Spatial and Temporal Root Lifespan of Steppe
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Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Biogeosciences Discuss., 12, 19999–20023, 2015 www.biogeosciences-discuss.net/12/19999/2015/ doi:10.5194/bgd-12-19999-2015 BGD © Author(s) 2015. CC Attribution 3.0 License. 12, 19999–20023, 2015 This discussion paper is/has been under review for the journal Biogeosciences (BG). Spatial and temporal Please refer to the corresponding final paper in BG if available. root lifespan of steppe Differences in spatial and temporal root W.-M. Bai et al. lifespan of temperate steppes across Inner Mongolia grasslands Title Page Abstract Introduction W.-M. Bai1, M. Zhou1,2, Y. Fang1,2, and W.-H. Zhang1 Conclusions References 1 State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, the Tables Figures Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China 2Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yuquanlu, Beijing 100049, China J I Received: 16 November 2015 – Accepted: 4 December 2015 – Published: 15 December 2015 J I Correspondence to: W.-H. Zhang ([email protected]) Back Close Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. Full Screen / Esc Printer-friendly Version Interactive Discussion 19999 Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Abstract BGD Lifespan of fine roots plays important roles in regulating carbon (C) cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. Determination of root lifespan and elucidation of its regulatory mechanism 12, 19999–20023, 2015 in different plant communities are essential for accurate prediction of C cycling from 5 ecosystem to regional scales. Temperate steppes in Inner Mongolia grasslands have Spatial and temporal three major types, i.e., Stipa krylovii, Stipa grandis and Stipa breviflora grasslands. root lifespan of There have been no studies to compare the root dynamics among the three types steppe of grasslands. In the present study, we determined root lifespan of the three grass- lands using the rhizotron. We found that root lifespan differed substantially among the W.-M. Bai et al. 10 three types of grasslands within the temperate steppes of Inner Mongolia, such that root lifespan of Stipa breviflora > Stipa grandis > Stipa krylovii grasslands. Root lifes- pan across the three types of grasslands in the Inner Mongolian temperate steppes Title Page displayed a similar temporal pattern, i.e. lifespan of the roots produced in spring and Abstract Introduction autumn was shortest and longest, respectively, whereas lifespan of summer-produced Conclusions References 15 roots was between that of roots produced in spring and autumn. The spatial and tempo- ral differences in root lifespan across the three types of grasslands were mainly deter- Tables Figures mined by contents of soluble sugars in roots of the dominant species. The differences in root lifespan across the major types of grasslands and different seasons highlight J I the necessity to take into account these differences in the prediction of C cycling within 20 grassland ecosystem by the simulating model. J I Back Close 1 Introduction Full Screen / Esc Root is a major source of the organic carbon pool in soils. Approximately half of the Printer-friendly Version annual photosynthetic products of plants can be utilized by their roots (Vogt et al., 1986; Hendrick and Pregitzer, 1993; Peek, 2007). Root turnover is an important trait Interactive Discussion 25 to link plants to organic carbon pool in soils (Loya et al., 2004; Strand et al., 2008). Thus, knowledge about the dynamic processes associated with root turnover and its 20000 Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | regulatory mechanisms are of importance for our understanding C cycling within the ecosystems (Aerts et al., 1992; Norby et al., 2004). However, these processes have BGD been poorly understood in terms of C cycling within the terrestrial ecosystems (Iversen 12, 19999–20023, 2015 and Brien, 2010). The lack of detailed information on root turnover increases the un- 5 certainty about the modeling-based prediction of C cycling within the terrestrial ecosys- tems (McCormack et al., 2013; Warren et al., 2015). Spatial and temporal Root lifespan is a critical parameter that determines root turnover, C flux from plants root lifespan of into soils, and physiological processes associated with uptake of water and nutrients steppe by roots (McCormack et al., 2012; Mccormack and Guo, 2014). Root lifespan is highly W.