Climate and fire drivers of forest composition and openness in the Changbai Mountains since the Late Glacial

Ongoing climate changes have a direct impact on forest growth;they also affect natural fire regimes,with further implications for forest composition.Understanding of how these will affect forests on decadal-to-centennial timescales is limited.Here we use reconstructions of past vegetation,fire regimes and climate during the Holocene to examine the relative importance of changes in climate and fire regimes for the abundance of key tree species in northeastern China.We reconstructed vegetation changes and fire regimes based on pollen and charcoal records from Gushantun peatland.We then used generalized linear modelling to investigate the impact of reconstructed changes in summer temperature,annual precipitation,background levels of fire,fire frequency and fire magnitude to identify the drivers of decadal-to-centennial changes in forest openness and composition.Changes in climate and fire regimes have independent impacts on the abundance of the key tree taxa.Climate variables are generally more important than fire variables in determining the abundance of individual taxa.Precipitation is the only determinant of forest openness,but summer temperature is more important than precipitation for individual tree taxa with warmer summers causing a decrease in cold-tolerant conifers and an increase in warmth-demanding broadleaved trees.Both background level and fire frequency have negative relationships with the abundance of most tree taxa;only Pinus increases as fire frequency increases.The magnitude of individual fires does not have a significant impact on species abundance on this timescale.Both climate and fire regime characteristics must be considered to understand changes in forest composition on the decadal-to-centennial timescale.There are differences,both in sign and magnitude,in the response of individual tree species to individual drivers.

Provenance of the Permo-Carboniferous sediments in the northern Alxa and its tectonic implications for the southernmost Central Asian Orogenic Belt

As the southernmost segment of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt(CAOB),the northern Alxa orogenic belt(NAOB)connects the southeastern and southwestern segments of the CAOB.The NAOB amalgamated with the closure of the Paleo-Asian Ocean;however,the closure time of the Paleo-Asian Ocean is still on great debate.In this study,we reported new detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology and Hf-O isotopes for the Permo-Carboniferous sediments in the northern Alxa to constrain the provenance and its tectonic implications.The Permo-Carbonifereous Amushan Formation is composed of volcanic-carbonite-clastic rocks and was deposited in a shallow marine environment.Based on the zircon U-Pb geochronology,the Amushan Formation was deposited in the late Carboniferous to early Permian,but some outcrops of volcanic and clastic rocks in the Quaganqulu area were likely formed in the middle to late Permian.The integrated zircon age spectrum for the clastic rocks shows a wide range from late Archean to Paleoproterozoic,Mesoproterozoic(with a peak age at 1458 Ma),early Neoproterozoic(with peak ages of 988 Ma and 929 Ma),early Paleozoic(with a peak age at 447 Ma) and late Paleozoic(with a peak age at 294 Ma).Combined with the zircon Hf-O isotopes,the provenance was considered to be the Alxa Block,the Shalazhashan terrane and the Zhusileng-Hangwula block(and the southern Beishan orogenic belt).The multiple source regions to the south and north of the Paleo-Asian Ocean indicate the closure of this ocean before the late Carboniferous.The absence or small proportion of depositional age-approximated zircons in most samples makes their age spectra similar to extensional basins.Combined with the intra-plate volcanism,the deposits were considered to be formed in extensional settings.Accordingly,after the closure of the Paleo-Asian Ocean,the NAOB stepped into an extensional stage.

AGE STRUCTURES OF MODULES OF CLONAL PEATLAND SEDGE Carex middendorffii

Age structure of a plant population carries important information on population dynamics. The traditional age classification of individuals by development phases could not explain the generation relationship neither between individuals nor between modules, and it could not accurately predict the future of population or the tendency of peatland evolution. In a peatland of the Xiao Hinggan Mountains, China, at the middle of the growth season, the age structures of 3 modules, ramets, active buds and rhizomes of a Carex middendorffii clonal population were investigated, with the method of classifying age classes of ramets and active buds by counting generation quantity of tiller nodes, and classifying age classes of rhizomes by their real survival time. The quantity of vegetative ramets was dominant. Tiller nodes of ramets can propagate vegetatively for a maximum of 3 generations. The population of ramets consisted of 3 age classes of ramets at the middle of the growth season, and showed a stable age structure. In the two sampling events, there was no significant difference between quantities and age structure of the population. The maximum age of an excavated rhizome was 12 years old. Rhizomes were classified in 8 age classes, and age classes 4-6 contributed most to the total biomass. There was no significant difference in total length and total biomass per unit area, or in biomass per unit length in rhizomes between the two samplings. Four age classes of active buds were recognized, and their number increased from July to August. The Carex middendorffii clonal population achieved regeneration by budding from the tiller nodes of ramets. The age structures of the 3 modules suggested that the Carex middendorffii clonal population could persist in the early development phase of the oligotrophic peatland in the Xiao Hinggan Mountains, but it could not be dominant. It also faces the risk to disappear from the community as the peatland develops further.

