Forest Ecosystems最新文献

{"title":"Identifying suitable areas for plenter forest management","authors":"Mathias Leiter ,&nbsp;Christoph Pucher ,&nbsp;Michael Kessler ,&nbsp;Ferdinand Hönigsberger ,&nbsp;Manfred J. Lexer ,&nbsp;Harald Vacik ,&nbsp;Hubert Hasenauer","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2024.100267","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fecs.2024.100267","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Plenter forests, also known as uneven-aged or continuous cover forests enhance forest resilience and resistance against disturbances compared to even-aged forests. They are considered as an adaptation option to mitigate climate change effects. In this study, we present a conceptual approach to determine the potentially suitable area for plenter forest management within central European mixed species forests and apply our approach to the case study area in Styria, the south-eastern Province of Austria. The concept is based on ecological and technical-economic constraints and considers expected future climate conditions and its impact on plenter forest management. For each 1 ​ha forest pixel, we assess the ecological conditions for plenter forest management according to the autecological growth conditions of silver fir, and at least one additional shade tolerant tree species. The technical-economic constraints are defined by slope (≤30%) and distance to the next forest road (≤100 ​m) to ensure cost-efficient harvesting. The results show that under current climate conditions 28.1% or 305,349 ​ha of the forests in Styria are potentially suitable for plenter forest management. For the years 2071–2100 and under the climate change scenario RCP 4.5, the potential area decreases to 286,098 ​ha (26.3% of the total forest area) and for the scenario RCP 8.5 to 208,421 ​ha (19.1% of the total forest area). The main reason for these changes is the unfavourable growing conditions for silver fir in the lowlands, while in the higher elevations silver fir is likely to expand. Our results may serve forest managers to identify areas suitable for plenter forests and assist in the transformation of even-aged pure forests to uneven-aged forests to increase resistance, resilience, and biodiversity under climate change.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":"12 ","pages":"Article 100267"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142652992","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Independent and interactive effects of N and P additions on foliar P fractions in evergreen forests of southern China","authors":"Qingquan Meng ,&nbsp;Zhijuan Shi ,&nbsp;Zhengbing Yan ,&nbsp;Hans Lambers ,&nbsp;Yan Luo ,&nbsp;Wenxuan Han","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2024.100265","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fecs.2024.100265","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Fertilization or atmospheric deposition of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) to terrestrial ecosystems can alter soil N (P) availability and the nature of nutrient limitation for plant growth. Changing the allocation of leaf P fractions is potentially an adaptive strategy for plants to cope with soil N (P) availability and nutrient-limiting conditions. However, the impact of the interactions between imbalanced anthropogenic N and P inputs on the concentrations and allocation proportions of leaf P fractions in forest woody plants remains elusive. We conducted a meta-analysis of data about the concentrations and allocation proportions of leaf P fractions, specifically associated with individual and combined additions of N and P in evergreen forests, the dominant vegetation type in southern China where the primary productivity is usually considered limited by P. This assessment allowed us to quantitatively evaluate the effects of N and P additions alone and interactively on leaf P allocation and use strategies. Nitrogen addition (exacerbating P limitation) reduced the concentrations of leaf total P and different leaf P fractions. Nitrogen addition reduced the allocation to leaf metabolic P but increased the allocation to other fractions, while P addition showed opposite trends. The simultaneous additions of N and P showed an antagonistic (mutual suppression) effect on the concentrations of leaf P fractions, but an additive (summary) effect on the allocation proportions of leaf P fractions. These results highlight the importance of strategies of leaf P fraction allocation in forest plants under changes in environmental nutrient availability. Importantly, our study identified critical interactions associated with combined N and P inputs that affect leaf P fractions, thus aiding in predicting plant acclimation strategies in the context of intensifying and imbalanced anthropogenic nutrient inputs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":"12 ","pages":"Article 100265"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-10-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142553000","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Meta-analysis of 21st century studies shows that deforestation induces profound changes in soil