Ecosystem carbon loss with woody plant invasion of grasslands

被引:791
作者
Jackson, RB [1 ]
Banner, JL
Jobbágy, EG
Pockman, WT
Wall, DH
机构
[1] Duke Univ, Dept Biol, Durham, NC 27708 USA
[2] Duke Univ, Nicholas Sch Environm & Earth Sci, Durham, NC 27708 USA
[3] Univ Texas, Dept Geol Sci, Austin, TX 78712 USA
[4] Colorado State Univ, Nat Resource Ecol Lab, Ft Collins, CO 80523 USA
基金
美国安德鲁·梅隆基金会; 美国国家科学基金会;
关键词
D O I
10.1038/nature00910
中图分类号
O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
The invasion of woody vegetation into deserts, grasslands and savannas is generally thought to lead to an increase in the amount of carbon stored in those ecosystems. For this reason, shrub and forest expansion (for example, into grasslands) is also suggested to be a substantial, if uncertain, component of the terrestrial carbon sink(1-14). Here we investigate woody plant invasion along a precipitation gradient (200 to 1,100 mm yr(-1)) by comparing carbon and nitrogen budgets and soil delta(13)C profiles between six pairs of adjacent grasslands, in which one of each pair was invaded by woody species 30 to 100 years ago. We found a clear negative relationship between precipitation and changes in soil organic carbon and nitrogen content when grasslands were invaded by woody vegetation, with drier sites gaining, and wetter sites losing, soil organic carbon. Losses of soil organic carbon at the wetter sites were substantial enough to offset increases in plant biomass carbon, suggesting that current land-based assessments may overestimate carbon sinks. Assessments relying on carbon stored from woody plant invasions to balance emissions may therefore be incorrect.
引用
收藏
页码:623 / 626
页数:5
相关论文
共 33 条
[21]   SOIL CARBON POOLS AND WORLD LIFE ZONES [J].
POST, WM ;
EMANUEL, WR ;
ZINKE, PJ ;
STANGENBERGER, AG .
NATURE, 1982, 298 (5870) :156-159
[22]   Recent patterns and mechanisms of carbon exchange by terrestrial ecosystems [J].
Schimel, DS ;
House, JI ;
Hibbard, KA ;
Bousquet, P ;
Ciais, P ;
Peylin, P ;
Braswell, BH ;
Apps, MJ ;
Baker, D ;
Bondeau, A ;
Canadell, J ;
Churkina, G ;
Cramer, W ;
Denning, AS ;
Field, CB ;
Friedlingstein, P ;
Goodale, C ;
Heimann, M ;
Houghton, RA ;
Melillo, JM ;
Moore, B ;
Murdiyarso, D ;
Noble, I ;
Pacala, SW ;
Prentice, IC ;
Raupach, MR ;
Rayner, PJ ;
Scholes, RJ ;
Steffen, WL ;
Wirth, C .
NATURE, 2001, 414 (6860) :169-172
[23]   BIOLOGICAL FEEDBACKS IN GLOBAL DESERTIFICATION [J].
SCHLESINGER, WH ;
REYNOLDS, JF ;
CUNNINGHAM, GL ;
HUENNEKE, LF ;
JARRELL, WM ;
VIRGINIA, RA ;
WHITFORD, WG .
SCIENCE, 1990, 247 (4946) :1043-1048
[24]   Tree-grass interactions in savannas [J].
Scholes, RJ ;
Archer, SR .
ANNUAL REVIEW OF ECOLOGY AND SYSTEMATICS, 1997, 28 :517-544
[25]  
Tilman D, 2000, ECOLOGY, V81, P2680, DOI 10.1890/0012-9658(2000)081[2680:FSAECS]2.0.CO
[26]  
2
[27]   Potential responses of soil organic carbon to global environmental change [J].
Trumbore, SE .
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 1997, 94 (16) :8284-8291
[28]   EXPANSION AND CONTRACTION OF THE SAHARA DESERT FROM 1980 TO 1990 [J].
TUCKER, CJ ;
DREGNE, HE ;
NEWCOMB, WW .
SCIENCE, 1991, 253 (5017) :299-301
[29]  
Turner B., 1990, EARTH TRANSFORMED HU
[30]   Shrub invasions of North American semiarid grasslands [J].
Van Auken, OW .
ANNUAL REVIEW OF ECOLOGY AND SYSTEMATICS, 2000, 31 :197-215