Carbon fluxes and environmental controls across different alpine grassland types on the Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

The magnitude and spatial patterns of carbon fluxes in alpine grasslands determine the regional terrestrial carbon balance of the Tibetan Plateau. However, the patterns and controlling factors of carbon fluxes on the plateau remain unclear, hampering the understanding of the carbon cycle of these vulnerable ecosystems. In this study, we compared the spatial variations of carbon fluxes of ten alpine ecosystems with diverse grassland types and explored their environmental controls across these different ecosystems. Our results show that the mean annual net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of carbon dioxide (CO2) varied from -284 to 31 g C m−2 across sites. The alpine meadow ecosystems in the northeast and east of the plateau were strong CO2 sinks (∼x223C 200 g C m−2 y−1), while the western alpine grasslands were weak CO2 sinks or even sources. During the growing season, soil temperature generally played the dominant role in regulating the daily variations of the carbon fluxes for the alpine meadow ecosystems in the cold and humid northeastern areas, while soil moisture was the main controlling factor for the alpine grassland ecosystems in the dry western areas. Annual gross primary productivity (GPP), ecosystem respiration (Re) and the carbon sink capacity linearly increased with the increasing longitude but linearly decreased with elevation. The spatial pattern of annual NEE was primarily controlled by surface soil moisture, and higher soil water content (SWC) led to greater carbon sink capacity. SWC, vapor pressure deficit (VPD) also had favorable effects on the annual GPP and Re. The spatial variations of carbon fluxes resulted primarily from the longitudinal or altitudinal variations of the dominant environmental factors. This study provides guidance for the assessment of carbon fluxes on the Tibetan Plateau.