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Large across-model spread in simulating land carbon (C) dynamics has been ubiquitously demonstrated in model intercomparison projects (MIPs), and became a major impediment in advancing climate change prediction. Thus, it is imperative to identify underlying sources of the spread. Here, we used a novel matrix approach to analytically pin down the sources of across-model spread in transient peatland C dynamics in response to a factorial combination of two atmospheric CO2 levels and five temperature levels. We developed a matrix-based MIP by converting the C cycle module of eight land models (i.e., TEM, CENTURY4, DALEC2, TECO, FBDC, CASA, CLM4.5 and ORCHIDEE) into eight matrix models. While the model average of ecosystem C storage was comparable to the measurement, the simulation differed largely among models, mainly due to inter-model difference in baseline C residence time. Models generally overestimated net ecosystem production (NEP), with a large spread that was mainly attributed to inter-model difference in environmental scalar. Based on the sources of spreads identified, we sequentially standardized model parameters to shrink simulated ecosystem C storage and NEP to almost none. Models generally captured the observed negative response of NEP to warming, but differed largely in the magnitude of response, due to differences in baseline C residence time and temperature sensitivity of decomposition. While there was a lack of response of NEP to elevated CO2 (eCO2) concentrations in the measurements, simulated NEP responded positively to eCO2 concentrations in most models, due to the positive responses of simulated net primary production. Our study used one case study in Minnesota peatland to demonstrate that the sources of across-model spreads in simulating transient C dynamics can be precisely traced to model structures and parameters, regardless of their complexity, given the protocol that all the matrix models were driven by the same gross primary production and environmental variables.

Interannual variability in precipitation has increased globally as climate warming intensifies. The increased variability impacts both terrestrial plant production and carbon (C) sequestration. However, mechanisms driving these changes are largely unknown. Here, we examined mechanisms underlying the response of aboveground net primary production (ANPP) to interannual precipitation variability in global drylands with mean annual precipitation (MAP)

Soil microbial respiration is an important source of uncertainty in projecting future climate and carbon (C) cycle feedbacks. However, its feedbacks to climate warming and underlying microbial mechanisms are still poorly understood. Here we show that the temperature sensitivity of soil microbial respiration (Q10) in a temperate grassland ecosystem persistently decreases by 12.0 ± 3.7% across 7 years of warming. Also, the shifts of microbial communities play critical roles in regulating thermal adaptation of soil respiration. Incorporating microbial functional gene abundance data into a microbially-enabled ecosystem model significantly improves the modeling performance of soil microbial respiration by 5–19%, and reduces model parametric uncertainty by 55–71%. In addition, modeling analyses show that the microbial thermal adaptation can lead to considerably less heterotrophic respiration (11.6 ± 7.5%), and hence less soil C loss. If such microbially mediated dampening effects occur generally across different spatial and temporal scales, the potential positive feedback of soil microbial respiration in response to climate warming may be less than previously predicted., Mechanisms and consequences of the acclimation of soil respiration to warming are unclear. Here, the authors combine soil respiration, metagenomics, and functional gene results from a 7-year grassland warming experiment to a microbial-enzyme decomposition model, showing functional gene information to lower uncertainty and improve fit.

Shifts in dominance and species reordering can occur in response to global change. However, it is not clear how altered precipitation and disturbance regimes interact to affect species composition and dominance.We explored community‐level diversity and compositional similarity responses, both across and within years, to a manipulated precipitation gradient and annual clipping in a mixed‐grass prairie in Oklahoma, USA. We imposed seven precipitation treatments (five water exclusion levels [−20%, −40%, −60%, −80%, and −100%], water addition [+50%], and control [0% change in precipitation]) year‐round from 2016 to 2018 using fixed interception shelters. These treatments were crossed with annual clipping to mimic hay harvest.We found that community‐level responses were influenced by precipitation across time. For instance, plant evenness was enhanced by extreme drought treatments, while plant richness was marginally promoted under increased precipitation.Clipping promoted species gain resulting in greater richness within each experimental year. Across years, clipping effects further reduced the precipitation effects on community‐level responses (richness and evenness) at both extreme drought and added precipitation treatments. Synthesis: Our results highlight the importance of studying interactive drivers of change both within versus across time. For instance, clipping attenuated community‐level responses to a gradient in precipitation, suggesting that management could buffer community‐level responses to drought. However, precipitation effects were mild and likely to accentuate over time to produce further community change., Shifts in dominance and species reordering can occur in response to global change. We manipulated an experimental precipitation gradient combined with clipping in a temperate mixed‐grass prairie to examine how both treatments can shape plant communities. We found that initial shifts in abundance were detected by examining species‐ to community‐level changes over time; drought increased evenness and this was related to the decline of the dominant species and increase in subdominants, while mesic conditions mildly promoted plant richness.

