Spatial and temporal relationships between precipitation and ANPP of four types of grasslands in northern China

Precipitation is considered to be the primary resource limiting terrestrial biological activity in water-limited regions. Its overriding effect on the production of grassland is complex. In this paper, field data of 48 sites (including temperate meadow steppe,temperate steppe, temperate desert steppe and alpine meadow) were gathered from 31 published papers and monographs to analyze the relationship between above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP) and precipitation by the method of regression analysis. The results indicated that there was a great difference between spatial pattern and temporal pattern by which precipitation influenced grassland ANPP. Mean annual precipitation (MAP) was the main factor determining spatial distribution of grassland ANPP (r~2 = 0.61,P ＜ 0.01); while temporally, no significant relationship was found between the variance of AN PP and inter-annual precipitation for the four types of grassland. However, after dividing annual precipitation into monthly value and taking time lag effect into account, the study found significant relationships between ANPP and precipitation. For the temperate meadow steppe, the key variable determining inter-annual change of ANPP was last August-May precipitation (r~2= 0.47, P = 0.01); for the temperate steppe, the key variable was July precipitation (r~2 = 0.36, P = 0.02); for the temperate desert steppe, the key variable was April-June precipitation (r~2 = 0.51, P ＜0.01); for the alpine meadow, the key variable was last September-May precipitation (r~2 = 0.29, P ＜ 0.05). In comparison with analogous research, the study demonstrated that the key factor determining inter-annual changes of grassland ANPP was the cumulative precipitation in certain periods of that year or the previous year.

高寒草甸不同草地类型功能群多样性及组成对植物群落生产力的影响

对不同类型草地功能群多样性和组成与植物群落生产力之间的关系进行了探讨.结果表明:(1)在矮嵩草(Kobresia humlis)草甸和金露梅(Potentilla froticosa)灌丛中,豆科植物的作用比较明显,而其他功能群植物的作用较弱.(2)在藏嵩草(Kobresia tibetica)沼泽化草甸和小嵩草(K. pygmaca)草甸中,虽然杂类草、C3植物和莎草科植物功能群的生产力占群落初级生产力的比例较大,但二者在统计上没有显著性差异,这表明群落生产力除受物种多样性的影响外,也受物种本身特征和环境资源的影响,更主要的是受到功能群内物种密度和均匀度的影响,即功能群组成比功能群多样性更能说明对生态系统过程的影响.(3)不同类型草地群落植物功能群盖度与群落初级生产力呈显著的线性相关.(4)不同类型草地群落生产力与功能群内物种数的变化均表现为单峰曲线关系,即功能群内物种数处于中间水平时,群落生产力最高。

Diet shift of upland buzzards (Buteo hemilasius): evidence from stable carbon isotope ratios

We measured the stable carbon isotope ratios for muscle of the upland buzzards (Buteo hemilasius), plateau pika (Ochotoma curzoniae), root vole (Microtus oeconomus), plateau zokor (Myospalax fontanierii) and passerine bird species at the Haibei Alpine Meadow Ecosystem Research Station (HAMERS), and provided diet information of upland buzzards with the measurement of stable carbon isotopes in tissues of these consumers. The results showed that δ~(13)C values of small mammals and passerine bird species ranged from -25.57‰ to -25.78‰ (n = 12), and from -24.81‰ to -22.51% (n = 43), respectively, δ~(13)C values of the upland buzzards ranged from -22.60‰ to -23.10‰ when food was not available. The difference in δ~(13)C values (2.88‰±0.31‰) between upland buzzards and small mammals was much larger than the differences reported previously, 1‰-2‰, and showed significant difference, while 1.31‰±0.34‰ between upland buzzard and passerine bird species did not differ from the previously reported trophic fractionation difference of 1‰-2‰. Estimation of trophic position indicated that upland buzzards stand at trophic position 4.23, far from that of small mammals, i.e., upland buzzards scarcely captured small mammals as food at the duration of food shortage. According to isotope mass balance model, small mammals contributed 7.89% to 35.04% of carbon to the food source of the upland buzzards, while passerine bird species contributed 64.96% to 92.11%. Upland buzzards turned to passerine bird species as food during times of shortage of small mammals. δ~(13)C value, a useful indicator of diet, indicates that the upland buzzards feed mainly on passerine bird species rather than small mammals due to "you are what you eat" when small mammal preys are becoming scarce.

