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ABSTRACT: Changes in precipitation and nitrogen (N) deposition can influence ecosystem carbon (C) cycling and budget in terrestrial
biomes, with consequent feedbacks to climate change. However, little is known about the main and interactive effects of water
and N additions on net ecosystem C exchange (NEE). In a temperate steppe of northern China, a field-manipulated experiment
was conducted to evaluate the responses of NEE and its components to improve N and water availability from 2005 to 2008. The
results showed that both water and N additions stimulated gross ecosystem productivity (GEP), ecosystem respiration (ER),
and NEE. Water addition increased GEP by 17%, ER by 24%, and NEE by 11% during the experimental period, whereas N addition
increased GEP by 17%, ER by 16%, and NEE by 19%. The main effects of both water and N additions changed with time, with the
strongest water stimulation in the dry year and a diminishing N stimulation over time. When water and N were added in combination,
there were non-additive effects of water and N on ecosystem C fluxes, which could be explained by the changes in species composition
and the shifts of limiting resources from belowground (water or N) to aboveground (light). The positive water and N additions
effects indicate that increasing precipitation and N deposition in the future will favor C sequestration in the temperate
steppe. The non-additive effects of water and N on ecosystem C fluxes suggest that multifactor experiments are better able
to capture complex interactive processes, thus improving model simulations and projections.
Ecosystems 04/2012; 12(6):915-926. · 3.49 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Anthropogenic perturbations may affect biodiversity and ecological stability as well as their relationships. However, diversity-stability patterns and associated mechanisms under human disturbances have rarely been explored. We conducted a 7-year field experiment examining the effects of mowing and nutrient addition on the diversity and temporal stability of herbaceous plant communities in a temperate steppe in northern China. Mowing increased population and community stability, whereas nutrient addition had the opposite effects. Stability exhibited positive relationships with species richness at population, functional group and community levels. Treatments did not alter these positive diversity-stability relationships, which were associated with the stabilising effect of species richness on component populations, species asynchrony and portfolio effects. Despite the difficulty of pinpointing causal mechanisms of diversity-stability patterns observed in nature, our results suggest that diversity may still be a useful predictor of the stability of ecosystems confronted with anthropogenic disturbances.
Ecology Letters 04/2012; 15(6):619-26. · 17.56 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Global nitrogen (N) enrichment and changing precipitation regimes are likely to alter plant community structure and composition, with consequent influences on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Responses of plant community structure and composition to N addition and increased precipitation were examined in a temperate steppe in northern China. Increased precipitation and N addition stimulated and suppressed community species richness, respectively, across 6 years (2005–2010) of the manipulative experiment. N addition and increased precipitation significantly altered plant community structure and composition at functional groups levels. The significant relationship between species richness and soil moisture (SM) suggests that plant community structure is mediated by water under changing environmental conditions. In addition, plant height played an important role in affecting the responses of plant communities to N addition, and the effects of increased precipitation on plant community were dependent on species rooting depth. Our results highlight the importance and complexity of both abiotic (SM) and biotic factors (species traits) in structuring plant community under changing environmental scenarios. These findings indicate that knowledge of species traits can contribute to mechanistic understanding and projection of vegetation dynamics in response to future environmental change.
Global Change Biology 04/2011; 17(9):2936 - 2944. · 6.86 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Climate change would have profound influences on community structure and composition, and subsequently has impacts on ecosystem functioning and feedback to climate change. A field experiment with increased temperature and precipitation was conducted to examine effects of experimental warming, increased precipitation and their interactions on community structure and composition in a temperate steppe in northern China since April 2005. Increased precipitation significantly stimulated species richness and coverage of plant community. In contrast, experimental warming markedly reduced species richness of grasses and community coverage. Species richness was positively dependent upon soil moisture (SM) across all treatments and years. Redundancy analysis (RDA) illustrated that SM dominated the response of community composition to climate change at the individual level, suggesting indirect effects of climate change on plant community composition via altering water availability. In addition, species interaction also mediated the responses of functional group coverage to increased precipitation and temperature. Our observations revealed that both abiotic (soil water availability) and biotic (interspecific interactions) factors play important roles in regulating plant community structure and composition in response to climate change in the semiarid steppe. Therefore these factors should be incorporated in model predicting terrestrial vegetation dynamics under climate change.
