Short-term nitrous oxide(N2O) pulse emissions caused by precipitation account for a considerable portion of the annual N2O emissions and are greatly influenced by soil nitrogen(N) dynamics. However, in Chinese semiarid temperate steppes, the response of N2O emissions to the coupling changes of precipitation and soil N availability is not yet fully understood. In this study, we conducted two 7-day field experiments in a semiarid temperate typical steppe of Inner Mongolia, China, to investigate the N2O emission pulses resulting from artificial precipitation events(approximately equivalent to 10.0 mm rainfall) under four N addition levels(0, 5, 10 and 20 g N/(m2·a)) using the static opaque chamber technique. The results show that the simulated rainfall during the dry period in 2010 caused greater short-term emission bursts than that during the relatively rainy observation period in 2011(P<0.05). No significant increase was observed for either the N2O peak effluxes or the weekly cumulative emissions(P>0.05) with single water addition. The peak values of N2O efflux increased with the increasing N input. Only the treatments with water and medium(WN10) or high N addition(WN20) significantly increased the cumulative N2O emissions(P<0.01) in both experimental periods. Under drought condition, the variations in soil N2O effluxes were positively correlated with the soil NH4-N concentrations in the three N input treatments(WN5, WN10, and WN20). Besides, the soil moisture and temperature also greatly influenced the N2O pulse emissions, particularly the N2O pulse under the relatively rainy soil condition or in the treatments without N addition(ZN and ZWN). The responses of the plant metabolism to the varying precipitation distribution and the length of drought period prior to rainfall could greatly affect the soil N dynamics and N2O emission pulses in semiarid grasslands.
XinChao LIUYuChun QIYunShe DONGQin PENGYaTing HELiangJie SUNJunQiang JIACongCong CAO
Litter decomposition is the fundamental process in nutrient cycling and soil carbon(C) sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems. The global-wide increase in nitrogen(N) inputs is expected to alter litter decomposition and,ultimately, affect ecosystem C storage and nutrient status. Temperate grassland ecosystems in China are usually N-deficient and particularly sensitive to the changes in exogenous N additions. In this paper, we conducted a 1,200-day in situ experiment in a typical semi-arid temperate steppe in Inner Mongolia to investigate the litter decomposition as well as the dynamics of litter C and N concentrations under three N addition levels(low N with 50 kg N/(hm2?a)(LN), medium N with 100 kg N/(hm2?a)(MN), and high N with 200 kg N/(hm2?a)(HN)) and three N addition forms(ammonium-N-based with 100 kg N/(hm2?a) as ammonium sulfate(AS), nitrate-N-based with 100 kg N/(hm2?a) as sodium nitrate(SN), and mixed-N-based with 100 kg N/(hm2?a) as calcium ammonium nitrate(CAN)) compared to control with no N addition(CK). The results indicated that the litter mass remaining in all N treatments exhibited a similar decomposition pattern: fast decomposition within the initial 120 days, followed by a relatively slow decomposition in the remaining observation period(120–1,200 days). The decomposition pattern in each treatment was fitted well in two split-phase models, namely, a single exponential decay model in phase I(<398 days) and a linear decay function in phase II(≥398 days). The three N addition levels exerted insignificant effects on litter decomposition in the early stages(<398 days, phase I; P>0.05). However, MN and HN treatments inhibited litter mass loss after 398 and 746 days, respectively(P<0.05). AS and SN treatments exerted similar effects on litter mass remaining during the entire decomposition period(P>0.05). The effects of these two N addition forms differed greatly from those of CAN after 746 and 1,053 days, respectively(P<0.05). During the decomposition period, N concentrations in the decomposing li
The need is pressing to investigate soil CO_2(carbon dioxide) emissions and soil organic carbon dynamics under water-saving irrigation practices in agricultural systems for exploring the potentials of soil carbon sequestration. A field experiment was conducted to compare the influences of drip irrigation(DI) and flood irrigation(FI) on soil organic carbon dynamics and the spatial and temporal variations in CO_2 emissions during the summer maize growing season in the North China Plain using the static closed chamber method. The mean CO_2 efflux over the growing season was larger under DI than that under FI. The cumulative CO_2 emissions at the field scale were 1959.10 and 1759.12 g/m^2 under DI and FI, respectively. The cumulative CO_2 emission on plant rows(OR) was larger than that between plant rows(BR) under FI, and the cumulative CO2 emission on the irrigation pipes(OP) was larger than that between irrigation pipes(BP) under DI. The cumulative CO_2 emissions of OP, BP and bare area(BA) under DI were larger than those of OR, BR and BA under FI, respectively. Additionally, DI promoted root respiration more effectively than FI did. The average proportion of root respiration contributing to the soil CO_2 emissions of OP under DI was larger than that of OR under FI. A general conclusion drawn from this study is that soil CO_2 emission was significantly influenced by the soil water content, soil temperature and air temperature under both DI and FI. Larger concentrations of dissolved organic carbon(DOC), microbial biomass carbon(MBC) and total organic carbon(TOC) were observed under FI than those under DI. The observed high concentrations(DOC, MBC, and TOC) under FI might be resulted from the irrigation-associated soil saturation that in turn inhibited microbial activity and lowered decomposition rate of soil organic matter. However, DI increased the soil organic matter quality(the ratio of MBC to TOC) at the depth of 10–20 cm compared with FI. Our results suggest that the transformation from conventional FI to int