-M. Bai et al. 10 variable among the inter-biomes, intra-biomes, and inter-species in a given ecosystem, and root lifespan for an individual plant species can also vary in different spatial and temporal scales (Eissenstat and Yanai, 1997; Burton et al., 2000; Withington et al., Title Page 2006; Bai et al., 2008; Peek, 2007; Mccormack and Dali Guo, 2014). Several extrinsic and intrinsic factors have been shown to have impacts on root lifespan, including those Abstract Introduction 15 extrinsic factors such as precipitation, temperature, soil moisture and nutrient avail- Conclusions References abilities in soils, and those intrinsic factors of plant life forms, nutrient contents in roots, root diameter and branching order (Peek, 2007; Chen and Brassard, 2013; Mccormack Tables Figures and Guo, 2014). However, there have been few studies to directly evaluate how these factors interactively affect root lifespan. In particularly, under the naturally environmen- J I 20 tal conditions, different types of vegetation often occur in different edaphic and climatic conditions. Therefore, root lifespan of different plant communities may reflect their over- J I all biotic, edaphic and climatic characteristics in a regional scale. However, few studies Back Close have quantified root lifespan and compared the spatial difference in lifespan among dif- Full Screen / Esc ferent types of plant communities within a given ecosystem (McCormack et al., 2013). 25 Moreover, a single value of root lifespan or root turnover determined in a limited types Printer-friendly Version of community within a ecosystem has often been used to predict the ecosystem C cycling by modeling, rendering the model-projected C cycling less accurate and reli- Interactive Discussion able (McCormack et al., 2013; Warren et al., 2015). In addition, several studies have suggested that lifespan of roots produced in different seasons may differ significantly 20001 Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | because roots generated in different seasons can have varying functions (López et al., 2001; Anderson et al., 2003; Bai et al., 2008). Root lifespan may exhibit temporal dif- BGD ferences within a ecosystem as suggested by variation in lifespan of roots produced 12, 19999–20023, 2015 in different seasons. Quantitative determination of lifespan of fine roots is technically 5 challenging because of difficulties associated with direct observations of roots in situ under field conditions. Therefore, knowledge on how the botanic, edaphic and climatic Spatial and temporal factors impact root lifespan in regional and temporal scales is scarce in the literature. root lifespan of The Inner Mongolia temperate steppe is a major temperate grassland in Northern steppe China, with total area of 5.85 × 106 hm2. It plays an important role in the regulation of W.-M. Bai et al. 10 C cycling and climate changes (Ma et al., 2006). There are three major types of grass- lands in the Inner Mongolia steppes, Stipa krylovii, Stipa grandis and Stipa breviflora grasslands, which account for 18.6, 30.1 and 13.3 % of total area in Inner Mongolia, re- Title Page spectively. The three types of grasslands differ in their dominant species, soil traits, and climatic features such as annual precipitation and temperature. However, little is known Abstract Introduction 15 whether and how the root metrics of the three types grasslands differ. The develop- Conclusions References ment of rhizotron and minirhizotron technologies makes it possible to directly monitor dynamics of individual roots in situ in the grassland ecosystems (Majdi et al., 2005; Tables Figures Mccormack and Guo, 2014), thus allowing us to evaluate the roles of extrinsic and in- trinsic factors in the regulation of root lifespan across different types of grasslands. In J I 20 the present study, we compared root lifespan of the three types of grasslands in the temperate steppes of Inner Mongolia using the rhizotron. We further explored the tem- J I poral patterns of root lifespan of the three grasslands by measuring lifespans of roots Back Close produced in different seasons. The factors that may contribute to the differences in the Full Screen / Esc root lifespan across the different grassland-types and seasons are discussed. Printer-friendly Version Interactive Discussion 20002 Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | 2 Materials and methods BGD 2.1 Study site 12, 19999–20023, 2015 Stipa krylovii grassland is one of the representatives of the typical subtypes of grass- lands among different types of grasslands in the Inner Mongolia temperate steppe. Spatial and temporal 5 This type of grassland occurs in the middle and westward region of Inner Mongolia Au- 6 2 root lifespan of tonomous Region with total area of 1.09 × 10 hm , accounting for 18.6 % of the total steppe area of Inner Mongolia temperate steppe. Our study site was in the Duolun Restoration Ecology Experimentation and Demonstration Station, Institute of Botany, the Chinese W.-M. Bai et al. Academy of Sciences (DREEDS,