 Balancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are various reasons, however; two major ones are (1) positive CO 2 uptake might only occur during a small part of the year and (2) it is difficult to separate the C balance of the biocrust from C fluxes of other organisms like microbes and roots of higher vegetation or minerals like carbonate that occur below them. Nevertheless, biocrusts are only one constituent of mature soils, and it seems plausible that measurements that include soil layers other than the biocrust itself might result in CO 2 release because of a high percentage of heterotrophic organisms (Bowling et al, 2011;Darrouzet-Nardi et al, 2015;Su et al, 2013), while those that are solely restricted to the biocrust layer might explain why they show net C uptake over the year (Brostoff et al, 2005;Wilske et al, 2008Wilske et al, , 2009Feng et al, 2014). We believe that seasonality (biocrust wet-up and dry-down) also plays an important role for several reasons.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Examples from the net C uptake group include a biocrust from the Mojave Desert which gained 11.7 g C m −2 yr −1 (Brostoff et al, 2005), a biocrust in the northern Negev Desert, Israel, with a net C uptake of 0.7-5.1 g m −2 yr −1 (Wilske et al, 2008(Wilske et al, , 2009) and a biocrust from a desert region of north-west China showing a net C uptake of 3.5 to 6.1 g C m −2 yr −1 (Feng et al, 2014). Among the C-losing biocrusts are those of southeast Utah determined to be typical net C sources (Bowling et al, 2011), a biocrust from the Colorado Plateau, USA, also losing 62 ± 8 g C m −2 yr −1 (Darrouzet-Nardi et al, 2015) and finally biocrusts from the Gurbantunggut Desert, north-western China, showed a C release of 48.8 ± 5.4 to 50.9 ± 3.8 g m −2 yr −1 (Su et al, 2013). One can be fairly confident that persistent biocrusts must have a positive C balance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Annual net primary productivity of a cyanobacteria-dominated biological soil crust in the Gulf Savannah, Queensland, Australia

2018

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Abstract. Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are a common element of the Queensland (Australia) dry savannah ecosystem and are composed of cyanobacteria, algae, lichens, bryophytes, fungi and heterotrophic bacteria. Here we report how the CO 2 gas exchange of the cyanobacteria-dominated biocrust type from Boodjamulla National Park in the north Queensland Gulf Savannah responds to the pronounced climatic seasonality and on their quality as a carbon sink using a semi-automatic cuvette system. The dominant cyanobacteria are the filamentous species Symplocastrum purpurascens together with Scytonema sp. Metabolic activity was recorded between 1 July 2010 and 30 June 2011, during which CO 2 exchange was only evident from November 2010 until mid-April 2011, representative of 23.6 % of the 1-year recording period. In November at the onset of the wet season, the first month (November) and the last month (April) of activity had pronounced respiratory loss of CO 2 . The metabolic active period accounted for 25 % of the wet season and of that period 48.6 % was net photosynthesis (NP) and 51.4 % dark respiration (DR). During the time of NP, net photosynthetic uptake of CO 2 during daylight hours was reduced by 32.6 % due to water supersaturation. In total, the biocrust fixed 229.09 mmol CO 2 m −2 yr −1 , corresponding to an annual carbon gain of 2.75 g m −2 yr −1 . Due to malfunction of the automatic cuvette system, data from September and October 2010 together with some days in November and December 2010 could not be analysed for NP and DR. Based on climatic and gas exchange data from November 2010, an estimated loss of 88 mmol CO 2 m −2 was found for the 2 months, resulting in corrected annual rates of 143.1 mmol CO 2 m −2 yr −1 , equivalent to a carbon gain of 1.7 g m −2 yr −1 . The bulk of the net photosynthetic activity occurred above a relative humidity of 42 %, indicating a suitable climatic combination of temperature, water availability and light intensity well above 200 µmol photons m −2 s −1 photosynthetic active radiation. The Boodjamulla biocrust exhibited high seasonal variability in CO 2 gas exchange pattern, clearly divided into metabolically inactive winter months and active summer months. The metabolic active period commences with a period (of up to 3 months) of carbon loss, likely due to reestablishment of the crust structure and restoration of NP prior to about a 4-month period of net carbon gain. In the Gulf Savannah biocrust system, seasonality over the year investigated showed that only a minority of the year is actually suitable for biocrust growth and thus has a small window for potential contribution to soil organic matter.

