Carbon dioxide fluxes in a farmland ecosystem of the southern Chinese Loess Plateau measured using a chamber-based method

PeerJ

article

Fengru Fang¹  Xiaoyang Han¹  Wenzhao Liu¹  Ming Tang¹ 

[1] College of Forestry, State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A&F University;State Key Laboratory of Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-bioresources, Lingnan Guangdong Laboratory of Modern Agriculture, Guangdong Key Laboratory for Innovative Development and Utilization of Forest Plant Germplasm, College of Forestry and Landscape Architecture, South China Agricultural University

关键词: Net ecosystem exchange;    Soil respiration;    Temporal variation;    Temperature sensitivity;    Loess Plateau;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.8994

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundFarmland accounts for a relatively large fraction of the world’s vegetation cover, and the quantification of carbon fluxes over farmland is critical for understanding regional carbon budgets. The carbon cycle of farmland ecosystems has become a focus of global research in the field of carbon dynamics and cycling. The objectives of this study are to monitor the temporal variation in the net ecosystem exchange (NEE) and soil respiration in a spring maize (Zea mays L.) farmland ecosystem of the southern Loess Plateau of China.MethodsA fully automated temperature-controlled flux chamber system was adopted in this study. The system contained nine chambers for CO2 flux measurements, and three treatments were conducted: with and without maize plants in the chamber, as well as a bare field. Observations were conducted from June to September 2011. This time period covers the seedling, jointing, heading, grain filling, and ripening stages of spring maize. Other factors, such as air temperature (Ta), soil temperature (Ts), soil water content (SWC), photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), and precipitation (P), were simultaneously monitored.ResultsThere was observed diurnal variation in the NEE of the maize ecosystem (NEE-maize). A short “noon break” occurred when the PAR intensity was at its maximum, while soil respiration rates had curves with a single peak. During the overall maize growth season, the total NEE-maize was –68.61 g C m−2, and the soil respiration from the maize field (SR-maize) and bare field (SR-bare field) were 245.69 g C m−2 and 114.08 g C m−2, respectively. The temperature sensitivity of soil respiration in the maize field exceeded that in the bare field. Significant negative correlations were found between the NEE, PAR, and temperature (all p-values < 0.01), with both Ta and PAR being the primary factors that affected the CO2 fluxes, collectively contributing 61.7%, 37.2%, and 56.8% to the NEE-maize, SR-maize, and SR-bare field, respectively. It was therefore concluded that both meteorological factors and farming practices have an important impact on the carbon balance process in corn farmland ecosystems. However, it is necessary to conduct long-term observational studies, in order to get a better understanding of the driving mechanism.

【 授权许可】

CC BY