Using stable isotopes to determine the water sources in alpine ecosystems on the east Qinghai‐Tibet plateau,China |
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| Authors: | Wenguang Zhang Bin Cheng Zhibin Hu Shuqing An Zhen Xu Yongjun Zhao Jun Cui Qing Xu |
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| Institution: | 1. Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Global Changes, School of Life Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China;2. Huainan Normal University, Institute of Life Science, Huainan 232001, China;3. The Institute of Applied Ecology, The Chinese Academy of Science, Shenyang 110034, China;4. The Institute of Forest Ecology, Environment and Protection, The Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China |
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| Abstract: | To investigate the water circulation of eastern Qinghai‐Tibet plateau during rainy season, water samples of precipitation, throughfall, fog, soil, litter and xylem were collected for stable isotope analysis. The results showed that precipitation mainly originated as a result of the East Asian Monsoon, and the secondarily evaporated water from subalpine ecosystem was an important part in local atmospheric water cycle. The deuterium excess of rainfall in the alpine meadow was evidently higher than the precipitation in the Dengsheng stations. This suggests that a large part of precipitation in alpine meadow was derived from secondarily evaporated water and the mean contribution was 39·57%, about 3·65 mm produced shortly after rain events. Through the contrast of delta (d)‐excess value in different water samples, it could be concluded that the water in subalpine shrubland and transpiration of subalpine dark coniferous forest were the main source of secondarily evaporated water that transferred to alpine meadow. Hence, the precipitation on the east Qinghai‐Tibet plateau was doubly controlled by monsoon and local water circulation in alpine ecosystems. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
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| Keywords: | stable isotope secondarily evaporated water deuterium excess water sources |
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