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Effects of Warming and Nitrogen Addition on Plant Photosynthate Partitioning in an Alpine Meadow on the Tibetan Plateau

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Abstract

Quantifying plant carbon (C) allocation among different pools is critical for understanding and predicting how C turnover responds to global climate change in terrestrial ecosystems. A field experiment with increasing warming and nitrogen (N) was established to investigate interactive effects on plant C allocation in alpine meadows. Open-top chambers (OTCs) were used to simulate warming. In OTCs, daytime air and soil temperature at 5 cm depth increased by 2.0 and 1.6 °C, respectively, compared with ambient conditions, but soil moisture at 5 cm depth decreased by 4.95% (v/v) from 2012 to 2014. Warming reduced aboveground biomass by 38, 36, and 43% in 2012, 2013, and 2014, respectively, and increased belowground biomass by 64% and 29% in 2013 and 2014, respectively, and the root-to-shoot ratio was significantly increased. Specifically, warming increased the proportion of plant roots in the deep layers (10–20 cm). Both N addition and its combination with warming substantially enhanced belowground biomass. Pulse-labeling experiments for 13C revealed that warming reduced the translocation of assimilated C to shoots by 8.8% (38.7% in warming, and 47.5% in the control [CK]), and increased the allocation to root by 12.2% (55.5% in warming, and 43.3% in CK) after 28 days labeling. However, N addition increased the proportion of assimilated C allocated to shoots by 6.5% (54.0% in N addition, and 47.5% in CK), whereas warming combined with N addition reduced this proportion by 10.9%. A decline in soil water content in the surface layer may be the main cause of plants allocating more newly fixed photosynthate to roots. Therefore, plants promoted root growth to draw water from deeper soil layers (10–20 cm). We concluded that climate warming will change the allocation patterns of plant photosynthates by affecting soil water availability, whereas N addition will increase plant photosynthates aboveground in alpine meadows and thus will significantly affect C turnover under future climate change scenarios.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Leonie Seabrook, PhD, from Liwen Bianji, Edanz Group China (http://www.liwenbianji.cn/ac), for editing the English text of a draft of this manuscript. This work was jointly supported by the West Light Foundation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2015), the National Science Foundation for Young Scientists of China (41703079), National Key Research and Development Program (2016YFC0501803), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31470506), and the Youth Innovation Research Team Project (LENOM2016Q0004).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lhasa National Ecological Research Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modelling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 11A, Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, People’s Republic of China

    Ning Zong, Xi Chai & Pei-Li Shi

  2. College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People’s Republic of China

    Xi Chai & Pei-Li Shi

  3. College of Material and Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chengdu University of Technology, 1# Dongsanlu, Erxianqiao, Chengdu, 610059, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China

    Xiao-Cheng Yang

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  1. Ning Zong
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Zong, N., Chai, X., Shi, PL. et al. Effects of Warming and Nitrogen Addition on Plant Photosynthate Partitioning in an Alpine Meadow on the Tibetan Plateau. J Plant Growth Regul 37, 803–812 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-017-9775-6

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