The response of CO 2 fluxes to the amplitude of diurnal temperature in alpine meadow during growing season from 2002 to 2016 at the southern foot of Qilian Mountains

Known as the “Third Pole” and “Early-warning region” of the world, the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) had an intense increase in surface temperature and marked change in the amplitude of diurnal temperature (ADT), which could have significant influences on the ecosystem carbon cycle. The increasing rate of the mean daily minimum temperature (MinTa) was about two times higher than that of maximum temperature (MaxTa) in the last five decades, and this asymmetric pattern has resulted in a smaller ADT, which substantially affected the plant phenology and vegetation productivity. The reduction in the ADT caused by global climate change would have a profound impact on the carbon balance of alpine ecosystems. However, the response of carbon budgets to the ADT over the QTP remained unclear. Here, we analyzed the 15-a growing seasonal (June−September) carbon fluxes (measured by the eddy covariance [EC] technique) in alpine meadow at the southern foot of Qilian Mountains, which is one of the most extensive vegetation types on the QTP. This study aimed to clarify how carbon fluxes respond to ADT at different temporal (daily, monthly and annual) scales in alpine meadow and to understand their potential response to future climate change. The results indicated that both the MaxTa and MinTa showed bell-shaped seasonal patterns, whereas the ADT failed to show an obvious trend during the growing season from 2002 to 2016. Besides, there was a non-significant increase in annual MaxTa, MinTa and ADT ( P >0.05). Meanwhile, daily gross primary productivity (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (Re) exhibited a single-peaked trend that increased and then decreased, whereas daily net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE) showed a v-shaped trend. The alpine meadow ecosystem is a carbon sink during the growing season, and the annual NEE, GPP, and Re were −230.4±17.3, 668.8±25.5, 438.3±27.5 g C m–2, respectively. Moreover, the annual GPP and Re of alpine meadow in the growing season showed a significant increase trend ( P P >0.05). Annual CO2 fluxes were not related annual ADT. Only annual MaxTa exerted significant influence on variations in annual GPP and Re. Interestingly, the slopes of GPP and Re with respect to MaxTa were similar, also indicating the little impact of MaxTa on annual NEE. On a monthly scale, ADT exerted a negligible influence on CO2 fluxes ( P >0.05), but there were significant correlations between MinTa and MaxTa with CO2 fluxes. On a daily scale, there was a significant quadratic relationship between daily NEE and ADT during the whole growing season ( P P