Global Change Biology 12/2010; 17(1):452 - 465. · 6.86 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: It has widely been documented that nitrogen (N) enrichment stimulates plant growth and net primary production. However, there is still dispute on how N addition affects net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE), which represents the balance between ecosystem carbon (C) uptake and release. We conducted an experimental study to examine effects of N addition on NEE in a temperate steppe in northern China from 2005 to 2008. N was added at a rate of 10 g N m−2 yr−1 with NH4NO3 alone or in combination with phosphorous (P, 5 g P2O5 m−2 yr−1) in both clipped and unclipped plots. Over the 4 years, N addition significantly stimulated growing-season NEE, on average, by 27%. Neither the main effects of P addition or clipping nor their interactions with N addition were statistically significant on NEE in any of the 4 years. However, the magnitude of N stimulation on NEE declined over time. N addition significantly increased NEE by 60% in 2005 and 21% in 2006, but its effect was not significant in 2007 and 2008. N-induced shift in species composition was primarily responsible for the declined N stimulation over time. The gradually increasing coverage of the upper canopy species (Stipa krylovii) and standing litter accumulation induced light limitation on the lower canopy species (Artemisia frigida). Thus, N-induced shifts in plant species composition strongly regulated the direct effects of N addition on C sequestration in the temperate steppe.
Global Change Biology 12/2009; 16(1):144 - 155. · 6.86 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Global warming and a changing precipitation regime could have a profound impact on ecosystem carbon fluxes, especially in arid and semiarid grasslands where water is limited. A field experiment manipulating temperature and precipitation has been conducted in a temperate steppe in northern China since 2005. A paired, nested experimental design was used, with increased precipitation as the primary factor and warming simulated by infrared radiators as the secondary factor. The results for the first 2 yr showed that gross ecosystem productivity (GEP) was higher than ecosystem respiration, leading to net C sink (measured by net ecosystem CO(2) exchange, NEE) over the growing season in the study site. The interannual variation of NEE resulted from the difference in mean annual precipitation. Experimental warming reduced GEP and NEE, whereas increased precipitation stimulated ecosystem C and water fluxes in both years. Increased precipitation also alleviated the negative effect of experimental warming on NEE. The results demonstrate that water availability plays a dominant role in regulating ecosystem C and water fluxes and their responses to climatic change in the temperate steppe of northern China.
New Phytologist 02/2008; 177(1):209-19. · 6.64 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: A codon optimized DNA sequence coding for foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) capsid protein complex epitopes of VP1 amino acid residues 21-40, 135-160, and 200-213 was genetically fused to the N-terminal end of a 6x His-tagged cholera toxin B subunit (CTB) gene with the similar synonymous codons preferred by the methylotropic yeast Hansenula polymorpha. The fusion gene was synthesized based on a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and subsequently overexpressed in H. polymorpha. The chimeric protein was successfully secreted into the culture medium (up to 100mg/L) and retained the antigenicity associated with CTB and FMDV antibodies by Western blot analysis. The chimera after purification through Co(2+)-charged resin column bound specifically to GM1 ganglioside receptor and thus retained the biological activity of CTB. This study has important implications in the construction of CTB chimera for mucosal vaccines against FMDV.
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 03/2004; 315(1):235-9. · 2.48 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Warming responses of photosynthesis and its temperature dependence in two C3 grass (Agropyron cristatum, Stipa krylovii), one C4 grass (Pennisetum centrasiaticum), and two C3 forb (Artemisia capillaris, Potentilla acaulis) species in a temperate steppe of northern China were investigated in a field experiment. Experimental warming with infrared heater significantly increased daily mean assimilation rate (A) in P. centrasiaticum and A. capillaris by 30 and 43%, respectively, but had no effects on other three species. Seasonal mean A was 13, 15, and 19% higher in the warmed than control plants for P. centrasiaticum, A. capillaries, and S. krylovii, respectively. The mean assimilation rate in A. cristatum and P. acaulis was not impacted by experimental warming. All the five species showed photosynthetic acclimation to temperature. The optimum temperature for photosynthesis (Topt) and the assimilation rate at Topt in the five species increased by 0.33–0.78 °C and 4–27%, respectively, under experimental warming. Elevated temperature tended to increase the maximum rate of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) carboxylation (Vcmax) and the RuBP regeneration capacity (Jmax) in the C3 plants and carboxylation efficiency and the CO2-saturated photosynthetic rate in the C4 plant at higher leaf temperature, as well as the optimum temperatures for the four parameters. Our results indicated that photosynthetic responses to warming were species-specific and that most of the species in the temperate steppe of northern China could acclimate to a warmer environment. The changes in the temperature dependence of Vcmax and Jmax, as well as the balance of these two processes altered the temperature dependence of photosynthesis under climatic warming.
Environmental and Experimental Botany 63:91-101. · 2.98 Impact Factor