Water and nitrogen are primary limiting factors in semiarid grassland ecosystems. Our knowledge is still poor regarding the interactive effects of water and N addition on soil microbial communities, although this information is crucial to reveal the mechanisms of the terrestrial ecosystem response to global changes. We addressed this problem by conducting a field experiment with a 15% surplus of the average rainfall under three levels of N addition(50, 100, and 200 kg N ha–1 yr–1) in two consecutive years in Inner Mongolia, China. Microbial community composition and functional diversity were analyzed based on phospholipid fatty acids(PLFA) and BIOLOG techniques, respectively. The results showed that water addition did not affect the soil microbial community composition, but much more yearly precipitation generally decreased the PLFA concentration, which implied a fast response of soil microbes to changes of water condition. Soil fungi was depressed only by N addition at the high level(200 kg N ha–1 yr–1) and without hydrologic leaching, while Gram-negative bacteria was suppressed probably by plant competition at high level N addition but with hydrologic leaching. The study found unilateral positive/negative interactions between water and N addition in affecting soil microbial community, however, climate condition(precipitation) could be a significant factor in disturbing the interactions. This study highlighted that:(1) The sustained effect of pulsed water addition was minimal on the soil microbial community composition but significant on the microbial community functional diversity and(2) the complex interaction between water and N addition on soil microbial community related to the inter-annual variation of the climate and plant response.
SUN Liang-jieQI Yu-chunDONG Yun-sheHE Ya-tingPENG QinLIU Xin-chaoJIA Jun-qiangGUO Shu-fangCAO Cong-cong
High nitrous oxide(N2O) emissions during freeze-thawing period(FTP) have been observed in many different ecosystems. However, the knowledge about the dynamic of soil N_2O emissions and its main driving mechanism during the freeze-thawing processes in grassland ecosystem is still limited. An in-situ experiment was conducted during the FTP on the sites with 0 and 15% surplus of the average rainfall and two levels of N addition(0,10 g N/(m^2·year)) during growing season(marked as W0N0, W15N0, W0N10, W15N10, respectively) to explore the effects of water and N background on soil N_2O emissions during FTPs and the relationship between soil N_2O emissions and environmental factors. The results indicated that water and N treatments conducted during growing season did not show significant effect on the N_2O effluxes of FTP, but the soil mineral N contents of W0N10 treatment were significantly higher than those of W0N0, W15N0, W15N10treatments(p < 0.05). The soil PLFA concentrations of microbial groups monitored during 2015 spring freeze-thawing period(2015S-FTP) were lower than those during winter freeze-thawing period of 2014(2014W-FTP), while cumulative soil N_2O emissions of 2015S-FTP were higher than those of 2014W-FTP. The correlations between soil N_2O effluxes and most of the measured environmental factors were insignificant, multiple stepwise regression analysis indicated that the soil temperature, soil NH_4^+-N content and air temperature were the major environmental factors which significantly influenced the N_2O effluxes during 2014W-FTP, and air temperature and soil water content were the significant influencing factors during 2015S-FTP.
Liqin WangYuchun QiYunshe Dongqin PengShufang GuoYunlong HeZhaolin Li
We examined the effects of simulated rainfall and increasing N supply of different levels on CO2 pulse emission from typical Inner Mongolian steppe soil using the static opaque chamber technique, respectively in a dry June and a rainy August. The treatments included NH4NO3 additions at rates of 0, 5, 10, and 20 g N/(m2·year) with or without water. Immediately after the experimental simulated rainfall events, the CO2 effluxes in the watering plots without N addition(WCK) increased greatly and reached the maximum value at 2 hr. However, the efflux level reverted to the background level within 48 hr. The cumulative CO2 effluxes in the soil ranged from 5.60 to 6.49 g C/m2over 48 hr after a single water application, thus showing an increase of approximately 148.64% and 48.36% in the effluxes during both observation periods. By contrast, the addition of different N levels without water addition did not result in a significant change in soil respiration in the short term. Two-way ANOVA showed that the effects of the interaction between water and N addition were insignificant in short-term soil CO2 effluxes in the soil. The cumulative soil CO2fluxes of different treatments over 48 hr accounted for approximately 5.34% to 6.91% and 2.36% to 2.93% of annual C emission in both experimental periods. These results stress the need for improving the sampling frequency after rainfall in future studies to ensure more accurate evaluation of the grassland C emission contribution.
Yuchun QiXinchao LiuYunshe DongQin PengYating HeLiangjie SunJunqiang JiaCongcong Cao
