Global climate change has been found to substantially influence the phenology of rangeland,especially on the Tibetan Plateau. However, there is considerable controversy about the trends and causes of rangeland phenology owing to different phenological exploration methods and lack of ground validation. Little is known about the uncertainty in the exploration accuracy of vegetation phenology.Therefore, in this study, we selected a typical alpine rangeland near Damxung national meteorological station as a case study on central Tibetan Plateau, and identified several important sources influencing phenology to better understand their effects on phenological exploration. We found man-made land use was not easily distinguished from natural rangelands, and therefore this may confound phenological response to climate change in the rangeland. Change trends of phenology explored by four methods were similar, but ratio threshold method(RTM) was more suitable for exploring vegetation phenology in terms of the beginning of growing season(BGS) and end of growing season(EGS). However, some adjustments are needed when RTM is used in extreme drought years. MODIS NDVI/EVI dataset was most suitable for exploring vegetation phenology of BGS and EGS. The discrimination capacities of vegetation phenology declined with decreasing resolution of remote sensing images from MODIS to GIMMS AVHRR datasets. Additionally, distinct trends of phenological change rates were indicated in different terrain conditions, with advance of growing season in high altitudes but delay of season in lower altitudes. Therefore, it was necessary to eliminate interference of complex terrain and man-made land use to ensure the representativeness of natural vegetation. Moreover, selecting the appropriate method to explore rangelands and fully considering the impact of topography are important to accurately analyze the effects of climate change on vegetation phenology.
高寒灌丛草甸和草甸均是青藏高原广泛分布的植被类型,在生态系统碳通量和区域碳循环中具有极其重要的作用。然而迄今为止,对其碳通量动态的时空变异还缺乏比较分析,对碳通量的季节和年际变异的主导影响因子认识还不够清晰,不利于深入理解生态系统碳通量格局及其形成机制。该研究选取位于青藏高原东部海北站高寒灌丛草甸和高原腹地当雄站高寒草原化草甸年降水量相近的5年(2004–2008年)的涡度相关CO_2通量连续观测数据,对生态系统净初级生产力(NEP)及其组分,包括总初级生产力(GPP)和生态系统呼吸的季节、年际动态及其影响因子进行了对比分析。结果表明:灌丛草甸的CO_2通量无论是季节还是年际累积量均高于草原化草甸,并且连续5年表现为"碳汇",平均每年NEP为70 g C·m^(–2)·a^(–1),高寒草原化草甸平均每年NEP为–5 g C·m^(–2)·a^(–1),几乎处于碳平衡状态,但其源/汇动态极不稳定,在2006年–88 g C·m^(–2)·a^(–1)的"碳源"至2008年54 g C·m^(–2)·a^(–1)的"碳汇"之间转换,具有较大的变异性。这两种高寒生态系统源/汇动态的差异主要源于归一化植被指数(NDVI)的差异,因为NDVI无论在年际水平还是季节水平都是NEP最直接的影响因子;其次,灌丛草甸还具有较高的碳利用效率(CUE,CUE=NEP/GPP),而年降水量和NDVI是决定两生态系统CUE大小的关键因子。两地区除了CO_2通量大小的差异外,其环境影响因子也有所不同。采用结构方程模型进行的通径分析表明,灌丛草甸生长季节CO_2通量的主要限制因子是温度,NEP和GPP主要受气温控制,随着气温升高而增加;而草原化草甸的CO_2通量多以季节性干旱导致的水分限制为主,其次才是气温的影响,受二者的共同限制。此外,两生态系统生长季节生态系统呼吸主要受GPP和5 cm土壤温度的直接影响,其中GPP起主导作用,非生长季节生态系统
Elevation dependency amongst climate change signals has been found in major mountain ranges around the world,but the main factors causing this dependency have not been clarified.In this study,four different datasets of observation and reanalysis for China were used to examine the elevation dependency of climate change.A lack of consistency was found in dependency between warming magnitude and elevation across the Tibetan Plateau and China.However,a dependency of climate change on water vapor was detected whereby the temperature trend initially increased at low specific humidity,and then decreased as specific humidity increased.At ground level the maximum trend in temperature appeared in the specific humidity range 2.0–3.0 g kg^（-1）.This suggests that water vapor is a mediator of climate change and may be responsible for elevation-dependent climate change.
