Different responses of ecosystem CO2 and N2O emissions and CH4 uptake to seasonally asymmetric warming in an alpine grassland of the Tianshan.

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of seasonally asymmetric warming on ecosystem respiration (Re), CH 4 uptake, and N 2 O emissions in alpine grassland of the Tianshan of central Asia, from October 2016 to September 2019. The annual means of Re , CH 4 , and N 2 O fluxes in growing season were 42.83 mg C m -2 h -1 , - 41.57 µ g C m -2 h -1 , and 4.98 µ g N m -2 h -1 , respectively. Furthermore, warming during the non-growing season increased Re and CH 4 uptake by 7.9 % and 10.6 % in the growing season and 10.5 % and 9.2 % in the non-growing season, respectively. However, the increase in N 2 O emission in the growing season was mainly caused by the warming during the growing season (by 29.7 %). The warming throughout the year and warming during the non-growing season increased N 2 O emissions by 101.9 % and 192.3 % in the non-growing season, respectively. The Re , CH 4 uptake, and N 2 O emissions were positively correlated with soil temperature. Our results suggested that Re , CH 4 uptake, and N 2 O emissions were regulated by soil temperature, rather than soil moisture, in the case of seasonally asymmetric warming. In addition, the response rate was defined by the changes in greenhouse gas fluxes driven by warming. In our field experiment, we observed the stimulatory effect of warming during the non-growing season on Re and CH 4 uptake. In contrast, the response rates of Re and N 2 O emissions were gradually attenuated by long-term annual warming, and the response rate of Re was also weakened by warming over the growing season. These findings highlight the importance of warming in the non-growing season in regulating greenhouse gas fluxes, a finding which is crucial for improving our understanding of C and N cycles under the scenarios of global warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]