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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2012, Vol. 12 Issue (12): 2079-2087    DOI: 10.1016/S1671-2927(00)8746
SOIL & FERTILIZER · AGRI-ECOLOGY & ENVIRONMENT Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |
Biomass Components and Environmental Controls in Ningxia Grasslands
 WANG Kai-bo, LI Jian-ping , SHANGGUAN Zhou-ping
1.State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an 710075,P.R.China
2.School of Agriculture, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021, P.R.China
3.State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese
Academy of Sciences, Yangling 712100, P.R.China
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摘要  Grassland plays an important role in the global carbon cycle and climate regulation. However, there are still large uncertainties in grassland carbon pool and also its role in global carbon cycle due to the lack of measured grassland biomass at regional scale or global scale with a unified survey method, particular for below-ground biomass. The present study, based on a total of 44 grassland sampling plots with 220 quadrats across Ningxia, investigated the characteristics of above-ground biomass (AGB), below-ground biomass (BGB), litter biomass (LB), total biomass (TB) and root:shoot ratios (R:S) for six predominantly grassland types, and their relationships with climatic factors. AGB, BGB, LB and TB varied markedly across different grassland types, the median value ranging from 28.2-692.6 g m-2 forAGB, 130.4-2036.6 g m-2 for BGB, 9.2-82.3 g m-2 for LB, and 168.0-2 681.3 g m-2 for TB. R:S showed less variation with median values from 3.2 to 5.3 (excluding marshy meadow). The different grassland types showed similar patterns of biomass allocation, with more than 70% BGB for all types. There is evidence of strong positive effects associated with mean annual precipitation (MAP) and negative effects associated with mean annual temperature (MAT) on AGB, BGB, and LB, although both factors have the opposite effect on R:S.

Abstract  Grassland plays an important role in the global carbon cycle and climate regulation. However, there are still large uncertainties in grassland carbon pool and also its role in global carbon cycle due to the lack of measured grassland biomass at regional scale or global scale with a unified survey method, particular for below-ground biomass. The present study, based on a total of 44 grassland sampling plots with 220 quadrats across Ningxia, investigated the characteristics of above-ground biomass (AGB), below-ground biomass (BGB), litter biomass (LB), total biomass (TB) and root:shoot ratios (R:S) for six predominantly grassland types, and their relationships with climatic factors. AGB, BGB, LB and TB varied markedly across different grassland types, the median value ranging from 28.2-692.6 g m-2 forAGB, 130.4-2036.6 g m-2 for BGB, 9.2-82.3 g m-2 for LB, and 168.0-2 681.3 g m-2 for TB. R:S showed less variation with median values from 3.2 to 5.3 (excluding marshy meadow). The different grassland types showed similar patterns of biomass allocation, with more than 70% BGB for all types. There is evidence of strong positive effects associated with mean annual precipitation (MAP) and negative effects associated with mean annual temperature (MAT) on AGB, BGB, and LB, although both factors have the opposite effect on R:S.
Keywords:  grasslands       above-ground biomass (AGB)       below-ground biomass (BGB)       root:shoot ratios (R:S)       mean annual precipitation (MAP)       mean annual temperature (MAT)  
Received: 19 June 2012   Accepted:
Fund: 

This work is supported by the Strategic-Leader Sci-Tech Projects of Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA05050403), the Important Direction Project of Innovation of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) (KSCX1-YW-12).

Corresponding Authors:  Correspondence SHANGGUAN Zhou-ping, Tel: +86-29-87019107, Fax:+86-29-7012210, E-mail: shangguan@ms.iswc.ac.cn     E-mail:  shangguan@ms.iswc.ac.cn
About author:  WANG Kai-bo, Tel: +86-29-88322651, Mobile: 13629292746, E-mail: wangkb@ieecas.cn

Cite this article: 

WANG Kai-bo, LI Jian-ping , SHANGGUAN Zhou-ping. 2012. Biomass Components and Environmental Controls in Ningxia Grasslands. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 12(12): 2079-2087.

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