The Tibetan Plateau (TP) is predicted to experience increases in air temperature, increases in snowfall, and decreases in monsoon rains; however, there is currently a paucity of data that examine the ecological responses to such climate changes. In this study, we examined the effects of increased air temperature and snowfall on: 1) water use partitioning by different plant functional groups, and 2) ecosystem CO2 fluxes throughout the growing season. At the individual plant scale, we used stable hydrogen isotopes (dD) to partition water use between shallow- and deep-rooted species.

A study examined the dynamics of soil physical and chemical properties under different land use systems in parts of Chambal region of Rajasthan. Soils were sampled at surface (0-15cm) layer under (i) irrigated sorghum/soybean-wheat rotation for over 20 years, (ii) ten-years-old Leucaena leucocephala plantation, (iii) grasslands for >15 years with dominant spp of Hetropogan contortus and Dichanthium annulatum, (iv) over 20-years-old undisturbed forest of Prosospis juliflora and shrubs and (v) twelveyears-old Acacia senegal plantation.

The evolution of land–atmosphere–ocean models has resulted in the need for hydrologic models applicable to large areas and river basins. Such developments offer new challenges and opportunities for hydrologists to understand the hydrologic response of areas as large as continents. In the present study, the ability of variable infiltration capacity (VIC) hydrological model has been studied to assess run-off potential and other hydrological components for entire India.

Approximately 1700 Pg of soil carbon (C) are stored in the northern circumpolar permafrost zone, more than twice as much C than in the atmosphere. The overall amount, rate, and form of C released to the atmosphere in a warmer world will influence the strength of the permafrost C feedback to climate change. We used a survey to quantify variability in the perception of the vulnerability of permafrost C to climate change.

The potential for regional climate change arising from adoption of policies to increase production of biofuel feedstock is explored using a regional climate model. Two simulations are performed using the same atmospheric forcing data for the period 1979–2004, one with present-day land use and monthly phenology and the other with land use specified from an agro-economic prediction of energy crop distribution and monthly phenology consistent with this land use change.

A field experiment was conducted to (i) examine the diurnal and seasonal soil carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes pattern in rice paddy fields in central China and (ii) assess the role of floodwater in controlling the emissions of CO2 from soil and floodwater in intermittently draining rice paddy soil. The soil CO2 flux rates ranged from −0.45 to 8.62 µmol.m−2.s−1 during the rice-growing season. The net effluxes of CO2 from the paddy soil were lower when the paddy was flooded than when it was drained.

An understanding of the dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) as affected by farming practices is imperative for maintaining soil productivity and mitigating global warming. The objectives of this study were to investigate the effects of long-term fertilization on SOC and SOC fractions for the whole soil profile (0–100 cm) in northwest China.

Improved understanding of changes in soil recalcitrant organic carbon (C) in response to global warming is critical for predicting changes in soil organic C (SOC) storage. Here, we took advantage of a long-term field experiment with increased temperature and precipitation to investigate the effects of warming, increased precipitation and their interactions on SOC fraction in a semiarid Inner Mongolian grassland of northern China since April 2005. We quantified labile SOC, recalcitrant SOC and stable SOC at 0–10 and 10–20 cm depths.