高寒草甸小嵩草种群繁殖生态学研究

研究从繁殖生态学的角度对高寒草甸小嵩草（Kobresia pygmaea）种群进行了初步研究。结果表明：小嵩草属寒冷中生密丛短根茎地下芽植物，在高寒生境中采用以营养繁殖为主、有性繁殖为辅的繁殖策略，具体体现在以下几个方面：啼然小嵩草种子产量达4553.8粒/m~2，但种子萌发率较低，室内和野外萌发率分别仅有4%和1%，经氢氧化钠溶液和赤霉素溶液处理后的种子萌发率分别为1%和2%，而剥去种皮后种子萌发率达52.6%，种皮坚硬是造成种子萌发率低的主要原因；进入种子库、保留至返青期且具有活性的种子仅占种子总数的24.35%，其室内萌发率仅有3%，而在野外理论实生苗仅为11.09个/m~2，与此相反小嵩草营养繁殖所形成的新个体数为6256.25个/m~2，远远多于种子萌发所形成的实生苗数。此外，小嵩草营养繁殖效力也远高于有性繁殖效力，营养繁殖效力占总繁殖效力的90.92%。

增强UV-B辐射对高山植物麻花艽净光合速率的影响

在高寒矮嵩草 (K obresia humilis)草甸地区以太阳短波辐射为背景 ,建立了人工增强 U V- B辐射的实验装置 ,每天增补 15 .8k J· m- 2 的辐射剂量 ,模拟平流层臭氧破坏约 5 %时近地表面太阳 UV- B辐射的增强。观测表明 :UV- B辐射的增强对麻花艽 (Gentiana straminea)植物的光合作用无明显的抑制或伤害作用。相反 ,在早晨补充UV- B辐射的短时间内 ,叶片的 Pn 随 Gs的增大而有所提高。随 UV- B辐射时间的延长 ,约在 11∶ 30～ 12∶ 30 ,Pn和Gs有所降低。U V- B辐射时间进一步延长后 (约 14∶ 0 0以后 ) ,处理和对照组叶片 Pn和 Gs的差异趋向不明显。增强太阳 UV- B辐射后 ,麻花艽叶片的光合色素并无明显变化 ,U V-B 吸收物质的含量也无明显变化。麻花艽叶片厚度的直接测量表明: 增强UV -B 辐射能明显提高叶片的厚度。叶片厚度的增加可补偿增强UV -B 辐射后引起的光合色素的光降解, 改善单位叶面积为基础的光合速率, 是高原植物对强UV-B 辐射的一种适应方式。

海北站矮嵩草和珠芽蓼玉米黄质含量的变化及与太阳辐射的关系

对海北高寒草甸生态系统定位站矮嵩草 (K obresia humilis)和珠芽蓼 (Polygonum viviparum) 5 0 5 nm处的吸光度值 (A5 0 5 / A6 5 2 )的日变化和季节变化的测定发现 :矮嵩草和珠芽蓼叶片内玉米黄质的相对含量在一个生长季内呈现单峰曲线变化 ,与海北站太阳辐射强度的季节变化呈正相关 ;玉米黄质的日变化也呈现单峰曲线 ,于中午14:0 0左右达到最大值 ,与太阳辐射强度的日变化呈正相关 ;玉米黄质在非辐射能耗散以及防止过氧化方面起着重要作用.

高原鼢鼠的挖掘行为及其与土壤硬度的关系(英文)

Burrowing behaviors of the plateau zokors ( Myospalax bailely) in relation to soil hardness were investigated by using radio2telemetry at Haibei Alpine Meadow Ecosystem Research Station ,Qinghai , China. The results showed that there were no differences of burrowing behaviors and the efficiencies of the excavating segment between male and female , except the digging duration of the male was longer than that of the female in the same soil. With increase of soil hardness , digging duration in incisors significantly increased , but dried soil mass dug out by the zokors in each bout reduced. Mean-while the field investigation also showed that soil hardness affected the distribution of the zokor.

青海海北地区高山嵩草草甸植物群落生物量动态及能量分配

对青海海北地区高山草甸主要植物群落小嵩草(K obresia pygmaea) 草甸、矮嵩草(K. humilis) 草甸、藏嵩草(K. tibetica) 沼泽化草甸地上生物量动态和能量分配的研究结果表明, 不同植物群落年地上净生产量及其年际动态和主要植物类群生物量季节动态具明显的差异, 其生物量季节动态可由如下模型表示: W i = Ki/(1 + exp (A i - B it) ) 　　植物群落地上、地下生物量的垂直分布呈典型的金字塔和倒金字塔模式。小嵩草草甸、矮嵩草草甸和藏嵩草沼泽化草甸的地上净生产量依次为368.4g·m – 2·a- 1、418.5 g·m – 2·a- 1和518.4 g·m – 2·a- 1, 所固定的太阳能值依次为6655.16kJ·m – 2·a- 1、7610.09 kJ·m – 2·a- 1、9488.77 kJ·m – 2·a- 1。光能利用率分别为0.1097%、0.1256%、0.1568%。

