Effects of national ecological restoration projects on carbon sequestration in China from 2001 to 2010.

The long-term stressful utilization of forests and grasslands has led to ecosystem degradation and C loss. Since the late 1970s China has launched six key national ecological restoration projects to protect its environment and restore degraded ecosystems. Here, we conducted a large-scale field investigation and a literature survey of biomass and soil C in China's forest, shrubland, and grassland ecosystems across the regions where the six projects were implemented (∼16% of the country's land area). We investigated the changes in the C stocks of these ecosystems to evaluate the contributions of the projects to the country's C sink between 2001 and 2010. Over this decade, we estimated that the total annual C sink in the project region was 132 Tg C per y (1 Tg = 1012 g), over half of which (74 Tg C per y, 56%) was attributed to the implementation of the projects. Our results demonstrate that these restoration projects have substantially contributed to CO2 mitigation in China.

Responses of ecosystem CO 2 fluxes to short-term experimental warming and nitrogen enrichment in an Alpine meadow, northern Tibet Plateau.

Over the past decades, the Tibetan Plateau has experienced pronounced warming, yet the extent to which warming will affect alpine ecosystems depends on how warming interacts with other influential global change factors, such as nitrogen (N) deposition. A long-term warming and N manipulation experiment was established to investigate the interactive effects of warming and N deposition on alpine meadow. Open-top chambers were used to simulate warming. N addition, warming, N addition × warming, and a control were set up. In OTCs, daytime air and soil temperature were warmed by 2.0°C and 1.6°C above ambient conditions, but soil moisture was decreased by 4.95 m(3) m(-3). N addition enhanced ecosystem respiration (Reco); nevertheless, warming significantly decreased Reco. The decline of Reco resulting from warming was cancelled out by N addition in late growing season. Our results suggested that N addition enhanced Reco by increasing soil N availability and plant production, whereas warming decreased Reco through lowering soil moisture, soil N supply potential, and suppression of plant activity. Furthermore, season-specific responses of Reco indicated that warming and N deposition caused by future global change may have complicated influence on carbon cycles in alpine ecosystems.

Foliar nutrient resorption patterns of four functional plants along a precipitation gradient on the Tibetan Changtang Plateau.

Nutrient resorption from senesced leaves as a nutrient conservation strategy is important for plants to adapt to nutrient deficiency, particularly in alpine and arid environment. However, the leaf nutrient resorption patterns of different functional plants across environmental gradient remain unclear. In this study, we conducted a transect survey of 12 communities to address foliar nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) resorption strategies of four functional groups along an eastward increasing precipitation gradient in northern Tibetan Changtang Plateau. Soil nutrient availability, leaf nutrient concentration, and N:P ratio in green leaves ([N:P]g) were linearly correlated with precipitation. Nitrogen resorption efficiency decreased, whereas phosphorus resorption efficiency except for sedge increased with increasing precipitation, indicating a greater nutrient conservation in nutrient-poor environment. The surveyed alpine plants except for legume had obviously higher N and P resorption efficiencies than the world mean levels. Legumes had higher N concentrations in green and senesced leaves, but lowest resorption efficiency than nonlegumes. Sedge species had much lower P concentration in senesced leaves but highest P resorption efficiency, suggesting highly competitive P conservation. Leaf nutrient resorption efficiencies of N and P were largely controlled by soil and plant nutrient, and indirectly regulated by precipitation. Nutrient resorption efficiencies were more determined by soil nutrient availability, while resorption proficiencies were more controlled by leaf nutrient and N:P of green leaves. Overall, our results suggest strong internal nutrient cycling through foliar nutrient resorption in the alpine nutrient-poor ecosystems on the Plateau. The patterns of soil nutrient availability and resorption also imply a transit from more N limitation in the west to a more P limitation in the east Changtang. Our findings offer insights into understanding nutrient conservation strategy in the precipitation and its derived soil nutrient availability gradient.

Responses of nutrients and mobile carbohydrates in Quercus variabilis seedlings to environmental variations using in situ and ex situ experiments.

Forest tree species distributed across a wide range of geographical areas are subjected to differential climatic and edaphic conditions and long-term selection, leading to genotypes with morphological and physiological adaptation to the local environment. To test the ability of species to cope with changing environmental conditions, we studied the ecophysiological features of Quercus variabilis using seedlings grown in geographically widely isolated populations (Exp. I, in situ) and in a common garden (Exp. II, ex situ) using seedlings originating from those populations. We found that Q. variabilis plants grown in different locations along a south-north gradient had different levels of nutrients (N, P, K) and carbon-physiological performance (photosynthesis, non-structural carbohydrates, such as soluble sugars and starch), and that these physiological differences were not correlated with local soil properties. These geographic variations of plant physiology disappeared when plants from different locations were grown in the same environment. Our results indicate that the physiological performance of Q. variabilis plants is mainly determined by the climatic variations across latitude rather than by their soils or by genetic differentiation. The adaptive ability of Q. variabilis found in the present study suggests that this species has the potential to cope, at least to some extent, with changing environmental conditions.

[Effects of habitat change on nutrient contents in Quercus variabilis seedlings].

Quercus variabilis seedlings were collected from the habitats at different latitudes, and transplanted on the same experimental sites installed in the central part and southern and northern boundaries of China, where Q. variabilis has a natural distribution, aimed to study the effects of habitat change on the nutrient contents in the seedlings in their vigorous growth period. With habitat change, the various organs nitrogen (N) content and the stem phosphorous (P) content of the transplanted seedlings changed significantly, but the organs potassium (K) content and the leaf- and root P content had less change. In the experimental sites, the organ N content of the transplanted seedlings had significant positive correlation with the latitudes where the seedlings grew, the stem- and root P contents decreased with the increasing latitude, while the leaf N:P ratio had less change. The organ N and P contents of the transplanted seedlings growing in northern boundary decreased significantly, and the effect of the latitudes was more obvious. The leaf N:P ratio of all the seedlings transplanted from different altitudes increased to different degrees. It was concluded that the nutrient contents in different organs of Q. variabilis seedlings varied with latitude, and the seedlings had different responses to habitat change.