Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Carbon Dioxide Dynamics and Controls in a Deep-water Wetland on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

  • Published:
Ecosystems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

To initially characterize the dynamics and environmental controls of CO2, ecosystem CO2 fluxes were measured for different vegetation zones in a deep-water wetland on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau during the growing season of 2002. Four zones of vegetation along a gradient from shallow to deep water were dominated, respectively by the emergent species Carex allivescens V. Krez., Scirpus distigmaticus L., Hippuris vulgaris L., and the submerged species Potamogeton pectinatus L. Gross primary production (GPP), ecosystem respiration (Re), and net ecosystem production (NEP) were markedly different among the vegetation zones, with lower Re and GPP in deeper water. NEP was highest in the Scirpus-dominated zone with moderate water depth, but lowest in the Potamogeton-zone that occupied approximately 75% of the total wetland area. Diurnal variation in CO2 flux was highly correlated with variation in light intensity and soil temperature. The relationship between CO2 flux and these environmental variables varied among the vegetation zones. Seasonal CO2 fluxes, including GPP, Re, and NEP, were strongly correlated with aboveground biomass, which was in turn determined by water depth. In the early growing season, temperature sensitivity (Q10) for Re varied from 6.0 to 8.9 depending on vegetation zone. Q10 decreased in the late growing season. Estimated NEP for the whole deep-water wetland over the growing season was 24 g C m−2. Our results suggest that water depth is the major environmental control of seasonal variation in CO2 flux, whereas photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) controls diurnal dynamics.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
Figure 9
Figure 10

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ahm J, Talanov A, Saarnio S, Silvola J, Ikkonen E, Aaltonen H, Nykanen H, Martikainen PJ. 1997. Reconstruction of the carbon balance for microsites in a boreal oligotrophic pine fen, Finland. Oecologia 110:423–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alm J, Schulman L, Walden J, Nykanen H, Martikainen PJ, Silvola J. 1999. Carbon balance of a boreal bog during a year with an exceptionally dry summer. Ecology 80:161–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boone RD, Van Slycken J, Steven D. 1998. Roots exert a strong influence on the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration. Nature 396:570–2

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bubier JL, Crill PM, Moore TR, Savage K, Varner RK. 1998. Seasonal patterns and controls on net ecosystem CO2 exchange in a boreal peatland complex. Global Biogeochem Cycles 12:703–14

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bubier JL, Frolking S, Crill PM, Linder E. 1999. Net ecosystem productivity and its uncertainty in a diverse boreal peatland. J Geophys Res Atmospheres 104:27683–92

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bubier JL, Bhatia G, Moore TR, Roulet NT, Lafleur PM. 2003. Spatial and temporal variability in growing-season net ecosystem carbon dioxide exchange at a large peatland in Ontario, Canada. Ecosystems 6:353–67

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bubier JL, Crill P, Mosedale A, Frolking S, Linder E. 2003b. Peatland responses to varying interannual moisture conditions as measured by automatic CO2 chambers. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 17:1066, doi: 10.1029/2002GB001946

  • Carroll P, Crill P. 1997. Carbon balance of a temperate poor fen. Global Biogeochem Cycles 11:349–56

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Casper P, Maberly SC, Hall GH, Finlay BJ. 2000. Fluxes of methane and carbon dioxide from a small productive lake to the atmosphere. Biogeochemistry 49:1–19

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Christensen TR, Friborg T, Sommerkorn M, Kaplan J, Illeris L, Soegaard H, Nordstroem C, Jonasson S. 2000. Trace gas exchange in a high-arctic valley 1. Variations in CO2 and CH4 flux between tundra vegetation types. Global Biogeochem Cycles 14:701–13

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cole JJ, Caraco NF, Kling GW, Kratz TK. 1994. Carbon dioxide supersaturation in the surface waters of lakes. Science 265:1568–70

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cole JJ, Caraco NF. 1998. Atmospheric exchange of carbon dioxide in a low-wind oligotrophic lake measured by addition of SF6. Limnol Oceanogr 43:647–56

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cowardin LM, Carter V, Golet FC, LaRoe ET. 1979. Classification of wetlands and deepwater habitats of the United States. FWS/OBS-79-31. United States Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington (DC): 103 p

  • Cronk JK, Fennessy MS. 2001. Adaptations to growth conditions in wetland. Wetland plants: biology and ecology. Boca Raton (FL): Lewis Publishers, pp. 87–110

    Google Scholar 

  • Gorham E. 1991. Northern peatlands – role in the carbon-cycle and probable responses to climatic warming. Ecol Appl 1:182–95

    Google Scholar 

  • Heikkinen JEP, Elsakov V, Martikainen PJ. 2002. Carbon dioxide and methane dynamics and annual carbon balance in tundra wetland in NE Europe, Russia. Global Biogeochem Cycles 16:1115, doi: 10.1029/2002GB001930

  • Heikkinen JEP, Virtanen T, Huttunen JT, Elsakov V, Martikainen PJ. 2004. Carbon balance in East European tundra. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 18, GB1023, doi: 10.1029/2003GB002054

  • Hirota M, Tang YH, Hu QW, Hirata S, Kato T, Mo WH, Cao GM, Mariko S. 2004. Methane emissions from different vegetation zones in a Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau wetland. Soil Biol Biochem 36:737–48