characteristics, particularly soil organic carbon accumulation","authors":"Abubakari Said Mgelwa ,&nbsp;Mbezele Junior Yannick Ngaba ,&nbsp;Bin Hu ,&nbsp;Geshere Abdisa Gurmesa ,&nbsp;Agnes Godfrey Mwakaje ,&nbsp;Mateg Pascale Bernadette Nyemeck ,&nbsp;Feifei Zhu ,&nbsp;Qingyan Qiu ,&nbsp;Linlin Song ,&nbsp;Yingying Wang ,&nbsp;Yunting Fang ,&nbsp;Heinz Rennenberg","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2024.100257","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fecs.2024.100257","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Deforestation is one of the most serious environmental problems facing humankind. It continues to escalate rapidly across many regions of the world, thereby deteriorating the forest soil quality. This has prompted a large number of field-based studies aimed at understanding the impacts of deforestation on soil properties. However, the lack of comprehensive meta-analyses that utilized these studies has limited our deeper understanding of how different soil properties, including the soil organic carbon (SOC) pool, respond to deforestation. To address this critical knowledge gap, we conducted a meta-analysis of 144 studies to explore the impacts of deforestation on soil chemical, physical, and biological properties, with special emphasis on the long-term changes in SOC, such as concentrations, stocks, and sequestration. The results revealed that deforestation significantly decreased soil organic matter, electrical conductivity, and base saturation by 52%, 50%, and 98%, respectively. While deforestation increased soil total nitrogen content and decreased available phosphorus content by 51% and 99%, respectively, it resulted in slight decreases in some chemical properties, including soil pH (1%) and base cations (1%–13%). Deforestation significantly increased bulk density by 27% and soil erosion by 47%, but significantly decreased soil aggregate stability by 39% and saturated hydraulic conductivity by 63%. Soil microbial biomass C and N concentrations and enzyme activities were significantly decreased as a consequence of deforestation. Soil biological properties were much more affected by deforestation than soil physical and chemical properties. Regarding the SOC, the land use conversion from forest to pasture significantly increased SOC concentrations, stocks, and sequestration rates (11%–13%), whereas the land use conversions from forest to both plantation and cropland significantly decreased SOC concentrations, stocks, and sequestration rates (10%–43%). This observed decline in SOC accumulations decreased with increasing years after deforestation. The SOC dynamics following deforestation were predominantly regulated by microbial biomass concentrations, dehydrogenase activity, soil erosion, saturated hydraulic conductivity, aggregate stability, as well as concentrations of total organic carbon, total nitrogen, total phosphorus and organic matter. The present meta-analytical study provides compelling evidence that deforestation can induce profound changes in soil characteristics, including soil C contents, and has significant implications for soil health sustainability and climate change mitigation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":"12 ","pages":"Article 100257"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142571408","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Unveiling urbanization effects on trees outside forests along the urban-rural gradient in megacity Bengaluru","authors":"Tao Jiang ,&nbsp;Maximilian Freudenberg ,&nbsp;Christoph Kleinn ,&nbsp;V.P. Tewari ,&nbsp;B.N. Diwakara ,&nbsp;Nils Nölke","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2024.100258","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fecs.2024.100258","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Rapid urbanization has caused significant changes along the urban-rural gradient, leading to a variety of landscapes that are mainly shaped by human activities. This dynamic interplay also influences the distribution and characteristics of trees outside forests (TOF). Understanding the pattern of these trees will support informed decision-making in urban planning, in conservation strategies, and altogether in sustainable land management practices in the urban context. In this study, we employed a deep learning-based object detection model and high resolution satellite imagery to identify 1.3 million trees with bounding boxes within a 250 ​km² research transect spanning the urban-rural gradient of Bengaluru, a megacity in Southern India. Additionally, we developed an allometric equation to estimate diameter at breast height (DBH) from the tree crown diameter (CD) derived from the detected bounding boxes. Our study focused on analyzing variations in tree density and tree size along this gradient. The findings revealed distinct patterns: the urban domain displayed larger tree crown diameters (mean: 8.87 ​m) and DBH (mean: 43.78 ​cm) but having relatively low tree density (32 trees per hectare). Furthermore, with increasing distance from the city center, tree density increased, while the mean tree crown diameter and mean tree basal area decreased, showing clear differences of tree density and size between the urban and rural domains in Bengaluru. This study offers an efficient methodology that helps generating instructive insights into the dynamics of TOF along the urban-rural gradient. This may inform urban planning and management strategies for enhancing green infrastructure and biodiversity conservation in rapidly urbanizing cities like Bengaluru.