Carbon, Water Vapor, and Energy Fluxes of Grazed and Ungrazed Tallgrass Prairie

To determine the impact of seasonal steer grazing on annual CO2 fluxes of annually-burned native tallgrass prairie, we used conditional sampling (relaxed eddy accumulation) on adjacent pastures of grazed (GR) and ungrazed (UG) tallgrass prairie from 1998 to 2001 and eddy correlation from 2002 to 2004. Fluxes of CO2 were measured almost continuously (24 hr) from immediately following burning through the burn date the following year (365 d). Aboveground biomass and leaf area were determined by clipping biweekly during the growing season. Carbon lost due to burning was estimated by clipping immediately prior to burning and collecting residual surface carbon after the burn. Soil CO2 flux was measured biweekly at midday each year using portable chambers from 1998 to 2002 and diurnally by large autochambers from 2002 to 2004. Steers were stocked at twice the normal season-long stocking rate (0.81 ha steer-1) for the first half of the grazing season (~May 1 to July 15) and the area left ungrazed the remainder of the year. That system of grazing is termed "intensive early stocking" and is commonly used throughout the Kansas Flint Hills. During the early growing season, grazing reduced net carbon exchange relative to the reduction in green leaf area, but as the growing season progressed on the grazed area, regrowth produced younger leaves that had an apparent higher photosynthetic efficiency. Despite a substantially greater green leaf area on the ungrazed area, greater positive net carbon flux occurred on the grazed area during the late season. Nighttime carbon losses were greater on the ungrazed area in the early season, but were greater on the grazed area late in the season. During the peak growth period, an amount equivalent to ~80% of the carbon fixed on a clear day was lost each day through soil CO2 flux and plant respiration. Soil CO2 flux followed a definite diurnal pattern during the growing season with daytime fluxes twice that of nighttime. During the dormant season, daytime and nighttime fluxes were similar. Both grazed and ungrazed tallgrass prairie appeared to be carbon storage neutral except in 2002, an exceptionally dry year (1998: UG -31 gC m-2, GR -5 gC m-2; 1999: UG -40 gC m-2, GR -11 gC m-2; 2000: UG +66 gC m-2, GR 0 gC m-2; 2002: UG -82 gC m-2, GR -4 gC m-2 2003: UG +27 gC m-2, GR +33 gC m-2).