Soil CO 2 Flux in Hövsgöl National Park, Northern Mongolia
We investigated soil CO 2 fl ux and bare soil respiration in grasslands that are located at the southern edge of the Siberian boreal forest in Northern Mongolia. The study area has warmed by almost 1.8 o C over the last 40 years, and the soil and vegetation covers have been changed due to...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
National University of Mongolia
2008-06-01
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| Series: | Mongolian Journal of Biological Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://mjbs.num.edu.mn/uploads/files/MJBS%20Volume%206%20Number%201-2%20December%202008/pdf/mjbs006-01-02-04.pdf |
| Summary: | We investigated soil CO
2
fl
ux and bare soil respiration in grasslands that are located at the southern
edge of the Siberian boreal forest in Northern Mongolia. The study area has warmed by almost 1.8
o
C
over the last 40 years, and the soil and vegetation covers have been changed due to intense nomadic
grazing pressure. Bare soil respiration is decreased with increasing grazing pressure, but there was
no consistent pattern of total soil CO
2
fl
ux under three distinct grazing levels. Bare soil respiration
and soil CO
2
fl
ux were higher on north-facing slopes than on south-facing slopes, due to high organic
matter accumulation and the presence of permafrost. Both bare soil respiration and soil CO
2
fl
ux were
signi
fi
cantly higher in riparian areas compared with the lower and upper portions of the south-facing
slope. Topography has a stronger effect on variability of soil CO
2
fl
ux and bare soil respiration than
variability induced by grazing. Inter-annual variability in soil CO
2
fl
ux and bare soil respiration was
very high, because of high variability in climate conditions. |
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| ISSN: | 1684-3908 2225-4994 |