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":"12 ","pages":"Article 100258"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142525895","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Quercus acutissima exhibits more adaptable water uptake patterns in response to seasonal changes compared to Pinus massoniana","authors":"Suimeng Zhang ,&nbsp;Xiaodi Wang ,&nbsp;Zhaowang Huang ,&nbsp;YiTao Bao ,&nbsp;Jiang Jiang ,&nbsp;Ziqiang Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2024.100255","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fecs.2024.100255","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Seasonal precipitation variability significantly affects water use in forests; however, whether water uptake is adapted to changes in precipitation, particularly whether it could affect the coexistence of tree species, has rarely been quantified in forest systems.</div></div><div><h3>Method</h3><div>In this study, dual stable isotopes and the Li-6400 portable photosynthesis system were used to determine the water sources of a mixed conifer (<em>Pinus massoniana</em>) and broadleaf (<em>Quercus acutissima</em>) forest and changes in hydraulic characteristics during the dry and wet seasons in a southern hilly region of China.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Although the hydraulic characteristics of <em>P</em>. <em>massoniana</em> were lower than those of <em>Q</em>. <em>acutissima</em>, it maintained a stable water source from the deep soil layer and a higher stomatal conductance (Gs), leading to a higher transpiration rate (Tr) during the growing seasons. <em>Q. acutissima</em> mainly absorbed water from deeper soil layers in the dry season and took up from shallow soil layers in the wet season. Its Gs values exhibited sensitivity to precipitation, while it maintained a lower Tr value during the growing seasons. The excessive water-use strategy observed in <em>P. massoniana</em> may confer weak drought-tolerance during higher frequency and more intense extreme precipitation events, whereas <em>Q. acutissima</em> may exhibit better ecological adaption to precipitation changes.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>The overlap of water niches in mixed forests did not appear to affect the coexistence of tree species. The present study provides insights into reforestation and water management in the southern hilly regions of China.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":"12 ","pages":"Article 100255"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142417759","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of bamboo invasion on forest structures and diameter–height allometries","authors":"Ming Ouyang ,&nbsp;Anwar Eziz ,&nbsp;Shuli Xiao ,&nbsp;Wenjing Fang ,&nbsp;Qiong Cai ,&nbsp;Suhui Ma ,&nbsp;Jiangling Zhu ,&nbsp;Qingpei Yang ,&nbsp;Jinming Hu ,&nbsp;Zhiyao Tang ,&nbsp;Jingyun Fang","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2024.100256","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fecs.2024.100256","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Forest structure is fundamental in determining ecosystem function, yet the impact of bamboo invasion on these structural characteristics remains unclear. We investigated 219 invasion transects at 41 sites across the distribution areas of Moso bamboo (<em>Phyllostachys edulis</em>) in China to explore the effects of bamboo invasion on forest structural attributes and diameter–height allometries by comparing paired plots of bamboo, mixed bamboo-tree, and non-bamboo forests along the transects. We found that bamboo invasion decreased the mean and maximum diameter at breast height, maximum height, and total basal area, but increased the mean height, stem density, and scaling exponent for stands. Bamboo also had a higher scaling exponent than tree, particularly in mixed forests, suggesting a greater allocation of biomass to height growth. As invasion intensity increased, bamboo allometry became more plastic and decreased significantly, whereas tree allometry was indirectly promoted by increasing stem density. Additionally, a humid climate may favour the scaling exponents for both bamboo and tree, with only minor contributions from topsoil moisture and nitrogen content. The inherent superiority of diameter–height allometry allows bamboo to outcompete tree and contributes to its invasive success. Our findings provide a theoretical basis for understanding the causes and consequences of bamboo invasion.