Responses and feedback of the Tibetan Plateau&amp;rsquo;s alpine ecosystem to climate change

Piao, Shilong; Zhang, Xianzhou; Wang, Tao; Liang, Eryuan; Wang, Shiping; Zhu, Juntao; Niu, Ben

doi:10.1360/tb-2019-0074

Cited by 130 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 56 publications

(65 reference statements)

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“…Our study reveals a spatial pattern of T opt on the TP, which closely resembles that of GPP (e.g. figure 3b inset in Piao et al, 2019), suggesting a close relationship between the two variables. Indeed, this pattern similarity also confirms the importance of T opt in ecosystem carbon cycle modelling.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 72%

“…This pronounced climate warming is expected to profoundly influence ecosystem photosynthetic carbon sequestration (Zhang et al, 2015; Piao et al, 2019), which could modify surface biogeophysical properties and further exert impacts on the thermodynamic property of the TP and on the South Asian Monsoon—a climate system affecting billions of people (Mohtadi et al, 2016; Shen et al, 2015; Wu et al, 2014; Zuo et al, 2011). A synthesis analysis of 16 manipulative warming experiments across the TP shows an average temperature sensitivity of 23 ± 10 g m −2 °C −1 , with large variations across different warming systems (Piao et al, 2019). However, it remains unclear whether or not this vegetation productivity enhancement will persist under further warming, which is critical for carbon cycle and climate change predictions (Liu, 2020; Lu et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Optimal temperature of vegetation productivity and its linkage with climate and elevation on the Tibetan Plateau

Chen

Huang

Liu

et al. 2021

Global Change Biology

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Vegetation productivity first increases and then decreases with temperature; and temperature corresponding to the maximum productivity is called optimal temperature (Topt). In this study, we used satellite derived near‐infrared reflectance of vegetation (NIRv) data to map Topt of vegetation productivity at the spatial resolution of 0.1° on the Tibetan Plateau (TP), one of most sensitive regions in the climate system. The average Topt of non‐forest vegetation on the TP is about 14.7°C, significantly lower than the Topt value used in current ecosystem models. A remarkable geographical heterogeneity in Topt is observed over the TP. Higher Topt values generally appear in the north‐eastern TP, while the south‐western TP has relatively lower Topt (<10°C), in line with the difference of climate conditions and topography across different regions. Spatially, Topt tends to decrease by 0.41°C per 100 m increase in elevation, faster than the elevational elapse rate of growing season temperature, implying a potential CO2 regulation of Topt in addition to temperature acclimation. Topt increases by 0.66°C for each 1°C of rising mean annual temperature as a result of vegetation acclimation to climate change. However, at least at the decadal scale, there is no significant change in Topt between 2000s and 2010s, suggesting that the Topt climate acclimation may not keep up with the warming rate. Finally, future (2091–2100) warming could be close to and even surpass Topt on the TP under different RCP scenarios without considering potential climate acclimation. Our analyses imply that the temperature tipping point when the impact of future warming shifts from positive to negative on the TP is greatly overestimated by current vegetation models. Future research needs to include varying thermal and CO2 acclimation effects on Topt across different time scales in vegetation models.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 72%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Optimal temperature of vegetation productivity and its linkage with climate and elevation on the Tibetan Plateau

Chen

Huang

Liu

et al. 2021

Global Change Biology

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“…It has been shown that the Tibetan alpine meadow ecosystem productivity increased when mean air temperature (MAT) was elevated by 2.6–5.2°C (Li, Wang, Yang, Gao, & Liu, 2011), decreased when MAT increased by 0.6–2.0°C (Klein, Harte, & Zhao, 2008) and remained unchanged when MAT increased by 2.2–2.4°C (Zhu, Zhang, & Jiang, 2017), during the growing season. Likewise, both large and rapid species loss (Klein, Harte, & Zhao, 2004; Li, Zhang, et al, 2019; Li et al., 2011) and lack of change in species richness in response to warming (Ganjurjav et al., 2016; Piao et al., 2019) have been reported. These inconsistent results suggest that the magnitude of responses of the Tibetan alpine grassland, whose constituent species are adapted to low temperature, may be sensitive to warming intensity (Alatalo, Jägerbrand, & Molau, 2016; Jonasson, Michelsen, Schmidt, & Nielsen, 1999), necessitating a multi‐level warming approach to better understand warming effects on the Tibetan Plateau ecosystems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Warming alters plant phylogenetic and functional community structure

