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Aboveground biomass and root/shoot ratio regulated drought susceptibility of ecosystem carbon exchange in a meadow steppe

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Abstract

Background and aims

Nitrogen deposition and altered precipitation regime are likely to change plant growth, biomass allocation and community structure, which may influence susceptibility of ecosystem functions (i.e. ecosystem carbon exchange) to extreme climatic events, such as drought.

Methods

In a meadow steppe, we deployed a drought treatment on a long-term water and nitrogen addition experiment to investigate resource abundance changes induced variation in the sensitivity of ecosystem carbon exchange to extreme drought.

Results

Compared to the control plots, long-term water and nitrogen addition caused a strong increase in biomass, and a reduction in diversity and root/shoot ratio. Net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE) in water and nitrogen addition plots were more sensitive to drought stress than the control plots. The enhanced NEE drought sensitivity (SNEE) in nitrogen fertilization habitat is associated with changes in aboveground biomass and root/shoot ratio, rather than variation in species diversity, while SNEE in the unfertilized plots was controlled by root/shoot ratio. Compared to the water and nitrogen addition plots, the control plots had the highest percentage recovery of ecosystem carbon exchange (RNEE) during the rehydration period. RNEE is likely determined by aboveground biomass and level of damage in the photosynthetic organ.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that long-term changes in precipitation regimes and nitrogen deposition may significant alter the susceptibility of key ecosystem processes to drought stress.

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Acknowledgements

Qi Jiang helped with the field experiment. Xia Yuan and Zhongnan Wang provided valuable comments and suggestions on early drafts. This study was financially supported by the National Key Basic Research Program of China (2015CB150800), National Natural Science Foundation of China (31570470, 41671207, 31660679), the 9th Thousand Talents Program of China (2013), Main Service Project of Characteristic Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences (TSS-2015-014-FW-5-1), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2412018ZD010).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Vegetation Ecology, Ministry of Education, Institute of Grassland Science, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, Jilin Province, 130024, People’s Republic of China

    Yunbo Wang, Bo Meng, Shangzhi Zhong, Deli Wang & Wei Sun

  2. Key Laboratory of Grassland Resources, Ministry of Education, College of Grassland, Resources and Environment, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, 010018, People’s Republic of China

    Yunbo Wang

  3. Key Laboratory of Biogeography and Bioresource in Arid Land, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, 830011, People’s Republic of China

    Jianying Ma

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  1. Yunbo Wang
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  2. Bo Meng
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  3. Shangzhi Zhong
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Correspondence to Jianying Ma or Wei Sun.

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Responsible Editor: Harry Olde Venterink

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Fig. S1

Response of the mean of net ecosystem carbon exchange (NEE) to (A) soil temperature (°C), (B) soil moisture (V/V, %) in the CK, W, N, and WN sub-plots during the drought and recovery phase. Data are reported as mean ± 1 SD (n = 6). Dependence of net ecosystem carbon exchange (NEE) on (C) soil temperature (°C), (D) soil moisture (V/V, %) in the CK, W, N, and WN sub-plots during the drought and recovery phase. *** represents significant relationships at the P < 0.001 level. (PNG 1055 kb)

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Wang, Y., Meng, B., Zhong, S. et al. Aboveground biomass and root/shoot ratio regulated drought susceptibility of ecosystem carbon exchange in a meadow steppe. Plant Soil 432, 259–272 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-018-3790-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-018-3790-7

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