Effects of whole-soil warming on CH and N O fluxes in an alpine grassland.

Global climate warming could affect the methane (CH ) and nitrous oxide (N O) fluxes between soils and the atmosphere, but how CH and N O fluxes respond to whole-soil warming is unclear. Here, we for the first time investigated the effects of whole-soil warming on CH and N O fluxes in an alpine grassland ecosystem on the Tibetan Plateau, and also studied the effects of experimental warming on CH and N O fluxes across terrestrial ecosystems through a global-scale meta-analysis. The whole-soil warming (0-100 cm, +4°C) significantly elevated soil N O emission by 101%, but had a minor effect on soil CH uptake. However, the meta-analysis revealed that experimental warming did not significantly alter CH and N O fluxes, and it may be that most field warming experiments could only heat the surface soils. Moreover, the warming-induced higher plant litter and available N in soils may be the main reason for the higher N O emission under whole-soil warming in the alpine grassland. We need to pay more attention to the long-term response of greenhouse gases (including CH and N O fluxes) from different soil depths to whole-soil warming over year-round, which could help us more accurately assess and predict the ecosystem-climate feedback under realistic warming scenarios in the future.