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":"12 ","pages":"Article 100256"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142417760","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ghost species form an important component of the epiphytic lichens in temperate forests","authors":"Jan Vondrák ,&nbsp;Jiří Košnar ,&nbsp;Stanislav Svoboda ,&nbsp;Zdeněk Palice ,&nbsp;Jaroslav Šoun ,&nbsp;Jiří Kubásek ,&nbsp;Pavel Říha ,&nbsp;Jiří Malíček ,&nbsp;Jan Rydlo ,&nbsp;Jeňýk Hofmeister","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2024.100254","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fecs.2024.100254","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Sequencing of environmental samples has great potential for biodiversity research, but its application is limited by the lack of reliable DNA barcode databases for species identifications. Such a database has been created for epiphytic lichens of Europe, allowing us to compare the results of environmental sequencing with standard taxonomic surveys. The species undetected by taxonomic surveys (what we term the ghost component) amount to about half of the species actually present in hectare plots of Central European forests. Some of these, which currently occur only as diaspores or weakly developed thalli, are likely to be favoured in the course of global change. The ghost component usually represents a larger fraction in managed forests than in old-growth unmanaged forests. The total species composition of different plots is much more similar than suggested by taxonomic surveys alone. On a regional scale, this supports the well-known statement that “everything is everywhere, but, the environment selects”.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":"12 ","pages":"Article 100254"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142417816","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Droughts and windstorms due to climate change increase variability in species and trait composition of a subtropical monsoon evergreen broadleaf forest in China","authors":"Wenjing Chen ,&nbsp;Lei Liu ,&nbsp;Daijun Liu ,&nbsp;Josep Penuelas ,&nbsp;Guoyi Zhou ,&nbsp;Zhen Yu ,&nbsp;Anchi Wu ,&nbsp;Zhurong Wu ,&nbsp;Langqin Hua","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2024.100253","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fecs.2024.100253","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Climate change is accelerating alterations in forest species and community composition worldwide, especially following extreme events like severe droughts and windstorms. Understanding these effects on subtropical forests is crucial for conservation and forest management, but it remains unclear whether the impacts are stochastic or deterministic.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We analyzed a unique dataset from a 1-ha permanent plot in a subtropical monsoon broadleaf evergreen forest in China, monitored over 26 years with six surveys from 1994 to 2020. The forest has been free from anthropogenic disturbances for over 400 years. In each survey, we measured all trees with a diameter at breast height (DBH) ​≥ ​1 ​cm, and recorded 11 plant functional traits relating to photosynthesis, wood properties, water use, and nutrient dynamics. Using this data, we calculated species and trait dispersion, assessing short-term (∼5 years) and long-term (26 years) trends in species and trait composition following severe droughts and windstorm events.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Severe droughts, and subsequent droughts, increased both species and trait dispersion, while species composition converged, and trait dispersion remained relatively stable throughout the recovery period. Windstorm events led to increased species dispersion but decreased trait dispersion. We observed a clear directional shift in both species and trait composition under these climatic stressors, with a more pronounced increase in trait dispersion compared to species dispersion.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>In the short term (∼5 years), severe droughts and windstorms increased species composition divergence, while trait composition responses varied. Over 26 years, deterministic processes mainly drove community composition changes, especially for trait composition, although stochastic processes also played a role. These findings suggest enhancing forest resilience to climatic stressors by protecting adaptive species or increasing species diversity in management practices.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":"12 ","pages":"Article 100253"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142417758","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Insect seedling herbivory is influenced by multiple factors, but the plant apparency theory is more supported than other hypotheses – A case study in a subtropical forest","authors":"Baozhu Yuan ,&nbsp;Bo Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2024.100252","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fecs.2024.100252","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Insect herbivory is ubiquitous in various ecosystems, and directly influences the growth and survival of individual plants, especially during their vulnerable early life stages like the seedling phase. This, in turn, exerts a significant influence on forest community diversity and structure, as well as ecosystem function and stability. Notable variation in