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Differential effects of grazing, water, and nitrogen addition on soil respiration and its components in a meadow steppe

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Abstract

Background and aims

Understanding the influences of environmental variation and anthropogenic disturbance on soil respiration (RS) is critical for accurate prediction of ecosystem C uptake and release. However, surprisingly, little is known about how soil respiration and its components respond to grazing in the context of global climate change (i.e., precipitation or nitrogen deposition increase).

Methods

We conducted a field manipulative grazing experiment with water and nitrogen addition treatments in a meadow grassland on the Songnen Plain, China, and assessed the combined influences of grazing and global change factors on RS, autotrophic respiration (RA), and heterotrophic respiration (RH).

Results

Compared with the control plots, RS, RA and RH all exhibited positive responses to water or nitrogen addition in the wet year, while a similar effect occurred only for RH in the dry year. The responses of RS to precipitation regimes were dominated by both frequency and amount. However, grazing significantly inhibited both soil respiration and its components in all subplots. Further analysis demonstrated that the plant root/shoot ratio, belowground biomass and microbial biomass played dominant roles in shaping these C exchange processes.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that changes in precipitation regimes, nitrogen deposition, and land utilization may significantly alter soil respiration and its component processes by affecting local carbon users (roots and soil microorganism) and carbon substrate supply in meadow steppe grasslands. The future soil carbon sequestration in the studied meadow steppe will be benefited more by the moderate grazing disturbance.

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Acknowledgements

Dingcheng Sha helped with the field experiment. Xia Yuan provided valuable comments and suggestions on early drafts.

Funding

This study was financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFC0500602), National Natural Science Foundation of China (31570470, 31870456, 31700449, 31770500), the Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities (2412018ZD010), and a grant from State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystems (Lanzhou University, 780000-04410101).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Vegetation Ecology, Ministry of Education, Institute of Grassland Science, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, Jilin Province, 130024, People’s Republic of China

    Yunbo Wang, Deli Wang, Baoku Shi & Wei Sun

  2. Key Laboratory of Grassland Resources, Ministry of Education, College of Grassland, Resources and Environment, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, 010018, People’s Republic of China

    Yunbo Wang

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  1. Yunbo Wang
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Correspondence to Wei Sun.

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Figure S1

Seasonal dynamics of (A, B, C, D) heterotrophic respiration (RH), (E, F, G, H) autotrophic respiration (RA) and (I, J, K, L) soil respiration (RS) in 2012 and 2013. CC: control; CN: N addition; CW: water addition; GC: grazing; GN: N addition and grazing in combination; GW: water addition and grazing in combination. Data are reported as mean ± 1 SD (n = 6). (PNG 232 kb)

High resolution image (TIF 599 kb)

Figure S2

Seasonal dynamics of (A and B) soil moisture and (C and D) soil temperature in 2012 and 2013. CC: control; CN: N addition; CW: water addition; GC: grazing; GN: N addition and grazing in combination; GW: water addition and grazing in combination. Data are reported as mean ± 1 SD (n = 6). (PNG 229 kb)

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Wang, Y., Wang, D., Shi, B. et al. Differential effects of grazing, water, and nitrogen addition on soil respiration and its components in a meadow steppe . Plant Soil 447, 581–598 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-019-04410-5

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