Effects of vegetation control on ecosystem water use efficiency within and among four grassland ecosystems in China

Through 2-3-year (2003-2005) continuous eddy covariance measurements of carbon dioxide and water vapor fluxes, we examined the seasonal, inter-annual, and inter-ecosystem variations in the ecosystem-level water use efficiency (WUE, defined as the ratio of gross primary production, GPP, to evapotranspiration, ET) at four Chinese grassland ecosystems in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and North China. Representing the most prevalent grassland types in China, the four ecosystems are an alpine swamp meadow ecosystem, an alpine shrub-meadow ecosystem, an alpine meadow-steppe ecosystem, and a temperate steppe ecosystem, which illustrate a water availability gradient and thus provide us an opportunity to quantify environmental and biological controls on ecosystem WUE at different spatiotemporal scales. Seasonally, WUE tracked closely with GPP at the four ecosystems, being low at the beginning and the end of the growing seasons and high during the active periods of plant growth. Such consistent correspondence between WUE and GPP suggested that photosynthetic processes were the dominant regulator of the seasonal variations in WUE. Further investigation indicated that the regulations were mainly due to the effect of leaf area index (LAI) on carbon assimilation and on the ratio of transpiration to ET (T/ET). Besides, except for the swamp meadow, LAI also controlled the year-to-year and site-to-site variations in WUE in the same way, resulting in the years or sites with high productivity being accompanied by high WUE. The general good correlation between LAI and ecosystem WUE indicates that it may be possible to predict grassland ecosystem WUE simply with LAI. Our results also imply that climate change-induced shifts in vegetation structure, and consequently LAI may have a significant impact on the relationship between ecosystem carbon and water cycles in grasslands.

Diurnal and seasonal variations of UV radiation on the northern edge of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

We monitored UVA, UVB, and solar radiation from August 2001 to 2003 on the northern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau to characterize the diurnal and seasonal variations of UV radiation on the world's highest plateau. Daily UVB radiation and the ratio of UVB to total solar radiation increased significantly when the atmospheric ozone concentration decreased as estimated by the total ozone mapping spectrometer (TOMS), as well as when cloud coverage decreased. The UVB/UVA ratio also showed a significant increase when the TOMS ozone concentration decreased in the morning. The seasonal variation pattern of UVB, however, was closely correlated with solar elevation but was little affected by the seasonal pattern of the atmospheric ozone amount. Compared to observations from the central plateau, the magnitude of the UVB increase attributed to ozone depletion was smaller at the northern edge. The study suggests that the temporal variation of ground UV radiation is determined by both solar elevation and the ozone amount, but the spatial difference on the plateau is likely to be ascribed mainly to the spatial variation of the ozone amount. (c) 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V.

An inventory of forest relicts in the pastures of Southern Tibet (Xizang AR, China)

An inventory of isolated tree stands surrounded by desert pastures in Southern Tibet (A.R. Xizang, China) revealed more than 50 sites with vigorous trees of Juniperus convallium Rehder & E.H. Wilson and Juniperus tibetica Kom and additional more than 10 records where juniper trees had been destroyed between 1959-1976. The tree stands are not restricted to any specific habitat, and occur within an area stretching 650 km westwards from the current forest border of Southern Tibet. The trees are religious landmarks of the Tibetan Buddhists. The highest trees were found at an elevation of 4,860 m. Vegetation records, rainfall correlations and temperature data collected by local climate stations and successful reforestation trials since 1999 indicate that forest relicts fragmented through human interference could regenerate if current cattle grazing and deforestation practices are halted. The drought line of Juniperus forests in Southern Tibet is approximately 200-250 mm/a. A first pollen diagram from Lhasa shows forest decline associated with the presence of humans since at least 4,600 yr BP. The currently degraded commons developed in the last 600 yr. To date, no findings of remains of ancient forests in the Central Tibetan Highlands of the Changtang have been reported.

