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Volume 102, Issue 2 e03236
Article

Reduced magnitude and shifted seasonality of CO2 sink by experimental warming in a coastal wetland

Baoyu Sun

Baoyu Sun

State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, Shanghai Key Lab for Urban Ecological Processes and Eco-Restoration, School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200000 China

Joint Translational Science and Technology Research Institute, East China Normal University and Haifa University, Shanghai, 200000 China

Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, 264000 China

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Liming Yan

Corresponding Author

Liming Yan

State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, Shanghai Key Lab for Urban Ecological Processes and Eco-Restoration, School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200000 China

Research Center for Global Change and Ecological Forecasting, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200000 China

Corresponding Author. E-mail: [email protected]

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Ming Jiang

Ming Jiang

State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, Shanghai Key Lab for Urban Ecological Processes and Eco-Restoration, School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200000 China

Research Center for Global Change and Ecological Forecasting, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200000 China

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Xinge Li

Xinge Li

Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, 264000 China

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100000 China

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Guangxuan Han

Guangxuan Han

Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, 264000 China

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100000 China

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Jianyang Xia

Jianyang Xia

State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, Shanghai Key Lab for Urban Ecological Processes and Eco-Restoration, School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200000 China

Research Center for Global Change and Ecological Forecasting, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200000 China

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First published: 24 October 2020
Citations: 10
Corresponding Editor: A. Randall Hughes.

Abstract

Coastal wetlands have the highest carbon sequestration rate per unit area among all unmanaged natural ecosystems. However, how the magnitude and seasonality of the CO2 sink in coastal wetlands will respond to future climate warming remains unclear. Here, based on measurements of ecosystem CO2 fluxes in a field experiment in the Yellow River Delta, we found that experimental warming (i.e., a 2.4°C increase in soil temperature) reduced net ecosystem productivity (NEP) by 23.7% across two growing seasons of 2017–2018. Such a reduction in NEP resulted from the greater decrease in gross primary productivity (GPP) than ecosystem respiration (ER) under warming. The negative warming effect on NEP mainly occurred in summer (−43.9%) but not in autumn (+61.3%), leading to a shifted NEP seasonality under warming. Further analyses showed that the warming effects on ecosystem CO2 exchange were mainly controlled by soil salinity and its corresponding impacts on species composition. For example, warming increased soil salinity (+35.0%), reduced total aboveground biomass (−9.9%), and benefited the growth of plant species with high salt tolerance and late peak growth. To the best of our knowledge, this study provides the first experimental evidence on the reduced magnitude and shifted seasonality of CO2 exchange under climate warming in coastal wetlands. These findings underscore the high vulnerability of wetland CO2 sink in coastal regions under future climate change.