The significant warming in urban environment caused by the combined effects of global warming and heat island has stimulated widely development of urban vegetations. However, it is less known of the climate feedback of urban lawn in warmed environment. Soil warming effect on net ecosystem exchange （NEE） of carbon dioxide during the transition period from winter to spring was investigated in a temperate urban lawn in Beijing, China. The NEE （negative for uptake） under soil warming treatment （temperature was about 5~C higher than the ambient treatment as a control） was -0.71 ~mol/（m2.sec）, the ecosytem was a CO2 sink under soil warming treatment, the lawn ecosystem under the control was a CO2 source （0.13 Ixmol/（mE.sec））, indicating that the lawn ecosystem would provide a negative feedback to global warming. There was no significant effect of soil warming on nocturnal NEE （i.e., ecosystem respiration）, although the soil temperature sensitivity （Q10） of ecosystem respiration under soil warming treatment was 3.86, much lower than that in the control （7.03）. The CO2 uptake was significantly increased by soil warming treatment that was attributed to about 100% increase of ct （apparent quantum yield） and Amax （maximum rate of photosynthesis）. Our results indicated that the response of photosynthesis in urban lawn is much more sensitive to global warming than respiration in the transition period.
Transpiration patterns of Aesculus chinensis in relation to explanatory variables in the microclimatic, air quality, and biological phenomena categories were measured in Beijing, China using the thermal dissipation method. The highest transpiration rate measured as the sap flux density of the trees took place from 10：00 am to 13：00 pm in the summer and the lowest was found during nighttime in the winter. To sort out co-linearity, principal component analysis and variation and hierarchical partitioning methods were employed in data analyses. The evaporative demand index （EDI） consisting of air temperature, soil temperature, total radiation, vapor pressure deficit, and atmospheric ozone （O3）, explained 68% and 80% of the hourly and daily variations of the tree transpiration, respectively. The independent and joint effects of EDI variables together with a three-variable joint effect exerted the greatest influences on the variance of transpiration rates. The independent effects of leaf area index and atmospheric 03 and their combined effect exhibited minor yet significant influences on tree transpiration rates.