Population dynamics and responses to management of plateau pikas Ochotona curzoniae

1. Plateau pikas Ochotona curzoniae are considered a pest species on the Tibetan Plateau because they compete with livestock for forage and their burrowing could contribute to soil erosion. The effectiveness of pest control programmes in Tibet has not been measured, and it is not known whether changes in livestock management have exacerbated problems with plateau pikas or compromised their control. This study measured the impact of control programmes and livestock management for forage conservation on populations of plateau pikas in alpine meadow in Naqu District, central Tibet, during 2004 and 2005.2. Current techniques for controlling plateau pikas in spring cause large reductions in abundance, but high density-dependent rates of increase result in no differences between treated and untreated populations by the following autumn. Rates of increase from spring to autumn are not influenced by standing plant biomass or concurrent grazing by yaks Bos grunniens and Tibetan sheep Ovis aries.3. In autumn there was significantly lower biomass outside fenced areas with year-round livestock grazing compared with inside fenced areas with equivalent or higher numbers of plateau pikas but predominantly winter grazing by livestock. Inside fenced areas, control of plateau pikas in spring produced no detectable effect on standing plant biomass at the end of the following summer compared with uncontrolled populations of plateau pikas.4. Regardless of their initial density, populations of plateau pikas declined rapidly over winter outside fenced areas where there was very low standing plant biomass in autumn. However, inside fenced areas with higher plant biomass in autumn, low-density populations of plateau pikas declined more slowly than high-density populations.5. Synthesis and applications. Current control programmes have limited effect because populations of plateau pikas can recover in one breeding season. There was no apparent increase in forage production in areas where plateau pikas were controlled. However, plateau pikas appear to benefit from changes in grazing management, with low-density populations declining less over winter inside fenced areas than elsewhere. It was not evident that control programmes are warranted or that they will improve the livelihoods of Tibetan herders.

Modeling gross primary production of alpine ecosystems in the Tibetan Plateau using MODIS images and climate data

The eddy covariance technique provides measurements of net ecosystem exchange (NEE) Of CO2 between the atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems, which is widely used to estimate ecosystem respiration and gross primary production (GPP) at a number Of CO2 eddy flux tower sites. In this paper, canopy-level maximum light use efficiency, a key parameter in the satellite-based Vegetation Photosynthesis Model (VPM), was estimated by using the observed CO2 flux data and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) data from eddy flux tower sites in an alpine swamp ecosystem, an alpine shrub ecosystem and an alpine meadow ecosystem in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China. The VPM model uses two improved vegetation indices (Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Land Surface Water Index (LSWI)) derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectral radiometer (MODIS) data and climate data at the flux tower sites, and estimated the seasonal dynamics of GPP of the three alpine grassland ecosystems in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The seasonal dynamics of GPP predicted by the VPM model agreed well with estimated GPP from eddy flux towers. These results demonstrated the potential of the satellite-driven VPM model for scaling-up GPP of alpine grassland ecosystems, a key component for the study of the carbon cycle at regional and global scales. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Experimental warming, not grazing, decreases rangeland quality on the Tibetan Plateau

We investigated experimental warming and simulated grazing ( clipping) effects on rangeland quality, as indicated by vegetation production and nutritive quality, in winter-grazed meadows and summer- grazed shrublands on the Tibetan Plateau, a rangeland system experiencing climatic and pastoral land use changes. Warming decreased total aboveground net primary productivity ( ANPP) by 40 g . m(-2) . yr(-1) at the meadow habitats and decreased palatable ANPP ( total ANPP minus non- palatable forb ANPP) by 10 g . m(-2) . yr(-1) at both habitats. The decreased production of the medicinal forb Gentiana straminea and the increased production of the non- palatable forb Stellera chamaejasme with warming also reduced rangeland quality. At the shrubland habitats, warming resulted in less digestible shrubs, whose foliage contains 25% digestible dry matter ( DDM), replacing more digestible graminoids, whose foliage contains 60% DDM. This shift from graminoids to shrubs not only results in lower- quality forage, but could also have important consequences for future domestic herd composition. Although warming extended the growing season in non- clipped plots, the reduced rangeland quality due to decreased vegetative production and nutritive quality will likely overwhelm the improved rangeland quality associated with an extended growing season.Grazing maintained or improved rangeland quality by increasing total ANPP by 20 - 40 g . m(-2) . yr(-1) with no effect on palatable ANPP. Grazing effects on forage nutritive quality, as measured by foliar nitrogen and carbon content and by shifts in plant group ANPP, resulted in improved forage quality. Grazing extended the growing season at both habitats, and it advanced the growing season at the meadows. Synergistic interactions between warming and grazing were present, such that grazing mediated the warming- induced declines in vegetation production and nutritive quality. Moreover, combined treatment effects were nonadditive, suggesting that we cannot predict the combined effect of global changes and human activities from single- factor studies.Our findings suggest that the rangelands on the Tibetan Plateau, and the pastoralists who depend on them, may be vulnerable to future climate changes. Grazing can mitigate the negative warming effects on rangeland quality. For example, grazing management may be an important tool to keep warming- induced shrub expansion in check. Moreover, flexible and opportunistic grazing management will be required in a warmer future.