Diurnal Variation of Soil CO2 Efflux and Its Optimal Measuring Time-window of Temperate Meadow Steppes in Western Songnen Plain, China

In order to study the diurnal variation of soil CO_2 efflux from temperate meadow steppes in Northeast China, and determine the best time for observation, a field experiment was conducted with a LI-6400 soil CO_2 flux system under five typical plant communities(Suaeda glauca(Sg), Chloris virgata(Cv), Puccinellia distans(Pd), Leymus chinensis(Lc) and Phragmites australis(Pa)) and an alkali-spot land(As) at the meadow steppe of western Songnen Plain. The results showed that the diurnal variation of soil CO_2 efflux exhibited a single peak curve in the growing season. Diurnal maximum soil respiration(Rs) often appeared between 11:00 and 13:00, while the minimum occurred at 21:00–23:00 or before dawn. Air temperature near the soil surface(Ta) and soil temperature at 10 cm depth(T10) exerted dominant control on the diurnal variations of soil respiration. The time-windows 7:00–9:00 could be used as the optimal measuring time to represent the daily mean soil CO_2 efflux at the Cv, Pd, Lc and Pa sites. The daily mean soil CO_2 efflux was close to the soil CO_2 efflux from 15:00 to 17:00 and the mean of 2 individual soil CO_2 efflux from 15:00 to 19:00 at the As and Sg sites, respectively. During nocturnal hours, negative soil CO_2 fluxes(CO_2 downwards into the soil) were frequently observed at the As and Sg sites, the magnitude of the negative CO_2 fluxes were 0.10–1.55 μmol/(m^2·s) and 0.10–0.69 μmol/(m^2·s)at the two sites. The results implied that alkaline soils could absorb CO_2 under natural condition, which might have significant implications to the global carbon budget accounting.

Holocene initiation and expansion of the southern margins of northern peatlands triggered by the East Asian summer monsoon recession

Northern peatlands represent one of the largest biospheric carbon reservoirs in the world.Their southern margins act as new carbon reservoirs,which can greatly influence the global carbon dynamics.However,the Holocene initiation,expansion and climate sensitivity of these peatlands remain intensely debated.Here we used a compilation of basal peat ages across six isolated peatlands at the southern margins of northern peatlands to address these issues.We found that the earliest initiation event of these peatlands occurred after the Younger Dryas(YD,12,800–11,700 years ago)period.The second initiation event and rapid expansion occurred since 5 ka cal.BP.The recession of East Asian summer monsoon(EASM)during the YD period and at around 5 ka cal.BP likely played a major role in controlling the initiation and expansion of these peatlands.The rapid expansion of these peatlands possibly contributed to the significant increases in atmospheric methane concentrations during the late Holocene because of the minerotrophic fens status and rapid expansion of them.These ecological processes are different from northern peatlands,indicating the special carbon sink and source implications of these peatlands in the global carbon cycle.

Ecology of testate amoebae and their potential use as palaeohydrologic indicators from peatland in Sanjiang Plain, Northeast China

Testate amoebae are sensitive indicators of substrate moisture in peaflands. Over the last decades, they have been studied to reconstruct hydrological changes since the Holocene. However, these studies have been geographically restricted to North America and Europe. We conducted the first investigation of testate amoebae on the largest continental fresh water wetland in the Sanjiang Plain, China. The objectives of this study were to provide baseline data on the ecology of testate amoebae in the peatlands of Northeast China and to assess the potential of using them as environmental indicators in this ecosystem. We examined modem testate amoeba assemblages and species-environmental relationships at 46 microsites within 5 waterlogged depressions. The environmental parameters measured included： depth to water table, pH, and loss on ignition. The results showed that the dominant species were Trinema complanatum type, Euglypha rotunda type, Euglypha strigosa type, and Centropyxis cassis type. Redundancy analysis demonstrates that water table depth has the most important effect on testate amoeba assemblages, explaining 16.7% （p=0.002） of the total variance, pH was not a statistically significant factor for testate amoeba assemblages. Weighted averaging and weighted averaging partial least squares models were used to build transfer functions for depth to water table. The best performing transfer function was generated by the weighted averaging partial least squares model with an r^2LOSO of 0.62 and RMSEPLoso of 6.96 era. Results indicate that testate amoebae in waterlogged depression peatland have the potential to be used as indicators for hydrological changes and for palaeohydrologic reconstructions in the Sanjiang Plain.

地球倾角驱动的末次冰期期间南亚地区变暖

当前对晚第四纪以来轨道尺度上地球气候变化的认识,主要包括高纬驱动的以~10万年周期为主的冰期-间冰期循环和夏季风影响的以~2.3万年周期为主的低纬水文变化.但是,由于低纬陆地没有较为可靠的温度记录,使得对低纬陆地的长期气候变化仍然缺乏全面的理解.本文通过获取云南腾冲青海的一根湖泊沉积岩芯,分析了沉积物中的支链甘油二烷基甘油四醚酯(brGDGTs)和叶蜡氢同位素,分别重建了~9万年以来南亚地区的年平均温度和季风降水的变化序列.结果表明,夏季风降水与之前的研究一致,表现出明显的2.3万年周期,但是年均温度记录揭示了8.8~7.1万年和4.5~2.2万年存在两个暖期,温度变幅2~3℃,与该记录中的冰期-间冰期变幅接近.通过对比TraCE21ka瞬态模拟结果和相关气候驱动因子,发现这两个暖期很可能受当地的年均太阳轨道辐射影响;而低纬地区的年均太阳辐射由以~4.1万年周期为主的地球倾角变化控制,并与高纬地区的年均太阳轨道辐射呈反向关系.此外,该记录中的两个暖期与古人类活动的年代有较强的相关性,表明末次冰期内温度变化可能对亚洲地区古人类的生存有重要的影响.