Massive warming-induced carbon loss from subalpine grassland soils in an altitudinal transplantation experiment

Climate change is associated with a change in soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks, implying a feedback mechanism on global warming. Grassland soils represent 28 % of the global soil C sink and are therefore important for the atmospheric greenhouse gas concentration. In a field experiment in the Swiss Alps we recorded changes in the ecosystem organic carbon stock under climate change conditions, while quantifying the ecosystem C fluxes at the same time (ecosystem respiration, gross primary productivity, C export in plant material and leachate water). We exposed 216 grassland monoliths to six different climate scenarios (CSs) in an altitudinal transplantation experiment. In addition, we applied an irrigation treatment (+12 % to 21 % annual precipitation) and an N deposition treatment (+3 and +15 kg N ha(-1) yr(-1)) in a factorial design, simulating summer-drought mitigation and atmospheric N pollution. In 5 years the ecosystem C stock, consisting of plant C and SOC, dropped dramatically by about -14 % (-1034 +/- 610 g C m(-2)) with the CS treatment representing a +3.0 degrees C seasonal (April-October) warming. N deposition and the irrigation treatment caused no significant effects. Measurements of C fluxes revealed that ecosystem respiration increased by 10 % at the +1.5 degrees C warmer CS site and by 38 % at the +3 degrees C warmer CS site (P <= 0.001 each), compared to the CS reference site with no warming. However, gross primary productivity was unaffected by warming, as were the amounts of exported C in harvested plant material and leachate water (dissolved organic C). As a result, the 5-year C flux balance resulted in a climate scenario effect of -936 +/- 138 g C m(-2) at the +3.0 degrees C CS, similar to the C stock climate scenario effect. It is likely that this dramatic C loss of the grassland is a transient effect before a new, climate-adjusted steady state is reached.

Automated summary

Climate change has a negative effect on soil organic carbon stocks, leading to a significant decrease in grassland ecosystem carbon storage. However, the impact of climate change on carbon fluxes is relatively small.