Plant production, and carbon and nitrogen source pools, are strongly intensified by experimental warming in alpine ecosystems in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

The aim of this study was to assess initial effects of warming on the nutrient pools of carbon and nitrogen of two most widespread ecosystem types, swamp meadow and alpine meadow, in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China. The temperature of the air and upper-soil layer was passively increased using open-top chambers (OTCs) with two different temperature elevations. We analyzed air and soil temperature, soil moisture. biomass, microbial biomass, and nutrient dynamics after 2 years of warming. The use of OTCs clearly raised temperature and decreased soil moisture. The aboveground plant and root biomass increased in all OTCs in two meadows. A small temperature increase in OTCs resulted in swamp meadow acting as a net carbon sink and alpine meadow as a net source, and further warming intensified this processes, at least in a short term. On balance, the alpine ecosystems in the Fenghuoshan region acted as a carbon source. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.