Inter-annual variability in total precipitation can lead to significant changes in carbon flux.In this study,we used the eddy covariance（EC） technique to measure the net CO_2 ecosystem exchange（NEE） of an alpine meadow in the northern Tibetan Plateau.In 2005 the meadow had precipitation of 489.9 mm and in 2006 precipitation of 241.1 mm,which,respectively,represent normal and dry years as compared to the mean annual precipitation of 476 mm.The EC measured NEE was 87.70 g C m^（-2） yr^（-1） in 2006 and-2.35 g C m^（-2） yr^（-1） in 2005.Therefore,the grassland was carbon neutral to the atmosphere in the normal year,while it was a carbon source in the dry year,indicating this ecosystem will become a CO_2 source if climate warming results in more drought conditions.The drought conditions in the dry year limited gross ecosystem CO_2 exchange（GEE）,leaf area index（LAI） and the duration of ecosystem carbon uptake.During the peak of growing season the maximum daily rate of NEE and Pmax and a were approximately 30%-50% of those of the normal year.GEE and NEE were strongly related to photosynthetically active radiation（PAR） on half-hourly scale,but this relationship was confounded by air temperature（Ta）,soil water content（SWC） and vapor pressure deficit（VPD）.The absolute values of NEE declined with higher Ta,higher VPD and lower SWC conditions.Beyond the appropriate range of PAR,high solar radiation exacerbated soil water conditions and thus reduced daytime NEE.Optimal T_a and VPD for maximum daytime NEE were 12.7℃ and 0.42 KPa respectively,and the absolute values of NEE increased with SWC.Variation in LAI explained around 77% of the change in GEE and NEE.Variations in R_e were mainly controlled by soil temperature（T_s）,whereas soil water content regulated the responses of R_e to T_s.
Variations in the fractions of biomass allocated to functional components are widely considered as plant responses to resource availability for grassland plants. Observations indicated shoots isometrically relates to roots at the community level but allometrically at the species level in Tibetan alpine grasslands. These differences may result from the specific complementarity of functional groups between functional components, such as leaf, root, stem and reproductive organ. To test the component complementary responses to regional moisture variation, we conducted a multi-site transect survey to measure plant individual size and component biomass fractions of common species belonging to the functional groups： forbs, grasses, legumes and sedges on the Northern Tibetan Plateau in peak growing season in 2010. Along the mean annual precipitation （MAP） gradient, we sampled 7o species, in which 2o are in alpine meadows, 20 in alpine steppes, 15 in alpine desert-steppes and 15 in alpine deserts, respectively. Our results showed that the size of alpine plants is small with individual biomass mostly lower than 1.0 g. Plants keep relative conservative component individual responses moisture functional fractions across alpine grasslands at the level. However, the complementary between functional components to variations specifically differ among groups. These results indicate that functional group diversity may be an effective tool for scaling biomass allocation patterns from individual up to community level. Therefore, it is necessary andvaluable to perform intensive and systematic studies on identification and differentiation the influences of compositional changes in functional groups on ecosystem primary services and processes.
施肥和围栏封育是改良退化草地常用的有效管理措施.在藏北高寒草甸区测试了氮肥单施(N 50 kg hm-2 a-1,LN;N 100 kg hm-2 a-1,HN)、与磷肥配施[(50 kg N+50 kg P)hm-2 a-1,LN+P;(100 kg N+50 kg P)hm-2 a-1,HN+P]对植物群落特征和生产力的影响,并比较了辅以围栏封育的效果.结果显示,施氮未显著改变群落盖度,而氮磷配施显著提高了群落盖度,在自由放牧样地LN+P、HN+P处理群落盖度的提高比例分别为86%和63%,而在围栏封育样地LN+P、HN+P处理群落盖度的提高比例分别为107%和248%,在相同施肥水平下围栏封育能显著提高群落盖度.施氮处理有利于提高禾草类植物优势度,而氮磷配施有利于莎草科植物和蔷薇科植物的生长,围栏封育后施氮肥更有利于禾草植物的恢复.在自由放牧样地,施氮对群落植物地上生产无显著影响,而氮磷配施显著促进植物生产,其中LN+P处理提高了137%的地上生物量.在围栏封育样地,施氮对莎草植物无显著影响,而HN处理的禾草地上生物量是对照处理的8.4倍;氮磷配施对禾草、莎草及杂类草植物均有促进作用,LN+P和HN+P处理比对照分别提高了杂草植物98%和86%的地上生物量.研究表明,施加氮肥结合围栏封育对退化高寒草甸群落的恢复有促进作用;氮磷配施,不论围栏与否均有利于高寒草甸的恢复,但结合围栏封育恢复效果更显著.
