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Responses in leaf functional traits and resource allocation of a dominant alpine sedge (Kobresia pygmaea) to climate warming in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau permafrost region

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Abstract

Assessing the influence of warming on leaf traits, carbon, and nutrient concentrations above and below ground to understand how the dominant sedge Kobresia pygmaea (C. B. Clarke) C. B. Clarke may respond and adapt to extant and future climate in the alpine meadow of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. A warming experiment was conducted in the permafrost region of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau from 2008 to 2009. Two 2-year warming treatments (T1, annual warming of 2.1°C; T2, annual warming of 4.4°C) were used, and responses of leaf traits and above- and belowground carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus concentrations of K. pygmaea were examined. The results show that both moderate (T1) and more extensive (T2) warming decreased leaf mass, leaf thickness, and vascular bundle size, and increased the mass-based photosynthetic rate (Amass) and photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency (PNUE). A moderate warming significantly decreased leaf carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P), and root C and N concentrations of K. pygmaea. These decreases were even more pronounced under the more extensive warming. The decreases in leaf N and P were significantly larger than the decrease in leaf C concentration. Root P concentration increased more under the extensive than the moderate warming. The observed increase in leaf C:N ratio in the warming treatment indicates that enhanced temperature may increase the long-term nitrogen use efficiency of K. pygmaea leaves. This again suggests that K. pygmaea might adapt well to future climate warming, and that nitrogen might be a more important factor for K. pygmaea dominated alpine meadows under future climate warming.

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Acknowledgement

We thank three anonymous reviewers for comments on the manuscript, Na Li, Guangsheng Liu, and Chunjie Li for field assistance. The research was supported by the Outstanding Young Scientist Program of the National Science Foundation of China (No. 40925002), the National Basic Research Program of China (973, No. 2007CB411504), and Alpine Ecosystem Observation and Experiment Station of Mt. Gongga, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Mountain Environment Evolvement and Regulation, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, #9, Block 4, Renminnanlu Road, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China

    Yan Yang, Genxu Wang & Liudong Yang

  2. Department of Biology, University of Bergen, P.O. Box 7803, 5020, Bergen, Norway

    Kari Klanderud

  3. Department of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, 1000871, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Yan Yang

  4. Department of Ecology and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Box 5003, 1432, Aas, Norway

    Kari Klanderud

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  1. Yan Yang
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  2. Genxu Wang
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Correspondence to Genxu Wang.

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Yang, Y., Wang, G., Klanderud, K. et al. Responses in leaf functional traits and resource allocation of a dominant alpine sedge (Kobresia pygmaea) to climate warming in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau permafrost region. Plant Soil 349, 377–387 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-011-0891-y

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