The denitrification process profoundly affects soil nitrogen (N) availability and generates its byproduct, nitrous oxide, as a potent greenhouse gas. There are large uncertainties in predicting global denitrification because its controlling factors remain elusive. In this study, we compiled 4301 observations of denitrification rates across a variety of terrestrial ecosystems from 214 papers published in the literature. The averaged denitrification rate was 3516.3 ± 91.1 µg N kg

Background Countries have long been making efforts by reducing greenhouse-gas emissions to mitigate climate change. In the agreements of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, involved countries have committed to reduction targets. However, carbon (C) sink and its involving processes by natural ecosystems remain difficult to quantify. Methods Using a transient traceability framework, we estimated country-level land C sink and its causing components by 2050 simulated by 12 Earth System Models involved in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) under RCP8.5. Results The top 20 countries with highest C sink have the potential to sequester 62 Pg C in total, among which, Russia, Canada, USA, China, and Brazil sequester the most. This C sink consists of four components: production-driven change, turnover-driven change, change in instantaneous C storage potential, and interaction between production-driven change and turnover-driven change. The four components account for 49.5%, 28.1%, 14.5%, and 7.9% of the land C sink, respectively. Conclusion The model-based estimates highlight that land C sink potentially offsets a substantial proportion of greenhouse-gas emissions, especially for countries where net primary production (NPP) likely increases substantially and inherent residence time elongates.

Phosphorus limitation on terrestrial plant growth is being incorporated into Earth system models. The global pattern of terrestrial phosphorus limitation, however, remains unstudied. Here, we examined the global-scale latitudinal pattern of terrestrial phosphorus limitation by analysing a total of 1068 observations of aboveground plant production response to phosphorus additions at 351 forest, grassland or tundra sites that are distributed globally. The observed phosphorus-addition effect varied greatly (either positive or negative), depending significantly upon fertilisation regime and production measure, but did not change significantly with latitude. In contrast, phosphorus-addition effect standardised by fertilisation regime and production measure was consistently positive and decreased significantly with latitude. Latitudinal gradient in the standardised phosphorus-addition effect was explained by several mechanisms involving substrate age, climate, vegetation type, edaphic properties and biochemical machinery. This study suggests that latitudinal pattern of terrestrial phosphorus limitation is jointly shaped by macro-scale driving forces and the fundamental structure of life.

Nitrogen immobilization usually leads to nitrogen retention in soil and, thus, influences soil nitrogen supply for plant growth. Understanding soil nitrogen immobilization is important for predicting soil nitrogen cycling under anthropogenic activities and climate changes. However, the global patterns and drivers of soil nitrogen immobilization remain unclear. We synthesized 1350 observations of gross soil nitrogen immobilization rate (NIR) from 97 articles to identify patterns and drivers of NIR. The global mean NIR was 8.77 ± 1.01 mg N kg-1 soil day-1 . It was 5.55 ± 0.41 mg N kg-1 soil day-1 in croplands, 15.74 ± 3.02 mg N kg-1 soil day-1 in wetlands, and 15.26 ± 2.98 mg N kg-1 soil day-1 in forests. The NIR increased with mean annual temperature, precipitation, soil moisture, soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, dissolved organic nitrogen, ammonium, nitrate, phosphorus, and microbial biomass carbon. But it decreased with soil pH. The results of structural equation models showed that soil microbial biomass carbon was a pivotal driver of NIR, because temperature, total soil nitrogen, and soil pH mostly indirectly influenced NIR via changing soil microbial biomass. Moreover, microbial biomass carbon accounted for most of the variations in NIR among all direct relationships. Furthermore, the efficiency of transforming the immobilized nitrogen to microbial biomass nitrogen was lower in croplands than in natural ecosystems (i.e., forests, grasslands, and wetlands). These findings suggested that soil nitrogen retention may decrease under the land use change from forests or wetlands to croplands, but NIR was expected to increase due to increased microbial biomass under global warming. The identified patterns and drivers of soil nitrogen immobilization in this study are crucial to project the changes in soil nitrogen retention.

Soil microbial respiration is an important source of uncertainty in projecting future climate and carbon (C) cycle feedbacks. Despite intensive studies for two decades, the magnitude, direction, and duration of such feedbacks are uncertain, and their underlying microbial mechanisms are still poorly understood. Here we examined the responses of soil respiration and microbial community structure to long-term experimental warming in a temperate grassland ecosystem. Our results indicated that the temperature sensitivity of soil microbial respiration (i.e.,Q10) persistently decreased by 12.0±3.7% across 7 years of warming. Integrated metagenomic and functional analyses showed that microbial community adaptation played critical roles in regulating respiratory acclimation. Incorporating microbial functional gene abundance data into a microbially-enabled ecosystem model significantly improved the modeling performance of soil microbial respiration by 5–19%, compared to the traditional non-microbial model. Model parametric uncertainty was also reduced by 55–71% when gene abundances were used. In addition, our modeling analyses suggested that decreased temperature sensitivity could lead to considerably less heterotrophic respiration (11.6±7.5%), and hence less soil C loss. If such microbially mediated dampening effects occur generally across different spatial and temporal scales, the potential positive feedback of soil microbial respiration in response to climate warming may be less than previously predicted.

