Water causes divergent responses of specific carbon sink to long-term grazing in a desert grassland

Abstract

Heavy grazing generally reduces grassland biomass, further decreasing its carbon sink. Grassland carbon sink is determined by both plant biomass and carbon sink per unit biomass (specific carbon sink). This specific carbon sink could reflect grassland adaptative response, because plants generally tend to adaptively enhance the functioning of their remaining biomass after grazing (i.e. higher leaf nitrogen content). Though we know well about the regulation of grassland biomass on carbon sink, little attention is paid to the role of specific carbon sink. Thus, we conducted a 14-year grazing experiment in a desert grassland. Ecosystem carbon fluxes, including net ecosystem CO₂ exchange (NEE), gross ecosystem productivity (GEP) and ecosystem respiration (ER), were measured frequently during five consecutive growing seasons with contrasting precipitation events. We found that heavy grazing reduced NEE more in drier (-94.0 %) than wetter (-33.9 %) years. However, grazing did not reduce community biomass much more in drier (-70.4 %) than wetter years (-66.0 %). These meant a positive response of specific NEE (NEE per unit biomass) to grazing in wetter years. This positive response of specific NEE was mainly caused by a higher biomass ratio of other species versus perennial grasses with greater leaf nitrogen content and specific leaf area in wetter years. In addition, we also detected a shift of grazing effects on specific NEE from positive in wetter years to negative in drier years. Overall, this study is among the first to reveal the adaptive response of grassland specific carbon sink to experimental grazing in plant trait view. The stimulation response of specific carbon sink can partially compensate for the loss of grassland carbon storage under grazing. These new findings highlight the role of grassland adaptive response in decelerating climate warming.

Keywords: Desert steppe; Grazing intensity; Leaf traits; Plant community composition; Precipitation; Specific carbon sink.