Seasonal/Interannual Variations of Carbon Sequestration and Carbon Emission in a Warm-Season Perennial Grassland

Abstract

Carbon sequestration and carbon emission are processes of ecosystem carbon cycling that can be affected while land area converted to grassland resulting in increased soil carbon storage and below-ground respiration. Discerning the importance of carbon cycle in grassland, we aimed to estimate carbon sequestration in photosynthesis and carbon emission in respiration from soil, root, and microbes, for four consecutive years (2007–2010) in a warm-season perennial grassland, Japan. Soil carbon emission increased with increasing growing season temperature which ranged from 438 to 1642 mg CO 2 m −2 h −1 . Four years’ average soil carbon emission for growing season, nongrowing season, and annual emission was 1123, 364, and 1488 g C m −2 , respectively. Nongrowing and snow covered season soil carbon emission contributed 23–25% and 14–17% to the annual emission. Above-ground biomass varied seasonally and variation in green biomass affected soil carbon emission with increasing temperature and precipitation. Temperature effect on root carbon emission contributed about 1/4th of the total soil carbon emission. Variation in soil and root carbon emission is affected by below-ground biomass. Long-term estimation concluded that seasonal and interannual variations in carbon sequestration and emission are very common in grassland ecosystem.