Phosphorus (P) limitation of aboveground plant production is usually assumed to occur in tropical regions but rarely elsewhere. Here we report that such P limitation is more widespread and much stronger than previously estimated. In our global meta-analysis, almost half (46.2%) of 652 P-addition field experiments reveal a significant P limitation on aboveground plant production. Globally, P additions increase aboveground plant production by 34.9% in natural terrestrial ecosystems, which is 7.0–15.9% higher than previously suggested. In croplands, by contrast, P additions increase aboveground plant production by only 13.9%, probably because of historical fertilizations. The magnitude of P limitation also differs among climate zones and regions, and is driven by climate, ecosystem properties, and fertilization regimes. In addition to confirming that P limitation is widespread in tropical regions, our study demonstrates that P limitation often occurs in other regions. This suggests that previous studies have underestimated the importance of altered P supply on aboveground plant production in natural terrestrial ecosystems., Plants are thought to be limited by phosphorus (P) especially in tropical regions. Here, Hou et al. report a meta-analysis of P fertilization experiments to show widespread P limitation on plant growth across terrestrial ecosystems modulated by climate, ecosystem properties, and fertilization regimes

Ubiquitous thermal acclimation of leaf respiration could mitigate the respiration increase. However, whether species of different plant functional groups showing distinct or similar acclimation justifies the simple prediction of respiratory carbon (C) loss to a warming climate. In this study, leaf dark respiration (Rd) of illinois bundleflower (IB, legume), stiff goldenrod (GR, C₃ forbs), indian grass, little bluestem and king ranch bluestem (IG, LB and KB, C₄ grass) were measured with detached leaves sampled in a 17-year warming experiment. The results showed that Rd at 20°C and 22°C (R₂₀ and R₂₂) were significantly lower in the warming treatment for all the five species. Lower R₂₂ in warmed than R₂₀ in control in GR, KB, LB and IG imply acclimation homeostasis, but not in IB. The significant decline in temperature sensitivity of respiration (Q₁₀) of GR resulted in the marginal reduction of Q₁₀ across species. No significant changes in Q₁₀ of C₄ grasses suggest different acclimation types for C₃ forbs and C₄ grass. The magnitude of acclimation positively correlated with leaf C/N. Our results suggest that non-legume species had a relative high acclimation, although the acclimation type was different between C₃ forbs and C₄ grasses, and the legume species displayed no acclimation in Rd. Thus, the plant functional types should be taken into account in the grassland ecosystem C models.

Ericoid mycorrhizal associations are a symbiotic relationship between soil fungi and ericaceous plants. Diversity of fungi associated with hair roots of ericaceous plants may vary as a result of frequent disturbances by human activities. The fungal diversity and communities associated with hair roots of Rhododendron ovatum were investigated along a human disturbance gradient in subtropical forests of China. Nine hundred fungal operational taxonomic units were determined by high-throughput sequencing, including different phyla such as Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Zygomycota, Chytridiomycota, and Glomeromycota. The dominant phylum in Cunninghamia lanceolata plantations and old-growth forest was Ascomycota, while Basidiomycota was the dominant phylum in secondary forests. The indicator species analyses showed that more pathogenic indicator fungi appeared in the disturbed forests, whereas more putative ericoid mycorrhizal fungi existed in the old-growth forests. Principal component analysis also showed that the fungal communities in the hair roots of R. ovatum were distinct between natural forests and plantations, suggesting that the fungal communities associated with hair roots of R. ovatum after logging were resilient and could recover to predisturbance status. The results of envfit analysis showed that performance of host plants rather than accompanying plant community and soil parameters of plots was the key determinant of the root-associated fungal community of R. ovatum.

©2017. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. Realistic projection of future climate-carbon (C) cycle feedbacks requires better understanding and an improved representation of the C cycle in permafrost regions in the current generation of Earth system models. Here we evaluated 10 terrestrial ecosystem models for their estimates of net primary productivity (NPP) and responses to historical climate change in permafrost regions in the Northern Hemisphere. In comparison with the satellite estimate from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS; 246 ± 6 g C m−2 yr−1), most models produced higher NPP (309 ± 12 g C m−2 yr−1) over the permafrost region during 2000–2009. By comparing the simulated gross primary productivity (GPP) with a flux tower-based database, we found that although mean GPP among the models was only overestimated by 10% over 1982–2009, there was a twofold discrepancy among models (380 to 800 g C m−2 yr−1), which mainly resulted from differences in simulated maximum monthly GPP (GPPmax). Most models overestimated C use efficiency (CUE) as compared to observations at both regional and site levels. Further analysis shows that model variability of GPP and CUE are nonlinearly correlated to variability in specific leaf area and the maximum rate of carboxylation by the enzyme Rubisco at 25°C (Vcmax_25), respectively. The models also varied in their sensitivities of NPP, GPP, and CUE to historical changes in climate and atmospheric CO2 concentration. These results indicate that model predictive ability of the C cycle in permafrost regions can be improved by better representation of the processes controlling CUE and GPPmax as well as their sensitivity to climate change.

