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Temperature sensitivity of nutrient release from dung along elevation gradient on the Qinghai–Tibetan plateau

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Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The temperature sensitivity of nutrient release from dung decomposition will influence ecosystem nutrient recycling in the future global warming. However, the relationship between temperature and nutrient release is not well understood. We conducted a 2-year-long study to understand the yak dung decomposition and its potential response to climate change along an elevation gradient from 3,200 to 4,200 m above sea level on an alpine meadow on the Qinghai–Tibetan plateau. Mass loss of different chemical components of dung [organic carbon (C), cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, N, P, potassium (K), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg)] significantly decreased with elevation. The ratios of C:N and N:P in the remaining dung increased significantly with decrease in elevation. The average temperature sensitivities (% °C−1) (i.e., increase of the mass loss (%) per 1°C temperature increase among elevations) were approximately 37, 75, 168, 41, 29, 37, 29, 34, and 31% per 1°C warming within a 273-day decomposition period, which decreased with decomposition time, for organic C, cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, N, P, K, Ca, and Mg, respectively. The temperature sensitivity of organic C mass loss is positively correlated to the C:N ratios in dung. The average temperature sensitivity of phosphorus mass loss was higher than that of nitrogen mass loss for the first 273 days and thereafter this situation was reversed.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Knowledge Innovation Programs (KZCX2-XB2-06-01/YW-N-040), the “100-Talent Program” of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation Commission (30871824), the Qinghai Science and the Technology Bureau and Ministry of the Environment, Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Adaptation and Evolution of Plateau Biota, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 810008, Xining, China

    Guangping Xu, Zengguo Chao, Shiping Wang, Yigang Hu, Zhenghua Zhang, Jichuang Duan, Xiaofeng Chang, Ailing Su, Caiyun Luo & Yingnian Li

  2. Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China

    Guangping Xu, Zengguo Chao, Yigang Hu, Zhenghua Zhang, Jichuang Duan, Xiaofeng Chang, Ailing Su & Caiyun Luo

  3. National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, Tsukuba, 305-8604, Japan

    Mingyuan Du

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  1. Guangping Xu
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  2. Zengguo Chao
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  3. Shiping Wang
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  4. Yigang Hu
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  7. Xiaofeng Chang
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  8. Ailing Su
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  9. Caiyun Luo
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  10. Yingnian Li
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  11. Mingyuan Du
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shiping Wang.

Appendices

Appendix 1

See Fig. 6.

Fig. 6
figure 6

Increase of mass losses for organic carbon, cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin by difference of air temperature among elevations and days of decomposition

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Appendix 2

See Fig. 7.

Fig. 7
figure 7

Increase of mass losses for nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium by difference of air temperature among elevations and days of decomposition

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Xu, G., Chao, Z., Wang, S. et al. Temperature sensitivity of nutrient release from dung along elevation gradient on the Qinghai–Tibetan plateau. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 87, 49–57 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-009-9311-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-009-9311-6

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