Abstract: Carbon pools of alpine wetland and meadow ecosystems in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau play a vital role in carbon cycling of Chinese terrestrial ecosystems. This study selected three types of habitats including inside tussock, outside tussock in wetlands and alpine meadow in the QinghaiTibet Plateau, and analyzed their carbon pool difference of vegetation, 0-30 cm soil layer and ecosystem. Results showed that vegetation carbon pools in wetland inside tussock (1.54±0.11 kg·m^-2) and outside tussock (1.57±0.20 kg·m^-2) were significantly higher than that in meadow (0.83±0.05 kg·m^-2). Soil organic carbon (SOC) pool in wetland outside tussock was 21.99±1.18 kg·m^-2, significantly higher than that in meadow and inside tussock. There was no significant difference in SOC between wetland outside tussock and meadow. The total ecosystem carbon pool in wetland outside tussock was the highest (23.53±1.18 kg·m^-2), but there was no significant difference between that in wetland inside tussock (19.53±1.43 kg·m^-2) and that in meadow (18.70±0.81 kg·m^-2). Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish carbon pools in wetland inside tussock and outside tussock to accurately estimate carbon stocks in alpine wetland in future.

Key words: Korean pine, sound knot length, knot angle, knot diameter, mixed effect model., year of death of knot