农田生态系统碳循环模型研究进展和展望

农田生态系统是陆地生态系统碳循环过程中最活跃的碳库。研究农田生态系统碳循环,对温室气体减排及研究全球气候的变化都具有极其重要的意义。农田生态系统碳循环研究是一个非常复杂的过程,碳循环模型是研究农田生态系统碳循环最有效的手段。该文综述了农田生态系统碳循环的最新研究进展,总结了农田生态系统碳循环的流动过程,介绍了碳素在不同碳库以及碳库不同组分之间迁移转化的规律,梳理了从1960年至今的农田生态系统碳循环模型并进行了分类,阐述了国际主要模型以及中国自主开发的碳循环模型的应用情况。未来农田生态系统碳循环的研究方向为:1)探索农田生态系统碳循环机制;2)从空间时间上完善对碳循环过程的研究;3)考察氮循环、水循环、微生物与碳循环的关系;4)利用碳循环模型来估算不同的管理实践下碳在不同农田的再分配;5)开发利用碳循环模型,为政府制定相关政策提供相关数据参考。

Progress and perspectives in studies on agro-ecosystem carbon cycle model

Abstract: Agro-ecosystem, as the most active and controllable carbon pool in terrestrial ecosystem carbon cycle, can lead to substantial changes in the atmospheric CO2 concentration, thus affecting remarkably the global climate. The carbon cycle in agro-ecosystem is a complex process, which is influenced by factors such as climate, plants, soil properties and farm management. It is recognized that a model approach has an advantage in estimating spatiotemporal changes in carbon storage. Carbon cycle models are considered to be the most effective means to study carbon cycle. This paper emphasized on the carbon cycle process of agro-ecosystem, introduced the transference and the mechanism of carbon cycle between different carbon pools, identified characteristics of different models in association with carbon cycle of agro-ecosystem from 1960s, summarized and analyzed the application of international carbon models and others invented and developed in China in the agro-ecosystem. During these years, several models, such as RothC, CENTURY, DNDC, EPIC and APSIM have been widely used to estimate carbon changes at national or global scales. These models provide understanding of carbon flow through food webs and explore the role of carbon storage in the whole agro-ecosystem. They also allow analysis of environmental risks and provide a guide to know more about the relationship among carbon, nitrogen and water cycle. More recently, some new carbon models have been developed in China for simulating the carbon budget of agro-ecosystems. For example, the Agro-C can simulate crop net primary production via Crop-C sub model and changes in soil organic carbon via Soil-C sub model under various conditions of climate, soil, and agricultural practices, which makes it possible to extrapolate the model to a wider domain. Validation of the Soil-C sub model suggested that an inappropriate simplification of the carbon flow between various C pools may introduce errors into the estimates. Carbon loss in croplands was a very important issue for Chinese agro-ecosystems, and there was still a great potential for substantially improving carbon status by adopting proper farming practices and land-use pattern. This review has drawn together various perspectives on some of the key issues that should be addressed in order to keep more carbon and enhance soil productivity of croplands. In particular: 1) the mechanism of carbon cycle should be explored to model changes in carbon for the whole agro-ecosystem; 2) the study spatiotemporal changes of the carbon cycle should be investigated further; 3) the relationship among the nitrogen cycle, the water cycle, microbial and the carbon cycle should be made clear; 4) to use carbon cycle model to account for a range of different management practices and the redistribution of carbon; and 5) to investigate potential effects of different management practices on the carbon distribution for the government to formulate relevant policies.