Grasslands cover about 40.5% of the world's terrestrial area ( Suttie et al., 2005 ) and provide important ecosystem services, such as supporting a variety of animals and plants. Climate change may have profound impacts on grasslands. Such impacts must be fully understood in order to mitigate climate change impacts and maintain grassland ecosystem functions and services throughout the world. There are dozens of manipulative experiments that have been set up in grassland ecosystems worldwide to explore how climate warming would affect them. In this chapter, we synthesize the current knowledge from these manipulative experiments. We focus on the responses of plants and microbes to experimental warming, carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles as affected by experimental warming, and modeling studies on grassland ecosystems in response to warming.

Despite the importance of future carbon (C) pools for policy and land management decisions under various climate change scenarios, predictions of these pools under altered climate vary considerably. Chronic warming will likely impact both ecosystem C fluxes and the abundance and distribution of plant functional types (PFTs) within systems, potentially interacting to create novel patterns of C exchange. Here, we report results from a 3-year warming experiment using open top chambers (OTC) on the Tibetan Plateau meadow grassland. Warming significantly increased C uptake through gross primary productivity (GPP) but not ecosystem respiration (ER), resulting in a 31.0% reduction in net ecosystem exchange (NEE) in warmed plots. The OTC-induced changes in ecosystem C fluxes were not fully explained by the corresponding changes in soil temperature and moisture. Warming treatments significantly increased the biomass of graminoids and legumes by 12.9 and 27.6%. These functional shifts were correlated with enhanced local GPP, but not ER, resulting in more negative NEE in plots with larger increases in graminoid and legume biomass. This may be due to a link between greater legume abundance and higher levels of total inorganic nitrogen, which can potentially drive higher GPP, but not higher ER. Overall, our results indicate that C-climate feedbacks might be closely mediated by climate-induced changes in PFTs. This highlights the need to consider the impacts of changes in PFTs when predicting future responses of C pools under altered climate scenarios.

Global warming is anticipated to have profound effects on terrestrial carbon fluxes and thus feed backs to future climate change. Ecosystem respiration (Reco) is one of the dominant components of biosphere CO2 fluxes, but the effects of warming on Reco are still unclear. A field warming experiment using open top chambers (OTCs) was conducted in a meadow grassland on the Tibetan Plateau to study the effects of warming on the components of Reco. Warming significantly enhanced above-ground plant respiration (Ragb) and total autotrophic plant respiration (Rplant) by 28.7% and 19.9%, respectively, but reduced heterotrophic respiration (Rh) by 10.4%. These different responses resulted in the insensitive responses of Reco and soil respiration (Rs) to the experimental warming. The warming treatment also increased Rplant/Reco and Ragb/Reco by 8.4% and 17.3%, respectively, while decreasing Rh/Reco by 19.0%, suggesting that warming could eventually cause Reco to be dominated by Rplant. Enhancements in Rplant and Ragb were related to the warming-induced increases in aboveground biomass (AGB) while reduced Rh was closely coupled with warming-induced decrease of microbial biomass carbon. Our results highlight that the differential responses of the components of Reco to different environmental physics under warming scenarios should be taken into consideration to project the future carbon-climate feed backs.

Responses of grassland carbon (C) cycling to climate change and land use remain a major uncertainty in model prediction of future climate. To explore the impacts of global change on ecosystem C fluxes and the consequent changes in C storage, we have conducted a field experiment with warming (+3 °C), altered precipitation (doubled and halved), and annual clipping at the end of growing seasons in a mixed-grass prairie in Oklahoma, USA, from 2009 to 2013. Results showed that although ecosystem respiration (ER) and gross primary production (GPP) negatively responded to warming, net ecosystem exchange of CO2 (NEE) did not significantly change under warming. Doubled precipitation stimulated and halved precipitation suppressed ER and GPP equivalently, with the net outcome being unchanged in NEE. These results indicate that warming and altered precipitation do not necessarily have profound impacts on ecosystem C storage. In addition, we found that clipping enhanced NEE due to a stronger positive response of GPP compared to ER, indicating that clipping could potentially be an effective land practice that could increase C storage. No significant interactions between warming, altered precipitation, and clipping were observed. Meanwhile, we found that belowground net primary production (BNPP) in general was sensitive to climate change and land use though no significant changes were found in NPP across treatments. Moreover, negative correlations of the ER/GPP ratio with soil temperature and moisture did not differ across treatments, highlighting the roles of abiotic factors in mediating ecosystem C fluxes in this grassland. Importantly, our results suggest that belowground C cycling (e.g., BNPP) could respond to climate change with no alterations in ecosystem C storage in the same period.