herbivory has been detected both among and within plant species. For decades, many hypotheses have been proposed to explain such variations, including both biotic and abiotic variables. However, most studies have considered only one or several of these hypotheses by focusing on a few potential variables, and their results were usually inconsistent; thus, the factors driving herbivory remain unclear. In this study, we examined leaf herbivory by insects of woody species seedlings in a subtropical forest in southwestern China over two seasons. In total, 24 potential variables that represented abiotic resource availability, characters of individual seedlings, conspecific and heterospecific species, and the whole seedling community were selected to test several commonly discussed alternative herbivory hypotheses. Overall, our findings showed that the plant apparency hypothesis was more supported than the other hypotheses in explaining insect seedling herbivory. Our results further indicated that the mechanisms and causes of insect herbivory are complex, multifactorial, species-specific and vary with seasons, indicating that there may be no uniform rules in explaining herbivory for all seedlings. Consequently, such complexity may play an important role in promoting species coexistence and biodiversity maintenance in seedling communities, which may further translate into the following generation of saplings or even adult communities. Changes in the community of insect herbivores and/or variables influencing insect herbivory, may disrupt stability of the original seedling community, thus affecting the regeneration and development of the entire forest community. Therefore, we suggest that issues related to insect herbivory should be considered when developing forest management and conservation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":"12 ","pages":"Article 100252"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2024-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142417815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"No generality in biodiversity-productivity relationships along elevation in temperate and subtropical forest landscapes","authors":"Jiayun Zou ,&nbsp;Yahuang Luo ,&nbsp;Rupert Seidl ,&nbsp;Dominik Thom ,&nbsp;Jie Liu ,&nbsp;Lisa Geres ,&nbsp;Tobias Richter ,&nbsp;Linjiang Ye ,&nbsp;Wei Zheng ,&nbsp;Liangliang Ma ,&nbsp;Jie Song ,&nbsp;Kun Xu ,&nbsp;Dezhu Li ,&nbsp;Lianming Gao ,&nbsp;Sebastian Seibold","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2024.100187","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fecs.2024.100187","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>An improved understanding of biodiversity-productivity relationships (BPRs) along environmental gradients is crucial for effective ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation. The <em>stress-gradient hypothesis</em> suggests that BPRs are stronger in stressful environments compared to more favorable conditions. However, there is limited knowledge regarding the variation of BPRs along elevational gradients and their generality across different landscapes. To study how BPRs change with elevation, we harnessed inventory data on 6,431 trees from 152 plots surveyed twice in eight to ten year intervals in mountain forests of temperate Europe and subtropical Asia. We quantified the relationship between aboveground productivity and different biodiversity measures, including taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity. To elucidate the processes underlying BPRs, we studied the variation of different functional traits along elevation across landscapes. We found no general pattern of BPRs across landscapes and elevations. Relationships were neutral for all biodiversity measures in temperate forests, and negative for taxonomic and functional diversity in subtropical forests. BPRs were largely congruent between taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity. We found only weak support for the <em>stress-gradient hypothesis</em>, with BPRs turning from negative to positive (effect not significant) close to the tree line in subtropical forests. In temperate forests, however, elevation patterns were strongly modulated by species identity effects as influenced by specific traits. The effect of traits such as community-weighted mean of maximum plant height and wood density on productivity was congruent across landscapes. Our study highlights the context-dependence of BPRs across elevation gradients and landscapes. Species traits are key modulating factors of BPRs and should be considered more explicitly in studies of the functional role of biodiversity. Furthermore, our findings highlight that potential trade-offs between conserving biodiversity and fostering ecosystem productivity exist, which require more attention in policy and management.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":"11 ","pages":"Article 100187"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S219756202400023X/pdfft?md5=0e7238736a09be8b76cda38364902c5f&pid=1-s2.0-S219756202400023X-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140345109","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}