Effects of Precipitation Variation on Annual and Winter Soil Respiration in a Semiarid Mountain Shrubland in Northern China

Huitao Shen, Tao Zhang, Yanxia Zhao, Aibin Wu, Zhenhua Zheng () and Jiansheng Cao ()
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Huitao Shen: Hebei Engineering Research Center for Geographic Information Application, Institute of Geographical Sciences, Hebei Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050021, China
Tao Zhang: Hebei Engineering Research Center for Geographic Information Application, Institute of Geographical Sciences, Hebei Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050021, China
Yanxia Zhao: Hebei Engineering Research Center for Geographic Information Application, Institute of Geographical Sciences, Hebei Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050021, China
Aibin Wu: Hebei Engineering Research Center for Geographic Information Application, Institute of Geographical Sciences, Hebei Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050021, China
Zhenhua Zheng: Hebei Engineering Research Center for Geographic Information Application, Institute of Geographical Sciences, Hebei Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050021, China
Jiansheng Cao: Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050021, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 9, 1-13

Abstract: In response to global climate change, future precipitation changes are expected to profoundly influence soil respiration in arid and semiarid areas. However, few studies focus on CO 2 emissions from soils undergoing precipitation changes in semiarid mountain shrublands in winter. A precipitation-manipulation experiment with three levels of precipitation (30% decreased precipitation (DP), ambient precipitation (AP), and 30% increased precipitation (IP)) was performed to examine the effects of variable precipitation on soil respiration (SR) and wintertime contributions to annual SR emissions in Vitex negundo var. heterophylla shrub ecosystems located on the Middle Taihang Mountain in Hebei Province, northern China. The results showed that the average annual SR rates and winter SR rates ranged from 1.37 to 1.67 μmol m −2 s −1 and 0.42 to 0.59 μmol m −2 s −1 among the different precipitation treatments. The model based on soil moisture better represented the soil-respiration rates, suggesting that the variable precipitation extended the water’s limitation of the soil’s CO 2 emissions. The cumulative annual soil CO 2 emissions were 523, 578, and 634 g C m −2 in response to the DP, AP, and IP treatments, respectively. The ratio of the soil CO 2 emissions in winter to the annual CO 2 emissions varied from 7.6 to 8.8% in response to the different precipitation treatments. Therefore, ignoring the soil CO 2 emissions in winter leads to the underestimation of the carbon losses in semiarid shrublands. Our results highlight that variable precipitation significantly influences soil-respiration rates, and soil CO 2 emissions in winter must not be ignored when predicting the future feedback between SR and climate change in semiarid regions.

Keywords: precipitation manipulation; soil respiration; soil temperature and moisture; winter soil CO 2 emissions; semiarid shrubland (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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