Climate warming can result in both abiotic (e.g., permafrost thaw) and biotic (e.g., microbial functional genes) changes in Arctic tundra. Recent research has incorporated dynamic permafrost thaw in Earth system models (ESMs) and indicates that Arctic tundra could be a significant future carbon (C) source due to the enhanced decomposition of thawed deep soil C. However, warming-induced biotic changes may influence biologically related parameters and the consequent projections in ESMs. How model parameters associated with biotic responses will change under warming and to what extent these changes affect projected C budgets have not been carefully examined. In this study, we synthesized six data sets over 5years from a soil warming experiment at the Eight Mile Lake, Alaska, into the Terrestrial ECOsystem (TECO) model with a probabilistic inversion approach. The TECO model used multiple soil layers to track dynamics of thawed soil under different treatments. Our results show that warming increased light use efficiency of vegetation photosynthesis but decreased baseline (i.e., environment-corrected) turnover rates of SOC in both the fast and slow pools in comparison with those under control. Moreover, the parameter changes generally amplified over time, suggesting processes of gradual physiological acclimation and functional gene shifts of both plants and microbes. The TECO model predicted that field warming from 2009 to 2013 resulted in cumulative C losses of 224 or 87g/m2 , respectively, without or with changes in those parameters. Thus, warming-induced parameter changes reduced predicted soil C loss by 61%. Our study suggests that it is critical to incorporate biotic changes in ESMs to improve the model performance in predicting C dynamics in permafrost regions.

Succession theory predicts altered sensitivity of ecosystem functions to disturbance (i.e., climate change) due to the temporal shift in plant community composition. However, empirical evidence in global change experiments is lacking to support this prediction. Here, we present findings from an 8-year long-term global change experiment with warming and altered precipitation manipulation (double and halved amount). First, we observed a temporal shift in species composition over 8 years, resulting in a transition from an annual C3 -dominant plant community to a perennial C4 -dominant plant community. This successional transition was independent of any experimental treatments. During the successional transition, the response of aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) to precipitation addition magnified from neutral to +45.3%, while the response to halved precipitation attenuated substantially from -17.6% to neutral. However, warming did not affect ANPP in either state. The findings further reveal that the time-dependent climate sensitivity may be regulated by successional change in species composition, highlighting the importance of vegetation dynamics in regulating the response of ecosystem productivity to precipitation change.

Long‐term, slow ecological processes such as changes in plant community structure and composition strongly regulate ecosystem responses to climate change. Shifts in plant community are expected in chronically altered environments under warming. However, experimental evidence for long‐term shifts and the associated mechanisms is still scarce in temperate grasslands. Here, we explore the long‐term responses of a prairie plant community to 14‐year (2000–2013) manipulations of climate warming and clipping in Oklahoma, USA. Infrared heaters were used to elevate soil temperature by about 2 °C all year round, and annual clipping was applied to mimic hay harvest. Community composition was resistant to experimental warming in the first seven years, but started to show responses starting from the eighth year; clipping consistently affected community composition over the years. Compositional change under long‐term warming was mainly due to one invasive species and three dominant species. The negative correlations in relative abundance between the invasive species and the dominant species suggest interspecific competition. Community structure (i.e. richness, evenness and diversity) had no overall response to experimental warming. However, in 2007, the extreme wet year, warming reduced species richness by 30%. Clipping promoted species richness by 10% on average over the 14 years but decreased community evenness. Warming did not interact with clipping in influencing the plant community variables. Synthesis. Our study provides experimental evidence for long‐term shifts in plant community composition due to warming and revealed novel mechanisms (i.e. species invasion and associated biotic interactions) underlying the long‐term shift. The results also suggest that climate extremes may elicit or advance community responses to climate warming. The findings highlight that long‐term climate change experiments are essential to reveal potential shifts in community composition.

Quantifying the ecological patterns of loss of ecosystem function in extreme drought is important to understand the carbon exchange between the land and atmosphere. Rain-use efficiency [RUE; gross primary production (GPP)/precipitation] acts as a typical indicator of ecosystem function. In this study, a novel method based on maximum rain-use efficiency (RUEmax) was developed to detect losses of ecosystem function globally. Three global GPP datasets from the MODIS remote sensing data (MOD17), ground upscaling FLUXNET observations (MPI-BGC), and process-based model simulations (BESS), and a global gridded precipitation product (CRU) were used to develop annual global RUE datasets for 2001–2011. Large, well-known extreme drought events were detected, e.g. 2003 drought in Europe, 2002 and 2011 drought in the U.S., and 2010 drought in Russia. Our results show that extreme drought-induced loss of ecosystem function could impact 0.9% ± 0.1% of earth's vegetated land per year and was mainly distributed in semi-arid regions. The reduced carbon uptake caused by functional loss (0.14 ± 0.03 PgC/yr) could explain >70% of the interannual variation in GPP in drought-affected areas (p ≤ 0.001). Our results highlight the impact of ecosystem function loss in semi-arid regions with increasing precipitation variability and dry land expansion expected in the future.

