Climate Change in Remote Mountain Regions: A Throughfall-Exclusion Experiment to Simulate Monsoon Failure in the Himalayas

Autor: Norbu Wangdi, Kuenzang Om, Cheten Thinley, Dorji Drukpa, Tshewang Dorji, Andras Darabant, Purna Bdr. Chhetri, Iftekhar Uddin Ahmed, Christina Lynn Staudhammer, Robert Jandl, Andreas Schindlbacher, Peter Hietz, Klaus Katzensteiner, Douglas Godbold, Georg Gratzer
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2017
Předmět:
Zdroj: Mountain Research and Development, Vol 37, Iss 3, Pp 294-309 (2017)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 0276-4741
1994-7151
DOI: 10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-16-00097.1
Popis: The Himalayas are predicted to experience more than 3 times the mean global rise in temperature, as well as erratic rainfall patterns and an increased likelihood of total monsoon failures. While many ecosystem manipulation experiments aiming at understanding the effects of altered precipitation, temperature, and carbon dioxide are conducted globally, such experiments are rare in Asia, particularly in the Himalayas. To fill this gap, we simulated late onset of monsoon precipitation, as well as total monsoon failure, in a multiyear drought stress experiment in Bhutan. Two treatments, 100% throughfall exclusion and ambient control plots, were applied to 725 m2 plots (25 m × 29 m), each with 2 replicates in a hemlock-dominated (Tsuga dumosa) and oak-dominated (Quercus lanata and Quercus griffithii) ecosystem at 3260 and 2460 m elevations, respectively. Roof application reduced the volumetric soil water content in the upper (0–20 cm) soil layer by ∼ 20% in coniferous and ∼ 31% in broadleaved forest; the deeper soil layers were less affected. We demonstrate that large-scale throughfall-exclusion experiments can be successfully conducted even in a remote Bhutan Himalayan setting. The experiences gathered could be utilized for future long-term ecological monitoring studies in the Himalayan region.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals
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