et al. 2020

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1. Climate change is known to affect many facets of the Earth's ecosystems. However, little is known about its impacts on phylogenetic and functional properties of ecological communities. 2. Here we studied the responses of plant communities in an alpine grassland on the Tibetan Plateau to environmental warming across taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional levels in a 6-year multiple-level warming experiment. 3. While low-level warming did not alter either plant species richness or phylogenetic/functional community structure, high-level warming significantly decreased species richness. Higher level warming more strongly reduced soil moisture and caused stronger environmental filtering, consequently changing species composition and community structure. At the plant functional trait level, high-level warming promoted species turnover through altering the effects of traits such as plant height on species extinction and SLA on species colonization. As a result, high-, but not low-level warming drove phylogenetic/functional community structure from overdispersion to randomness, by filtering out species that were functionally dissimilar and distantly related to the resident species. 4. Synthesis. Our study provides evidence that the responses of plant phylogenetic and functional community structure to low warming differ from those in the future scenarios of increasing temperature. Importantly, the extinction of species that was functionally dissimilar and distantly related to the resident species contributed to alterations in plant community structure under high warming. Our study underscores the need to incorporate the phylogenetic and functional perspectives to gain a more complete understanding of community responses to climate warming.

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“…Here, the underlying surface with sparse vegetation is directly affected by the very high altitude environment and creates a large temperature difference between day and night (Fan et al, 2011). Moreover, the process of low-temperature limited C exchange has also been widely reported (Hao et al, 2011;Kang et al, 2014;Liu et al, 2019;Piao et al, 2019;Zhao et al, 2006). Thus, we tested the hypothesis (1) that temperature is the dominant factor controlling C exchange in the ecosystem.…”

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confidence: 99%

Carbon Sink of a Very High Marshland on the Tibetan Plateau

Wei

Zhao

2021

JGR Biogeosciences

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Terrestrial ecosystems absorb atmospheric CO 2 through photosynthesis and convert it into sugars and starches (Keenan & Williams, 2018), though soil carbon (C) loss returns them to the atmosphere (Giardina et al., 2014;Keidel et al., 2015;Yvon-Durocher et al., 2012). Among various regions, the cold high-latitude and high-altitude regions are unique from temperate and boreal ecosystems owing to their vast permafrost soil C storage, rather than in plants. However, these cold ecosystems suffer from much stronger climate warming than the global average; for instance, warming at a rate of 0.3°C per decade in the Arctic, compared to a rate of 0.12°C per decade for the global land surface (IPCC, 2013). Under such conditions, the fate of the permafrost to climate warming is ultimately governed by the balance between photosynthetic assimilation and ecosystem respiration (Ding et al., 2017;McGuire et al., 2016).Averaging over 4,000 m in altitude, the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is home to the world's largest alpine permafrost, which contributes 15.3 Pg of soil C storage (1 Pg = 10 15 g) (Ding et al., 2016). Roughly 46% of the TP is underlain by permafrost, making it the highest and most extensive alpine permafrost on Earth (Ran et al., 2020). Temperatures in the TP region have risen by 0.26°C per decade since the 1960s (Kuang & Jiao, 2016), which is comparable to the Arctic and could potentially cause permafrost thaw and release of C. Although, two opposing pieces of evidence have been reported regarding the effects of warming on the C balance of the TP. On the one hand, permafrost degradation has been reported and projected across the TP (Zou et al., 2017). The large C pool size together with significant permafrost thawing suggests a risk of C emissions and positive climate feedback across the permafrost region on the TP (Chen et al., 2016). On the other hand, several studies, using both satellite observations and model simulations (Piao 2011;Zhang et al., 2013;Zhuang et al., 2010), have found that the TP is greener under the current warming and wetting climate, as well accumulating soil C content (Ding et al., 2017), which together suggests a stronger net C gain of alpine ecosystems, rather than permafrost C loss. Therefore, these contrasting views means it remains unclear as to whether the C balance has been altered by the changing climate on the TP.

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Responses and feedback of the Tibetan Plateau’s alpine ecosystem to climate change

Cited by 130 publications

References 56 publications

Optimal temperature of vegetation productivity and its linkage with climate and elevation on the Tibetan Plateau

Optimal temperature of vegetation productivity and its linkage with climate and elevation on the Tibetan Plateau

Warming alters plant phylogenetic and functional community structure

Carbon Sink of a Very High Marshland on the Tibetan Plateau

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