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • IPCC. 2001. Climate Change 2001. Third Assessment Report of the IPCC. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 183–237

    Google Scholar 

  • Janssens IA, Pilegaard K. 2003. Large seasonal changes in Q10 of soil respiration in a beech forest. Global Change Biol 9:911–88

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joiner DW, Lafleur PM, McCaughey JH, Bartlett PA. 1999. Interannual variability in carbon dioxide exchanges at a boreal wetland in the BOREAS northern study area. Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres 104:27663–72

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kirschbaum MUF. 1995. The temperature dependence of soil organic matter decomposition, and the effect of global warming on soil organic C storage. Soil Biol Biochem 36:753–760

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Körner C. 2003. Alpine Plant Life, Functional Plant Ecology of High Mountain Ecosystems. Second Edition. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Larmola T, Alm J, Juutinen S, Saarnio S, Martikainen PJ, Silvola J. 2004. Floods can cause large interannual differences in littoral net ecosystem productivity. Limnology and Oceanography 49:1896–1906

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lloyd J, Taylor JA. 1994. On the temperature dependence of soil respiration. Funct Ecol 8:315–323

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitsch WJ, Gosselink JG. 2000. Wetlands. Third edition. John Wiley and Sons, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore TR, Dalva M. 1993. The influence of temperature and water-table position on carbon dioxide and methane emissions from laboratory columns of peatland soils. J Soil Sci 44:651–64

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Oechel WC, Hastings SJ, Vourlitis G, Jenkins M, Riechers G, Grulke N. 1993. Recent change of arctic tundra ecosystems from a net carbon dioxide sink to a source. Nature 361:520–3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raich JW, Schlesinger WH. 1992. The global carbon dioxide flux in soil respiration and its relationship to vegetation and climate. Tellus 44B:81–90

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Riera JL, Schindler JE, Kratz TK. 1999. Seasonal dynamics of carbon dioxide and methane in two clear-water lakes and two bog lakes in northern Wisconsin, USA. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 56:265–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roehm CL, Roulet NT. 2003, Seasonal contribution of CO2 fluxes in the annual C budget of a northern bog. Global Biogeochem Cycles 17: GB1029, doi: 10.1029/2002GB001889

  • Schreader CP, Rouse WR, Griffis TJ, Boudreau LD, Blanken PD. 1998. Carbon dioxide fluxes in a northern fen during a hot, dry summer. Global Biogeochem Cycles 12:729–40

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Silvola J, Alm J, Ahlholm U, Nykanen H, Martikainen PJ. 1996. CO2 fluxes from peat in boreal mires under varying temperature and moisture conditions. J Ecol 84:219–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Thornley MN, Johnson IR. 1990. Plant and crop modeling; a mathematical approach to plant and crop physiology. Oxford: Clarendon

    Google Scholar 

  • Trumbore SE, Bubier JL, Harden JW, Crill PM. 1999. Carbon cycling in boreal wetlands: a comparison of three approaches. J Geophys Res Atmos 104:27673–82

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Turunen J, Tomppo E, Tolonen K, Reinikainen A. 2002. Estimating carbon accumulation rates of undrained mires in Finland - application to boreal and subarctic regions. Holocene 12:69–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vollenweider RA. 1968. The scientific basis of lake and stream eutrophication with particular reference to phosphorus and nitrogen as eutrophication factors. Technical Report DAS/CSI/68,27, Paris: Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development

  • Waddington JM, Roulet NT. 1996. Atmosphere-wetland carbon exchanges: scale dependency of CO2 and CH4 exchange on the developmental topography of a peatland. Global Biogeochem Cycles 10:233–45

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Waddington JM, Roulet NT. 2000. Carbon balance of a boreal patterned peatland. Glob Change Biol 6:87–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang G, Qian J, Cheng G, Lai Y, 2002. Soil organic carbon pool of grassland soils on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and its global implication. Sci Total Environ 291:207–17

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wickland KP, Striegl RG, Mast MA, Clow DW. 2001. Carbon gas exchange at a southern Rocky Mountain wetland, 1996–1998. Global Biogeochem Cycles 15:321–35

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao K. 1999. Marshes and swamps of China; a compilation. Science Press of China. (In Chinese only)

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was part of a joint research project by the National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan, and the Northwest Plateau Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and was supported by Asahi Breweries Scientific Foundation and a grant from the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX1-SW-01).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute for Environmental Studies, Onogawa 16-2, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8506, Japan

    Mitsuru Hirota & Yanhong Tang

  2. Northwest Plateau Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Science, Xining, 810001, People’s Republic of China

    Qiwu Hu & Guangmin Cao

  3. Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8572, Japan

    Shigeki Hirata

  4. Frontier Research Center for Global Change, 3173-25 Showa-machi, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama City, Kanagawa, 236-0001, Japan

    Tomomichi Kato

  5. Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8572, Japan

    Wenhong Mo & Shigeru Mariko

Authors
  1. Mitsuru Hirota
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yanhong Tang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Qiwu Hu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Shigeki Hirata
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Tomomichi Kato
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Wenhong Mo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Guangmin Cao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Shigeru Mariko
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mitsuru Hirota.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hirota, M., Tang, Y., Hu, Q. et al. Carbon Dioxide Dynamics and Controls in a Deep-water Wetland on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Ecosystems 9, 673–688 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-006-0029-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-006-0029-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation