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Net primary productivity and rain‐use efficiency as affected by warming, altered precipitation, and clipping in a mixed‐grass prairie
Author(s) -
Xu Xia,
Sherry Rebecca A.,
Niu Shuli,
Li Dejun,
Luo Yiqi
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
global change biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.146
H-Index - 255
eISSN - 1365-2486
pISSN - 1354-1013
DOI - 10.1111/gcb.12248
Subject(s) - primary production , environmental science , grassland , precipitation , climate change , global warming , ecosystem , productivity , atmospheric sciences , ecology , meteorology , geography , biology , geology , macroeconomics , economics
Grassland productivity in response to climate change and land use is a global concern. In order to explore the effects of climate change and land use on net primary productivity ( NPP ), NPP partitioning [ f BNPP , defined as the fraction of belowground NPP ( BNPP ) to NPP ], and rain‐use efficiency ( RUE ) of NPP , we conducted a field experiment with warming (+3 °C), altered precipitation (double and half), and annual clipping in a mixed‐grass prairie in Oklahoma, USA since July, 2009. Across the years, warming significantly increased BNPP, f BNPP , and RUE BNPP by an average of 11.6%, 2.8%, and 6.6%, respectively. This indicates that BNPP was more sensitive to warming than aboveground NPP ( ANPP ) since warming did not change ANPP and RUE ANPP much. Double precipitation stimulated ANPP , BNPP , and NPP but suppressed RUE ANPP , RUE BNPP , and RUE NPP while half precipitation decreased ANPP , BNPP , and NPP but increased RUE ANPP , RUE BNPP , and RUE NPP . Clipping interacted with altered precipitation in impacting RUE ANPP , RUE BNPP , and RUE NPP , suggesting land use could confound the effects of precipitation changes on ecosystem processes. Soil moisture was found to be a main factor in regulating variation in ANPP , BNPP , and NPP while soil temperature was the dominant factor influencing f BNPP . These findings suggest that BNPP is critical point to future research. Additionally, results from single‐factor manipulative experiments should be treated with caution due to the non‐additive interactive effects of warming with altered precipitation and land use (clipping).