[Characteristics of soil enzyme stoichiometry along an altitude gradient on Qinghai-Tibet Pla-teau alpine meadow, China].

Soil enzymes play critical roles in material cycle and energy flow of ecosystems. Understanding soil enzyme activities is of great significance for exploring ecosystem functions. In this study, we investigated soil enzyme activities, stoichiometry and their driving factors at six different altitudes (4300-5100 m) on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau alpine meadow using Biolog microplate analysis.

[Influence of long-term enclosure and free grazing on soil microbial community structure and carbon metabolic diversity of alpine meadow.].

Soil microbial community structure and functional diversity have great implications for the maintenance of the function and stability of grassland ecosystem. We studied the variation of soil microbial community structure, community diversity of carbon metabolism and their driving factors between the long-term enclosure and the free grazing grasslands in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau by using phospholipid fatty acid and Biolog techniques. The results showed that: 1) there were significant differences in soil microbial community structure and the utilization of carbon source between the long-term enclosed and free grazed grasslands.

[Temperature sensitivity of soil organic carbon mineralization and β-glucosidase enzymekinetics in the northern temperate forests at different altitudes, China].

Soil samples, which were collected from three typical forests, i.e., Betula ermanii forest, coniferous mixed broad-leaved forest, and Pinus koraiensis forest, at different altitudes along the southern slope of Laotuding Mountain of Changbai Mountain range in Liaoning Province of China, were incubated over a temperature gradient in laboratory.

[Impacts of land-use types on soil C mineralization and temperature sensitivity of forests in Qianyanzhou, Jiangxi Province, China].

Decomposition of soil organic matter plays an important role in the regulation of carbon (C) cycles at ecosystem or regional scales, and is closely related to temperature, moisture, and land-use types. The influences of soil temperature, moisture, and land-use types on soil C mineralization in Citrus reticulata and Pinus elliottii forests were investigated at the Qianyanzhou Ecological Experiment Station, Chinese Academy of Sciences, by conducting incubation experiments at 5-level temperatures (5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 degrees C) and 3-level moistures (30%, 60% and 90% saturated soil moisture, SSM). The results showed that soil temperature, moisture, and land-use types had significant effects on soil C mineralization and they had significant interaction effects.

Convergent responses of nitrogen and phosphorus resorption to nitrogen inputs in a semiarid grassland.

Human activities have significantly altered nitrogen (N) availability in most terrestrial ecosystems, with consequences for community composition and ecosystem functioning. Although studies of how changes in N availability affect biodiversity and community composition are relatively common, much less remains known about the effects of N inputs on the coupled biogeochemical cycling of N and phosphorus (P), and still fewer data exist regarding how increased N inputs affect the internal cycling of these two elements in plants. Nutrient resorption is an important driver of plant nutrient economies and of the quality of litter plants produce.

Biogenic VOCs emission inventory development of temperate grassland vegetation in Xilin River basin, Inner Mongolia, China.

Given the key role of biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to tropospheric chemistry and regional air quality, it is important to generate accurate VOCs emission inventories. However, only a less fraction of plant species, in temperate grassland of Inner Mongolia, has been characterized by quantitative measurements. A taxonomic methodology, which assigns VOCs measurements to unmeasured species, is an applicable and inexpensive alternation for extensive VOCs emission survey, although data are needed for additional plant families and genera to further validate the taxonomic approach in grassland vegetation.