Stochastic modelling of soil moisture dynamics in a grassland of Qilian Mountain at point scale

Stochastic modeling of soil moisture dynamics is crucial to the quantitative understanding of plant responses to water stresses,hydrological control of nutrient cycling processes,water competition among plants,and some other ecological dynamics,and thus has become a hotspot in ecohydrology at present.In this paper,we based on the continuously monitored data of soil moisture during 2002―2005 and daily precipitation date of 1992―2006,and tried to make a probabilistic analysis of soil moisture dynamics at point scale in a grassland of Qilian Mountain by integrating the stochastic model improved by Laio and the Monte Carlo method.The results show that the inter-annual variations for the soil moisture patterns at different depths are very significant,and that the coefficient of variance(CV) of surface soil moisture(20 cm) is almost continually kept at about 0.23 whether in the rich or poor rainy years.Interestingly,it has been found that the maximal CV of soil moisture has not always appeared at the surface layer.Comparison of the analytically derived soil moisture probability density function(PDF) with the statistical distribution of the observed soil moisture data suggests that the stochastic model can reasonably describe and predict the soil moisture dynamics of the grassland in Qilian Mountain at point scale.By extracting the statistical information of the historical precipitation data in 1994―2006,and inputting them into the stochastic model,we analytically derived the long-term soil moisture PDF without considering the inter-annual climate fluctuations,and then numerically derived the one when considering the inter-annual fluctuation effects in combination with a Monte-Carlo procedure.It was found that,though the peak position of the probability density distribution significantly moved towards drought when considering the disturbance forces,and its width was narrowed,accordingly its peak value was increased,no significant bimodality was observed in the soil moisture dynamics under the given intensity of random fluctuation disturbance.     

A darkling beetle population in West Texas during the 1997–1998 El Niño

We examined the abundance and distribution of Eleodes extricata (Tenebrionidae) in a semi-arid region of West Texas. During the 2-year study, climatic conditions were extreme but opposite, with 1997 being unusually wet and mild, and 1998 being unusually dry and hot. These conditions were associated with striking differences in the population structure of the beetles. Under identical pitfall-sampling efforts, we captured 1562 and 671 individuals in 1997 and 1998, respectively. Capture rates were lowest in grassland, and highest in sand shinnery oak, and within the latter, they were lowest in blowouts, intermediate along the edges of blowouts, and highest under vegetative cover. Sex ratios were consistently female-biased, and the degree of bias increased from spring through fall in both years. These increases were more pronounced in 1998, with the sex ratios of early and late sampling periods differing by over four-fold, from 1·15 to 5·00. Females were heavier than males, and the dry masses of both sexes increased from spring though fall in both years. As with sex ratios, these increases were more pronounced in 1998. Only the largest beetles survived the drought, illustrating how extreme conditions can exert especially strong directional selection, and affect sex ratios in populations with sexual size dimorphism.     

Fluxes of CO<Subscript>2</Subscript>, CH<Subscript>4</Subscript> and N<Subscript>2</Subscript>O from alpine grassland in the Tibetan Plateau

Using static chamber technique,fluxes of CO2,CH4 and N2O were measured in the alpine grassland area from July 2000 to July 2001,determinations of mean fluxes showed that CO2 and N2O were generally released from the soil,while the alpine grassland accounted for a weak CH4 sink.Fluxes of CO2,CH4 and N2O ranged widely.The highest CO2 emission occurred in August,whereas almost 90?of the whole year emission occurred in the growing season.But the variations of CH4 and N2O fluxes did not show any clear patterns over the one-year-experiment.During a daily variation,the maximum CO2 emission occurred at 16:00,and then decreased to the minimum emission in the early morning.Daily pattern analyses indicated that the variation in CO2 fluxes was positively related to air temperatures(R^2=0.73)and soil temperatures at a depth of 5 cm(R^2=0.86),whereas daily variations in CH4 and N2O fluxes were poorly explained by soil temperatures and climatic variables.CO2 emissions in this area were much lower than other grasslands in plain areas.     

CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> processes in an alpine grassland ecosystem on the Tibetan Plateau

In this paper, the CO2 concentrations profile from 1.5 m depth in soil to 32 m height in atmosphere were measured from July 2000 to July 2001 in an alpine grassland ecosystem located in the permafrost area on the Tibetan Plateau, which revealed that CO2 concentrations varied greatly during this study period. Mean concentrations during the whole experiment in the atmosphere were absolutely lower than the CO2 concentrations in soil, which resulted in CO2 emissions from the alpine steppe soil to the atmosphere. The highest CO2 concentration was found at a depth of 1.5 m in soil while the lowest CO2 concentration occurred in the atmosphere. Mean CO2 concentrations in soil generally increased with depth. This was the compositive influence of the increasing soil moistures and decreasing soil pH, which induced the increasing biological activities with depth. Temporally, the CO2 concentrations at different layers in air remained a more steady state because of the atmospheric turbulent milking. During the seasonal variations, CO2 concentrations at surface soil interface showed symmetrical patterns, with the lowest accumulation of CO2 occurring in the late winter and the highest CO2 concentration in the growine seasons.     

