Global Climate Change Experiment

Increased emissions of greenhouse gases due to human activities is expected to raise mean temperature by 1.1-6.4℃ on the earth surface by the end of the century. Global warming likely results in altered precipitation regimes. Manipulative experiments hold a great potential to provide insights into mechanisms underlying responses of terrestrial ecosystems to climate change. We are conducting two global change experiments in Kessler farm field laboratory, the University of Oklahoma. One was designed to examine effects of long-term warming and yearly clipping (>10 years) on community structure and ecosystem functions. Another one was established in 2009 to quantify main vs. interactive effects of experimental warming, added and reduced precipitation, biomass harvesting on ecosystem processes and community structure. The results have the potential to improve our understanding of climate change effects on ecosystem processes and to enhance model’s capability of projecting ecosystem responses to climate change.

Publications

Belay-Tedla, A., X. H. Zhou, B. Su, S. Q. Wan, and Y. Q. Luo. 2009. Labile, recalcitrant, and microbial carbon and nitrogen pools of a tallgrass prairie soil in the US Great Plains subjected to experimental warming and clipping. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 41:110-116. PDF

Luo, Y. Q., R. Sherry, X. H. Zhou, and S. Q. Wan. 2009. Terrestrial carbon-cycle feedback to climate warming: experimental evidence on plant regulation and impacts of biofuel feedstock harvest. GCB Bioenergy 1:62-74. PDF

Verburg, P. S. J., D. W. Johnson, D. E. Schorran, L. L. Wallace, Y. Q. Luo, and J. A. Arnone III. 2009. Impacts of an anomalously warm year on nutrient availability in experimentally manipulated intact tallgrass prairie ecosystems. Global Change Biology 15:888-900. PDF

Sherry, R. A., E. S. Weng, J. A. Arnone III, D. Johnson, D. S. Schimel, P. S. Verburg, L. L .Wallace and Y. Q. Luo. 2008. Lagged effects of experimental warming and doubled precipitation on annual and seasonal aboveground biomass production in a tallgrass prairie. Global Change Biology 14:2923-2936. PDF

Arnone III, J. A., P. S. J. Verburg, D. W. Johnson, J. D. Larsen, R. L. Jasoni, A. J. Lucchesi, C. M. Batts, C. von Nagy, W. G. Coulombe, D. E. Schorran, P. E. Buck, R. H. Braswell, J. S. Coleman, R. A. Sherry, L. L. Wallace, Y. Q. Luo, D. S. Schimel. 2008. Prolonged Suppression of Ecosystem Carbon Dioxide Uptake After an Anomalously Warm Year. Nature 455:383-386. PDF

Knapp, A. K., C. Beier, D. D. Briske, A. T. Classen, Y. Q. Luo, M. Reichstein, M. D. Smith, S. D. Smith, J. E. Bell, P. A. Fay, J. L. Heisler, S. W. Leavitt, R. A. Sherry, B. Smith and E. S. Weng. 2008. Consequences of more extreme precipitation regimes for terrestrial ecosystems. BioSciences 58:811-821. PDF

Weng, E. S., and Luo, Yiqi. 2008. Soil hydrological properties regulate grassland ecosystem responses to multifactor global change: a modeling analysis. Journal of Geophysical Research – Biogeosciences doi:10.1029/2007JG000539. PDF

Zhou, X., E. S. Weng, and Y. Q. Luo. 2008. Modeling Patterns of nonlinearity in ecosystem responses to temperature, CO₂, and precipitation changes. Ecological Applications18:453-466. PDF 

Sherry, A., X. Zhou, S. Gu, J. A. Amone III, D. S. Schimel, P. S. Verburg, L. L. Wallace, and Y. Luo. 2007. Divergence of reproductive phenology under climate warming. PNAS 104:198-202. PDF

Zhou, X., R. A. Sherry, Y. An, L. L. Wallace, and Y. Luo. 2006. Main and interactive effects of warming, clipping, and doubled precipitation on soil CO2 efflux in a grassland ecosystem. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 20, GB1003, doi:10.1029/2005GB002526. PDF

An, Y., S. Wan, X. Zhou, A. A. Subedar, L. L. Wallace, and Y. Luo. 2005. Plant nitrogen concentration, use efficiency, and contents in a tallgrass prairie ecosystem under experimental warming. Global Change Biology 11:1733-1744. PDF

Wan, S., D. Hui, L. Wallace, and Y. Luo. 2005. Direct and indirect effects of experimental warming on ecosystem carbon processes in a tallgrass prairie. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 19:GB2014, doi:10.1029/2004GB002315. PDF

Zhang, W., K. M. Parker, Y. Luo, S. Wan, L. L. Wallace, and S. Hu. 2005. Soil microbial responses to experimental warming and clipping in a tallgrass prairie. Global Change Biology 11:266-277. PDF

Wan, S., T. Yuan, S. Bowdish, L. L. Wallace, S. Russell, and Y. Luo. 2002. Response of an allergenic species, Ambrosis psilostachya, to experimental warming and clipping: implications for public health under global change. American Journal of Botany. 89:1843-1846. PDF

Wan, S., Y. Luo, and L. L. Wallace. 2002. Changes in microclimate induced by experimental warming and clipping in tallgrass prairie. Global Change Biology, 8:754-768. PDF

Luo, Y., S. Wan, D. Hui, L. Wallace. 2001. Acclimatization of soil respiration to warming in a tall grass prairie. Nature 413:622-625. PDF