The drivers of respiration shift from soil nutrients to water with the increase in temperature

作者：Wenyu Li, Yangjian Zhang, Xianzhou Zhang, Yunlong He, Ge Hou, Ruonan Shen, Jinyu Xia, Jiahe Zheng, Qianxin Jiang, Juntao Zhu · 发表于：Functional Ecology · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1111/1365-2435.70146 · 被引用次数：2 · 研究领域：Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics、Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology

Abstract The underlying mechanisms by which different levels of warming affect respiration are likely to vary. Identifying the drivers of respiration across varying levels of warming is essential for more accurately predicting changes in carbon processes under future warming scenarios. This study conducted a long‐term warming experiment in an alpine meadow ecosystem to investigate diurnal respiration dynamics. We analysed diurnal and nocturnal ecosystem respiration changes under five warming gradients and investigated the mechanisms behind these changes. Our results show that warming significantly decreased diurnal respiration. Moreover, with increasing warming intensity, the limiting factor for respiration transitioned from nutrient to water scarcity. Low‐level warming decreases soil respiration, mainly by reducing soil nutrient pools. High‐level warming mainly reduces soil respiration by decreasing soil moisture. Warming significantly reduces above‐ground biomass, leading to a corresponding decrease in respiration. We also observed that nocturnal respiration exhibited a pronounced and more complicated response compared to daytime respiration under warming conditions. Our results emphasize the critical roles of nutrients and water in modulating CO 2 emission flux under climate warming. Therefore, soil resource management is crucial for enhancing carbon sequestration in alpine grasslands. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.