Recently, the Innovation Team of Climate Change and Carbon Sequestration and Mitigation at the Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, achieved a significant breakthrough in the research on the mechanisms through which climate warming affects the stability of alpine meadow productivity on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau over time. The study provides a crucial scientific basis for adaptive management of alpine ecosystems. The related findings were published in Communication Earth & Environment.

As important ecological shelters, alpine meadows on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau not only sustain local forage production and water source conservation, but also play a key role in global carbon cycling and climate regulation. The stability of alpine meadow productivity is directly related to the sustainable development of pastoral areas and regional ecological security. However, how climate warming impacts such stability, especially over time, remains a challenge for scholars.

The research team conducted a 10-year in situ manipulative warming experiment in Nagqu, Xizang, systematically observing the dynamics of alpine meadow communities and changes in their productivity. They found a pronounced "turning point" after the fourth year of warming. In the short term, warming enhanced stability; however, prolonged warming could negate the positive effects of warming through decreased dominant species coverage and reduced community carbon and water use efficiency. The study revealed for the first time the ecological mechanism underlying the diminishing positive effect of warming over time. It clarified that carbon and water use efficiency was the decisive factor in productivity stability, breaking through the conventional understanding that "species asynchrony dominates productivity stability". It provides a theoretical reference and practical guidance for ecological conservation and adaptive management on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.

Mechanisms through which climate warming affects alpine meadow productivity stability

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Youth Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and the Nagqu Science and Technology Project, etc.

Linkage: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02934-6