Study of Aerodynamic Parameters on Different Underling Surfaces

Aerodynamic parameters including the zero-plane displacement (d), roughness length (20), and friction velocity (u*) on the different underlying surfaces of heavy-grazing site, medium-grazing site, light-grazing site, no-grazing site, dune, inter-dune, grassland, rice paddy site, wheat site, soybean site, and maize site have been computed based on the Monin-Obukhov similarity theory by utilizing the micrometeorologically observed data of dune and vegetation in the semi-arid area at Naiman, Inner Mongolia of China, conducted jointly by the Institute of Desert Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Institute of Agro-Environmental Sciences of Japan in 1990-1994. And their relationships between wind speed and Richardson number are analyzed. The aerodynamic characteristics of different man-made disturbed grassland ecosystems are also compared. Result shows that the vegetation coverage and the above-ground biomass decrease with the increase in man-made stress of the grassland. The roughness length for different underlying surfaces is closely related to vegetation height, above-ground biomass, and ground surface undulation, and Richardson number Ri is also its influencing factor. The friction velocity varies largely on different underlying surfaces, and it is positively proportional to wind speed and roughness length. The aerodynamic parameters of various times on the same underlying surface are different, too. Above results indicate that grassland and vegetation are of significance in preventing desertification, especially in the arid and semi-arid land ecosystems. And the results of this paper are also important for constructing the land surface physical process as well as regional climate model.     

天山北坡天然草场牧草干旱指标研究

通过降水,土壤水分,天然草场产草量之间建立的统计关系,来说明水分供应是影响牧草产量的重要因素,并依据降水和土壤水分与牧草产草量的关系划分出牧草生长中水分供给的正常,干旱等指标。     

遥感技术在大面积天然草地估产和预报中的应用探讨

利用新疆北疆地区不同草地类型上观测的草地可食产量、环境与遥感资料等,使用3S技术进行了相关分析和遥感估产及预报,建立了地面光学和线性或非线性遥感估产及产量预报模型,在实际估产和产量预测中加以应用、检验,并给出了生态学解释。     

初冬季节青藏高原清水河地区甲烷排放率变化(英)

As the globally largest area covered by high altitudinal permafrost, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau may contribute substantially to atmospheric CH4 budget when global warming. Preliminary observations on CH4 emission at Qingshuihe from November 5 to 14, 1995 show that alpine grassland may be a small source for atmospheric CH4 during early winter. The emission rates of CH4 from moist grassland surface varied from-16. 1 to 23. 9 μg. m-2h-1, with an average of 1. 82 μg. m-2h-1. Emission rates of CH4 from water surface of Qingshuihe River were from -21. 0 to 37. 1 μg. m-2h-1, with an average of 1. 56 μg. m-2h-1. The emission rates of CH at 30 to 200 cm in depth ranged from-69. 0 to 36. 0 μg. m-2h-1, with the average rate at these depths varying from -2. 15 to 2. 04 μg' m-2h-1. The mean emission rates of CH4 in the active layer and permafrost indicate the lower part of active layer tends to release CH4, CH4 is absorbed at low rates in the middle section and in the vicinity of permafrost table, and net fluxes of CH4 is emitted from the soils in the upper part. During the observation periods, the methane concentrations in static chambers and emission rates of grassland and water surface displayed noticeable diurnal variations. The water/ice content may play important role in the spatial variations of methane emission rates. The emission rates of methane is weakly correlated with the ground temperatures at sampling depths and air temperatures. The observed emission rates of methane from the comparatively dry and sandy grassland soils are quite low compared with that observed in the permafrost regions in the high latitudes.     

锡林浩特草原CO2通量特征及其影响因素分析

利用锡林浩特国家气候观象台开路涡度相关系统、辐射土壤观测系统,测得的长期连续通量观测数据,对锡林浩特草原2009—2011年期间的CO₂通量观测特征进行了分析。结果表明:CO₂通量存在明显的年际、季节和日变化特征。3 a中NEE年际变率达到200 g·m^-2,季节变率最大达到460 g·m^-2,日变化幅度生长季最大达到0.25 mg·m^-2·s^-1。通过不同时间尺度碳通量与温度、水分、辐射等环境因子的分析,认为CO₂通量日变化主要受温度和光合有效辐射影响,而季节变化和年变化主要受降水和土壤含水量的影响。降水强度及时间分布是制约牧草CO₂吸收的关键因素,大于15%的土壤含水量有利于促进牧草生长。     

短期增温和降水减少对沙质草地土壤微生物量碳氮和酶活性的影响

通过模拟气候变化,探究短期增温和降水减少对沙质草地土壤微生物量碳氮及酶活性的影响,揭示沙质草地土壤微生物量碳氮和酶活性对短期气候变化的响应规律。结果表明：（1）短期增温和降水减少对土壤微生物量碳氮和酶活性均产生显著影响。（2）在自然温度下,与自然降水相比,降水减少40%时土壤微生物量碳（MBC）和微生物氮（MBN）含量最高,增幅分别为87.9%和98.8%;降水减少60%时土壤碱性蛋白酶（S-ALPT）活性最低,降幅达32.8%。（3）在增温条件下,与自然降水相比,降水减少40%时土壤MBC和MBN含量最低,降幅分别为25.67%和48.16%,土壤脲酶（S-UE）活性最高,增幅20.42%。（4）土壤pH与3种土壤酶活性正相关,与土壤微生物量碳氮负相关。土壤微生物量碳氮与土壤纤维素酶（S-CL）活性负相关,与S-UE、S-ALPT活性正相关。