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Biomass, Litter, and Soil Respiration Along a Precipitation Gradient in Southern Great Plains, USA

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Abstract

Knowledge of how ecosystem carbon (C) processes respond to variations in precipitation is crucial for assessing impacts of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems. In this study, we examined variations of shoot and root biomass, standing and surface litter, soil respiration, and soil C content along a natural precipitation gradient from 430 to 1200 mm in the southern Great Plains, USA. Our results show that shoot biomass and soil respiration increased linearly with mean annual precipitation (MAP), whereas root biomass and soil C content remained relatively constant along the precipitation gradient. Consequently, the root/shoot ratio linearly decreased with MAP. However, patterns of standing, surface, and total litter mass followed quadratic relationships with MAP along the gradient, likely resulting from counterbalance between litter production and decomposition. Those linear/quadratic equations describing variations of ecosystem C processes with precipitation could be useful for model development, parameterization, and validation at landscape and regional scales to improve predictions of C dynamics in grasslands in response to climate change. Our results indicated that precipitation is an important driver in shaping ecosystem functioning as reflected in vegetation production, litter mass, and soil respiration in grassland ecosystems.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the three anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments. The authors would also like to thank Drs. Kessler and Hulsey as well as seven other government and conservation organizations (Oklahoma State Parks, the Nature Conservancy, Rita Blanca National Grassland, and USDA-ARS southern plains range research station) for providing access to the sites used in this study. The authors also thank Michael Cyrwus, Rebecca A. Sherry, Jesse Bell, Afzal Subedar, Carlos Recinos, Tao Xu, Haihe Liang, Bo Su, Yuan An, and Shiliang Gu for assistance with field sampling. This research was financially supported by US National Science Foundation (NSF) under DEB 0078325 and DEB 0444518, and by the Terrestrial Carbon Program at the Office of Science, US Department of Energy, Grant No.: DE-FG02-006ER64317.

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  1. Department of Botany and Microbiology, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, 73019, USA

    Xuhui Zhou, Melissa Talley & Yiqi Luo

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  1. Xuhui Zhou
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Correspondence to Xuhui Zhou.

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Xuhui Zhou performed research, analyzed data, and wrote the article, Melissa Talley performed part of research, and Yiqi Luo conceived of and oversaw the study.

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Zhou, X., Talley, M. & Luo, Y. Biomass, Litter, and Soil Respiration Along a Precipitation Gradient in Southern Great Plains, USA. Ecosystems 12, 1369–1380 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-009-9296-7

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