Vegetation Biomass and Net Primary Production of Sparse Forest Grassland in Hunshandake Sandland
LI Gang1, LI Yonggeng2, LIU Meizhen2, JIANG Gaoming2
1. College of Life Sciences, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi Province, China;2. State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China
Abstract:Terrestrial ecosystems are playing important roles in the global carbon cycling. However, the information is still limited with regard to the semiarid sandland, comparing with the thorough studies on forest and grassland. The biomass carbon storage, Net Primary Production (NPP), and Rain Use Efficiency (RUE) of Hunshandake Sandland, a semiarid sandy region in Inner Mongolia covered with vegetation of Siberian elm (Ulmus pumila L.) sparse forest grassland, were estimated. Six main habitats, i.e. fixed dunes, semi-fixed dunes, shifting dunes, lowland, willow scrub, and wetland, were compared with each other to analyze the patterns of carbon storage and NPP distribution. The average biomass (21.30Mg·hm-2) and NPP (11.06Mg·hm-2·a-1) of the sparse forest grassland are 90% and 59% higher than the mean level for the surrounding temperate grassland, respectively. Governed by the same climate, the RUE for sparse forest grassland ecosystem is almost twice than that for surrounding grassland. The ratio of below to above ground biomass is 2.9 in the sandland, the fact indicates that most of the vegetation carbon are stored in a below ground pool. Although trees are functionally critical for maintaining the integrity of sparse forest grassland, they only account for 10% and 1.3% of the biomass and NPP, respectively. The sparse forest grassland in Hunshandake Sandland should be recognized as a temperate savanna ecosystem which is distinctively different from typical temperate grassland in the same region indicated by the higher NPP and vegetation carbon storage. Well designed management and restoration efforts could potentially realize ecosystem services in both forage production and carbon sequestration.
李刚;李永庚;刘美珍;蒋高明. 浑善达克沙地稀树疏林草地植被生物量及净初级生产力[J]. , 2011, 29(25): 30-37.
LI Gang;LI Yonggeng;LIU Meizhen;JIANG Gaoming. Vegetation Biomass and Net Primary Production of Sparse Forest Grassland in Hunshandake Sandland. , 2011, 29(25): 30-37.