title: Complex responses of spring vegetation growth to climate in a moisture-limited alpine meadow.
abstract: Since 2000, the phenology has advanced in some years and at some locations on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, whereas it has been delayed in others. To understand the variations in spring vegetation growth in response to climate, we conducted both regional and experimental studies on the central Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. We used the normalized difference vegetation index to identify correlations between climate and phenological greening, and found that greening correlated negatively with winter-spring time precipitation, but not with temperature. We used open top chambers to induce warming in an alpine meadow ecosystem from 2012 to 2014. Our results showed that in the early growing season, plant growth (represented by the net ecosystem CO2 exchange, NEE) was lower in the warmed plots than in the control plots. Late-season plant growth increased with warming relative to that under control conditions. These data suggest that the response of plant growth to warming is complex and non-intuitive in this system. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that moisture limitation increases in early spring as temperature increases. The effects of moisture limitation on plant growth with increasing temperatures will have important ramifications for grazers in this system.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, Beijing, China.|Key Laboratory for Agro-Environment &Climate Change, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Hasbagan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ganjurjav
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, Beijing, China.|Key Laboratory for Agro-Environment &Climate Change, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Qingzhu
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: John Muir Institute of the Environment, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Mark W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.affiliation: College of Resources Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Wenquan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, Beijing, China.|Key Laboratory for Agro-Environment &Climate Change, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, Beijing, China.|Key Laboratory for Agro-Environment &Climate Change, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, Beijing, China.|Key Laboratory for Agro-Environment &Climate Change, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yunfan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, Beijing, China.|Key Laboratory for Agro-Environment &Climate Change, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xujuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: John Muir Institute of the Environment, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Williamson
authors.affiliation: Nagqu Grassland Station, Nagqu Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau, Nagqu 852100, Tibet Autonomous Region, China.
authors.forename: Wangzha
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jiangcun
authors.affiliation: Nagqu Grassland Station, Nagqu Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau, Nagqu 852100, Tibet Autonomous Region, China.
authors.forename: Hongbao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, Beijing, China.|Key Laboratory for Agro-Environment &Climate Change, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Erda
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism; D002980:Climate; D057231:Climate Change; D017753:Ecosystem; D065948:Grassland; D063245:Plant Development / Q000502:physiology*; D012621:Seasons; D013696:Temperature; D018609:Tibet; D014867:Water / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014867:Water; D002245:Carbon Dioxide