Climatic changes are altering Earth's hydrological cycle, resulting in altered precipitation amounts, increased interannual variability of precipitation, and more frequent extreme precipitation events. These trends will likely continue into the future, having substantial impacts on net primary productivity (NPP) and associated ecosystem services such as food production and carbon sequestration. Frequently, experimental manipulations of precipitation have linked altered precipitation regimes to changes in NPP. Yet, findings have been diverse and substantial uncertainty still surrounds generalities describing patterns of ecosystem sensitivity to altered precipitation. Additionally, we do not know whether previously observed correlations between NPP and precipitation remain accurate when precipitation changes become extreme. We synthesized results from 83 case studies of experimental precipitation manipulations in grasslands worldwide. We used meta-analytical techniques to search for generalities and asymmetries of aboveground NPP (ANPP) and belowground NPP (BNPP) responses to both the direction and magnitude of precipitation change. Sensitivity (i.e., productivity response standardized by the amount of precipitation change) of BNPP was similar under precipitation additions and reductions, but ANPP was more sensitive to precipitation additions than reductions; this was especially evident in drier ecosystems. Additionally, overall relationships between the magnitude of productivity responses and the magnitude of precipitation change were saturating in form. The saturating form of this relationship was likely driven by ANPP responses to very extreme precipitation increases, although there were limited studies imposing extreme precipitation change, and there was considerable variation among experiments. This highlights the importance of incorporating gradients of manipulations, ranging from extreme drought to extreme precipitation increases into future climate change experiments. Additionally, policy and land management decisions related to global change scenarios should consider how ANPP and BNPP responses may differ, and that ecosystem responses to extreme events might not be predicted from relationships found under moderate environmental changes. Fil: Wilcox, Kevin R.. University of Oklahoma; Estados Unidos Fil: Shi, Zheng. University of Oklahoma; Estados Unidos Fil: Gherardi, Laureano. Arizona State University; Estados Unidos Fil: Lemoine, Nathan P.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados Unidos Fil: Koerner, Sally E.. University of South Florida; Estados Unidos Fil: Hoover, David L.. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service; Argentina Fil: Bork, Edward. University of Alberta; Canadá Fil: Byrne, Kerry M.. Humboldt State University; Estados Unidos Fil: Cahill Jr., James. University of Alberta; Canadá Fil: Collins, Scott L.. University of New Mexico; Estados Unidos Fil: Evans, Sarah. Michigan State University; Estados Unidos Fil: Gilgen, Anna K.. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich; Suiza Fil: Holub, Petr. Czech Academy of Sciences; República Checa Fil: Jiang, Lifen. University of Oklahoma; Estados Unidos Fil: Knapp, Alan K.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados Unidos Fil: LeCain, Daniel. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service; Argentina Fil: Liang, Junyi. University of Oklahoma; Estados Unidos Fil: García Palacios, Pablo. Universidad Rey Juan Carlos; España Fil: Peñuelas, Josep. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Centre de Recerca Ecológica I Aplicacions Forestals; España. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; España Fil: Pockman, William T.. University of New Mexico; Estados Unidos Fil: Smith, Melinda D.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados Unidos Fil: Sun, Shanghua. Northwest A & F University; China Fil: White, Shannon R.. Government of Alberta; Canadá Fil: Yahdjian, María Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. ; Argentina Fil: Zhu, Kai. Rice University; Estados Unidos. University of Texas; Estados Unidos Fil: Luo, Yiqi. University of Oklahoma; Estados Unidos

Past global change studies have identified changes in species diversity as a major mechanism regulating temporal stability of production, measured as the ratio of the mean to the standard deviation of community biomass. However, the dominant plant functional group can also strongly determine the temporal stability. Here, in a grassland ecosystem subject to 15 years of experimental warming and hay harvest, we reveal that warming increases while hay harvest decreases temporal stability. This corresponds with the biomass of the dominant C4 functional group being higher under warming and lower under hay harvest. As a secondary mechanism, biodiversity also explains part of the variation in temporal stability of production. Structural equation modelling further shows that warming and hay harvest regulate temporal stability through influencing both temporal mean and variation of production. Our findings demonstrate the joint roles that dominant plant functional group and biodiversity play in regulating the temporal stability of an ecosystem under global change., Species diversity is thought to play an important role in maintaining production stability. Shi et al. demonstrate that the dominant C4 plant also makes a substantial contribution to temporal stability in a grassland ecosystem subject to 15 years of experimental warming and hay harvest.

Ecological functions of bioturbation in ecosystems have received increasing attention over the recent decades, and crab burrowing has been considered as one of the major bioturbations affecting the physical and chemical processes in salt marshes. This study assessed the integrated effects of crab excavating and burrow mimic trapping on sediment turnover and vertical C and N distributions in a Chinese salt marsh in the Yangtze River estuary. Crab burrowing increased soil water content and the turnover of carbon and nitrogen and decreased bulk soil density. Vertical movement of materials, nutrient cycling and reuse driven by crab burrowing might be obstructed by vegetation (Phragmites australis and Spartina alterniflora communities). The amount of soil excavated by crab burrowing was higher than that deposited into burrow mimics. In Phragmites marshes, Spartina marshes and unvegetated mudflats, net transport of soil to the marsh surface was 171.73, 109.54, and 374.95 g m−2 d−1, respectively; and the corresponding estimated soil turnover time was 2.89, 4.07 and 1.83 years, respectively. Crab burrowing in salt marshes can mix surface and deeper soil over a period of years, accelerating litter decomposition and promoting the efficient reuse of nutrients by plants. Therefore, bioturbation affects soil physical processes and functioning of ecosystems, and needs to be addressed in ecosystem management.

