Heating up the roof of the world: tracing the impacts of warming on carbon cycle in alpine grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau.
Yuxuan Bai, Yunfeng Peng, Dianye Zhang, Guibiao Yang, Leiyi Chen, Luyao Kang, Wei Zhou, Bin Wei, Yuhong Xie, Yuanhe Yang
Author Information
Yuxuan Bai: State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China. ORCID
Yunfeng Peng: State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
Dianye Zhang: State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
Guibiao Yang: State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
Leiyi Chen: State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
Luyao Kang: State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
Wei Zhou: State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
Bin Wei: State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
Yuhong Xie: State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
Yuanhe Yang: State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
Climate warming may induce substantial changes in the ecosystem carbon cycle, particularly for those climate-sensitive regions, such as alpine grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau. By synthesizing findings from warming experiments, this review elucidates the mechanisms underlying the impacts of experimental warming on carbon cycle dynamics within these ecosystems. Generally, alterations in vegetation structure and prolonged growing season favor strategies for enhanced ecosystem carbon sequestration under warming conditions. Whilst warming modifies soil microbial communities and their carbon-related functions, its effects on soil carbon release fall behind the increased vegetation carbon uptake. Despite the fact that no significant accumulation of soil carbon stock has been detected upon warming, notable changes in its fractions indicate potential shifts in carbon stability. Future studies should prioritize deep soil carbon dynamics, the interactions of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles under warming scenarios, and the underlying biological mechanisms behind these responses. Furthermore, the integration of long-term warming experiments with Earth system models is essential for reducing the uncertainties of model predictions regarding future carbon-climate feedback in these climate-sensitive ecosystems.