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Section: Seasonality and Co 2 Balancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Seasonality and Co 2 Balancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Seasonality and Co 2 Balancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Annual net primary productivity of a cyanobacteria-dominated biological soil crust in the Gulf Savannah, Queensland, Australia

2018

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Phenological responses to nitrogen and water addition are linked to plant growth patterns in a desert herbaceous community

Huang

2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Increases in nitrogen (N) deposition and variation in precipitation have been occurring in temperate deserts; however, little information is available regarding plant phenological responses to environmental cues and their relationships with plant growth pattern in desert ecosystems. In this study, plant phenology and growth of six annuals in response to N and water addition were monitored throughout two consecutive growing seasons in 2011 and 2012 in a temperate desert in northwestern China. The effects of N and water addition on reproductive phenology differed among plant species. N and water addition consistently advanced the flowering onset time and fruiting time of four spring ephemerals; however, their effects on two spring‐summer annuals were inconsistent, with advances being noted in one species and delays in another. N and water addition alone increased plant height, relative growth rate, leaf number, flower number, and individual biomass, while their combinative effects on plant growth and reproductive phenology were dependent on species. Multiple regression analysis showed that flowering onset time was negatively correlated with relative growth rate of two species, and negatively correlated with maximum plant height of the other four species. Our study demonstrates that phenological responses to increasing precipitation and N deposition varied in annuals with different life histories, whereby the effects of climate change on plant growth rate were related to reproductive phenology. Desert annuals that were able to accelerate growth rate under increasing soil resource availability tended to advance their flowering onset time to escape drought later in the growing season. This study promotes our understanding of the responses of temperate desert annuals to increasing precipitation and N deposition in this desert.

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Variation in snow cover drives differences in soil properties and microbial biomass of BSCs in the Gurbantunggut Desert—3 years of snow manipulations

et al. 2019

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Variations in snow cover (as specific precipitation) can have an important effect on development of biological soil crusts (BSCs) in arid and semiarid regions, where water is the principal limiting factor for microorganisms. However, there is still limited knowledge available regarding the effects of snowfall on soil properties and microbial biomass in BSCs. To examine these effects of snow cover, three types of BSCs (cyanobacteria-dominated, lichen-dominated, and moss-dominated crusts) were collected and exposed to five snow depths for 3 years. The results indicated that most of the soil properties and soil microbial biomass were significantly (p < .05) affected by 3 years of snow manipulation in three types of BSCs. In BSCs, the values of most soil properties and microbial biomass were higher in the increased snow depth treatments relative the snow removal treatments. Moreover, there were variations in soil properties and microbial biomass among BSC types. In short, increases/decreases in snow cover had different effects on three types of BSCs after 3 years of manipulation. Moreover, increases in snow cover had a positive influence on soil properties and microbial biomass, but negative effects were observed in all BSCs following snow removal and snow reduction. Thus, variations in snow cover can drive differences in soil properties and microbial biomass of BSCs, which may further affect development and succession of BSCs in arid and semiarid regions. KEYWORDS biological soil crusts (BSCs), snow cover, soil microbial biomass, successional stages, water availability

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Carbon flux in deserts depends on soil cover type: A case study in the Gurbantunggute desert, North China

Cited by 73 publications

References 51 publications

Annual net primary productivity of a cyanobacteria-dominated biological soil crust in the Gulf Savannah, Queensland, Australia

Annual net primary productivity of a cyanobacteria-dominated biological soil crust in the Gulf Savannah, Queensland, Australia

Phenological responses to nitrogen and water addition are linked to plant growth patterns in a desert herbaceous community

Variation in snow cover drives differences in soil properties and microbial biomass of BSCs in the Gurbantunggut Desert—3 years of snow manipulations

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