In this study, we compared the differences of bacterial abundance and diversity between rhizosphere and surrounding bulk soils under soil salinization and petroleum contamination in the Yellow River Delta on a 110-km-distance scale. In comparison with bulk soils, rhizosphere soils were mainly characterized by lower salinity and higher water content in saline soils. For bacterial abundance, the numbers of total bacteria and hydrocarbon degraders were significantly higher in rhizosphere soils than those in bulk soils. Although there was no significant difference in total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentration between the two types of soils, TPH had distinctly different effects on bacterial abundance in rhizosphere and bulk soils. TPH concentration was the major determinant of total bacterial abundance and had positive effects on abundances of hydrocarbon degraders. However, the abundances of total bacteria and hydrocarbon degraders in bulk soils were primarily determined by soil salinity and water content. Great abundance of rhizosphere bacteria suggested that plant roots could alleviate the stresses from soil salinization and provide more favorable microhabitats for bacterial growth. TPH had positive effects on bacterial diversity of both rhizosphere and bulk soils. Our results support the view that petroleum in the environments functions as both toxic chemicals and carbon sources to soil bacteria. Great abundance and diversity of total bacteria in plant rhizospheres would potentially improve the roles of bacteria in maintaining ecosystem functioning in the degraded ecosystems. Our results would improve our understanding of the relationships between rhizosphere effects and multiple environmental stresses that control the development of bacterial community in fragile anthropologically-affected ecosystems.

The Yangtze River estuary is an important ecoregion. However, Spartina alterniflora, native to North America, was introduced to the estuary in the 1990s through both natural dispersal and humans and now it is a dominant species in the estuarine ecosystems, with its invasions leading to multiple consequences to the estuary. S. alterniflora had great competitive effects on native species, including Scirpus mariqueter and Phragmites australis, and could potentially exclude the natives locally. The presence of S. alterniflora had little influence on the total density of soil nematodes and macrobenthonic invertebrates, but significantly altered the structure of trophic functional groups of nematode and macrobenthonic invertebrate communities. The conversion of mudflats to Spartina meadows had significant effects on birds of Charadriidae and Scolopacidae, which might be attributable to the reduction of food resources and the physical alterations of habitats for shorebirds. S. alterniflora invasions increased the primary productivity of the invaded ecosystems, and altered carbon and nitrogen cycling processes. Our studies focused mainly on the effects of S. alterniflora invasions on the structure of native ecosystems; thus further studies are clearly needed to investigate how ecosystem functioning is affected by the modification of the structure of estuarine ecosystems by S. alterniflora invasions.

Invasive plants strongly affect physical and biotic environments of native ecosystems. Insects and other arthropods as one of the major components of many ecosystems are very sensitive to subtle changes in abiotic and biotic environments. We examined the effects of exotic Spartina alterniflora invasion on community structure and diets of arthropods in a saltmarsh previously dominated by native Phragmites australis in Yangtze River estuary through net sweeping and plant harvesting methods and stable isotope analysis. Our results showed that diversity indices were not significantly different between exotic and native plant communities, but the total abundance of insects estimated through plant harvesting method was found to be lower in Spartina monoculture than that in Phragmites monoculture. Community structure of insects in Spartina monoculture was dissimilar to that in Phragmites monoculture and Phragmites–Spartina mixture. Moreover, stable carbon isotope patterns of arthropods were significantly different between Phragmites and Spartina monocultures. Although some native arthropods (perhaps generalists) shifted their diets, many native taxa did prefer Phragmites to Spartina even in Spartina monoculture. Spartina invasions resulted in reduced abundances of some arthropds, and increased dominance of others feeding preferably on Spartina. This study provides evidence that invasive plants can change the community structure and diets of native arthropods, which will eventually alter the arthropod food web, and affect the integrity and functioning of native ecosystems within a nature reserve that has been set aside for conserving the native biodiversity and maintaining the ecosystem integrity. In this sense, Spartina invasions in the Yangtze River estuary need to be managed appropriately.

Whether plant invasion increases ecosystem carbon (C) stocks is controversial largely due to the lack of knowledge about differences in ecophysiological properties between invasive and native species. We conducted a field experiment in which we measured ecophysiological properties to explore the response of the ecosystem C stocks to the invasion of Spartina alterniflora (Spartina) in wetlands dominated by native Scirpus mariqueter (Scirpus) and Phragmites australis (Phragmites) in the Yangtze Estuary, China. We measured growing season length, leaf area index (LAI), net photosynthetic rate (Pn), root biomass, net primary production (NPP), litter quality and litter decomposition, plant and soil C and nitrogen (N) stocks in ecosystems dominated by the three species. Our results showed that Spartina had a longer growing season, higher LAI, higher Pn, and greater root biomass than Scirpus and Phragmites. Net primary production (NPP) was 2.16 kg C m−2 y−1 in Spartina ecosystems, which was, on average, 1.44 and 0.47 kg C m−2 y−1 greater than that in Scirpus and Phragmites ecosystems, respectively. The litter decomposition rate, particularly the belowground decomposition rate, was lower for Spartina than Scirpus and Phragmites due to the lower litter quality of Spartina. The ecosystem C stock (20.94 kg m−2) for Spartina was greater than that for Scirpus (17.07 kg m−2), Phragmites (19.51 kg m−2) and the mudflats (15.12 kg m−2). Additionally, Spartina ecosystems had a significantly greater N stock (698.8 g m−2) than Scirpus (597.1 g m−2), Phragmites ecosystems (578.2 g m−2) and the mudflats (375.1 g m−2). Our results suggest that Spartina invasion altered ecophysiological processes, resulted in changes in NPP and litter decomposition, and ultimately led to enhanced ecosystem C and N stocks in the invaded ecosystems in comparison to the ecosystems with native species.

