Title: Characteristics and scenarios projection of NEE change in an alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau

Authors: Mingyuan Du; Yingnian Li; Fawei Zhang; Liang Zhao; Hongqin Li; Song Gu; Seiichiro Yonemura; Yanhong Tang

Addresses: Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 3058604, Japan; Arid Land Research Centre (ALRC) of the Tottori University, Hamasaka, Tottori, 6800001, Japan ' Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, Qinghai, 810001, China ' Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, Qinghai, 810001, China; College of Life Sciences, Luoyang Normal University, Luoyang, Henan, 471934, China ' Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, Qinghai, 810001, China ' Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, Qinghai, 810001, China; College of Life Sciences, Luoyang Normal University, Luoyang, Henan, 471934, China ' College of Life Science, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, China ' Faculty of Bioresource Sciences, Prefectural University of Hiroshima, Shobara, Hiroshima, 7270023, Japan ' College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

Abstract: Fourteen years data of eddy covariance measurements at an alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) were used to characterise the statistical features of NEE and its relationship with temperature variations. A statistical model was obtained by using the Michaelis-Menten equations of the light-response curve for predicting the NEE for future climate warming. The results show that less than 2 degrees increase of temperature would not have much influence on the CO₂ absorption amount of the ecosystem, while over 2.6 degrees increase of temperature would change the CO₂ absorption into CO₂ release and 4.8 degree increase of temperature would induce a large amount of CO₂ release from the alpine meadow ecosystem (about 166.8 gC/m²/year). This means that over a 2 degrees warming like RCP8.5 scenario in the future would jeopardise future carbon sink capacity at the alpine meadow ecosystem on the TP.

Keywords: alpine meadow ecosystem; eddy covariance measurement; Michaelis-Menten light-response curve; net ecosystem CO₂ exchange; NEE; Coupled Model Intercomparison Project; CMIP5; representative concentration pathways; RCPs; Tibetan Plateau.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGW.2021.116711

International Journal of Global Warming, 2021 Vol.24 No.3/4, pp.307 - 325

Received: 19 Nov 2019
Accepted: 09 Jun 2020
Published online: 30 Jul 2021 *

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