Abstract
Background and aim
Because the indigenous burrowing lagomorph plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) is considered to have negative ecological impacts on alpine meadow steppe grasslands of the Headwaters Region of the Yellow, Yangtze and Mekong Rivers we investigated its effects on ecosystem productivity and soil properties, and especially net ecosystem carbon flux.
Methods
We measured net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE) and its components gross ecosystem productivity (GEP) and ecosystem respiration (ER) at peak aboveground biomass by the chamber method with reference to plant and soil characteristics of areas of alpine meadow steppe with different densities of pika burrows.
Results
Higher burrow density decreased NEE, GEP and ER. Above-ground biomass, species number, plant cover and leaf area index decreased with increasing pika density. Higher burrow density was associated with lower soil moisture and higher soil temperature. Responses of NEE were related to changes of abiotic and biotic factors affecting its two components. NEE was positively related to soil moisture, soil ammonium nitrogen, plant cover, leaf area index and above-ground biomass but was negatively correlated with higher soil nitrate nitrogen.
Conclusion
Decrease of NEE by plateau pika may reduce the carbon sink balance of Qinghai-Tibet plateau grassland. Such effects may be influenced by grazing pressure from domestic livestock, population levels of natural predators, and climate change.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Prof. Jiyuan Liu and associate Prof. Huaping Zhong for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript and Wenyan Zhang and Longfei Bing for their help in laboratory measurements. Further improvement of the paper was gained from the comments of three anonymous reviewers. Financial support came from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31070427), the National Key Basic Research Program of China (2010CB950902) and National Key Technology RandD Program (No.2009BAC61B01).
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Liu, Y., Fan, J., Harris, W. et al. Effects of plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) on net ecosystem carbon exchange of grassland in the Three Rivers Headwaters region, Qinghai-Tibet, China. Plant Soil 366, 491–504 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-012-1442-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-012-1442-x