Ericoid mycorrhiza (ERM) are expected to facilitate establishment of ericaceous plants in harsh habitats. However, diversity and driving factors of the root-associated fungi of ericaceous plants are poorly understood. In this study, hair-root samples of Vaccinium carlesii were taken from four forest types: old growth forests (OGF), secondary forests with once or twice cutting (SEC I and SEC II) and Cunninghamia lanceolata plantation (PLF). Fungal communities were determined using high-throughput sequencing and impacts of human disturbances and the intra- and inter-annual variability of root-associated fungal community were evaluated. Diverse fungal taxa were observed and our results showed that (1) Intra- and inter-annual changes in root-associated fungal community were found and the Basidiomycota to Ascomycota ratio was related to mean temperature of the sampling month; (2) Human disturbances significantly affected structure of root-associated fungal community of V. carlesii and two secondary forest types were similar in root-associated fungal community and were closer to that of the old growth forest; (3) Plant community composition, edaphic parameters and geographic factors significantly affected root-associated fungal communities of V. carlesii. These results may be helpful in better understanding the maintenance mechanisms of fungal diversity associated with hair roots of ERM plants under human disturbances.

Soil microbes play critical roles in regulating terrestrial carbon (C) cycle and its feedback to climate change. However, it is still unclear how the soil microbial community and abundance respond to future climate change scenarios. In this meta-analysis, we synthesized the responses of microbial community and abundance to experimental warming from 64 published field studies. Our results showed that warming significantly increased soil microbial abundance by 7.6% on average. When grouped by vegetation or soil types, tundras and histosols had the strongest microbial responses to warming with increased microbial, fungal and bacterial abundances by 15.0%, 9.5% and 37.0% in tundra and 16.5%, 13.2% and 13.3% in histosols, respectively. We found significant negative relationships of the response ratios of microbial, fungal and bacterial abundances with the mean annual temperature, indicating that warming had stronger effects in colder than warmer regions. Moreover, the response ratios of microbial abundance to warming were positively correlated with those of soil respiration. Our findings therefore indicate that the large quantities of C stored in colder regions are likely to be more vulnerable to climate warming than the soil C stored in other warmer regions.

The potential capacity of soil to sequester carbon in response to global warming is strongly regulated by the ratio of rhizosphere respiration to respiration by soil microbial decomposers, because of their different temperature sensitivities. To quantify relative contributions of rhizosphere respiration to total soil respiration as influenced by forest stand development, we conducted a trenching study in two larch (Larix gmelini (Rupr.) Rupr.) plantations, aged 17 and 31 years, in northeastern China. Four plots in each plantation were randomly selected and trenched in early May 2001. Soil surface CO2 effluxes both inside and outside the plots were measured from May 2001 to August 2002. Soil respiration (i.e., the CO2 effluxes outside the trenched plots) varied similarly in the two plantations from 0.8 micromol m(-2) s(-1) in winter to 6.0 micromol m(-2) s(-1) in summer. Rhizosphere respiration (i.e., CO2 efflux outside the trenched plots minus that inside the plots) varied from 0.2 to 2.0 micromol m(-2) s(-1) in the old forest and from 0.3 to 4.0 micromol m(-2) s(-1) in the young forest over the seasons. Rhizosphere respiration, on average, accounted for 25% of soil respiration in the old forest and 65% in the young forest. Rhizosphere and soil respiration were significantly correlated with soil temperature but not with soil water content. We conclude that the role forests play in regulating climate change may depend on their age.

Climate warming affects ecosystem functioning by altering the rates of carbon (C) fixation and release. Modeling warming effect on terrestrial C cycling is critical given the feedbacks between climate and C cycling. However, the effect of warming on key model parameters and the resulting long-term C dynamics has not been carefully examined. In this study, measurements from a nine-year warming experimental site in a tallgrass prairie were assimilated into a terrestrial ecosystem C cycle model to assess warming effect on key model parameters and to quantify uncertainties of long-term C projection. Warming decreased allocation of gross primary production (GPP) to shoot, and turnover rate of the live C pools (i.e., shoot and root C), but increased the turnover rates of litter and fast soil C pools. Consequently, warming increased live C pools, but decreased litter and soil C pools, and overall decreased total ecosystem C in a 90-year model projection. Information content gained from assimilated datasets was m...