Abstract: Taking the southern Gurbantunggut Desert in Xinjiang as the object, and by using LI-8150 multichannel soil CO₂ flux system, a continuous measurement of surface soil CO₂ flux under Tamarix ramosissima population in an original saline desert was conducted during growth season, with the diurnal and seasonal variations of the CO₂ flux and related environmental affecting factors analyzed. During the whole growth season of the population, the diurnal variation of the CO₂ flux presented two distinct patterns, one was single-peaked, and the other was bimodal. The difference in the diurnal variation of the CO₂ flux could be mainly caused by the inhibition of soil microbial activity by high temperature. The seasonal variation of the CO₂ flux was not apparent, being fluctuated within a stable range (0.13-0.3 g C·m^-2·d^-1) especially when the diurnal variation was bimodal. When rainfall events happened, the CO₂ flux increased in impulse type. During the rainfall cycle, the diurnal CO₂ flux varied in bimodal-singlepeaked-bimodal type. Soil moisture content was the main factor limiting the soil CO₂ flux in the saline desert.

Key words: DNA damage., tissue damage, Pagrosomus major, deltamethrin, comet assay