The storage and utilization of carbohydrates in response to elevation mediated by tree organs in subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests

Global climate change can affect tree growth and carbon sink function by influencing plant carbohydrate synthesis and utilization,while elevation can be used as an ideal setting under natural conditions to simulate climate change effects.The effect of elevation on tree growth may depend on organ type.However,the allocation patterns of nonstructural and structural carbohydrates(NSCs and SCs,respectively)in different tree organs and their response to elevation remain unclear.We selected four dominant tree species,Schima superba,Castanopsis eyrei,Castanopsis fargesii and Michelia maudiae,along an elevation gradient from 609 to 1,207 m in subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests and analyzed leaf,trunk,and fine root NSCs,carbon(C),nitrogen(N)and phosphorus(P)concentrations and the relative abundance of SCs.Leaf NSCs increased initially and then decreased,and trunk NSCs increased with increasing elevation.However,root NSCs decreased with increasing elevation.The relative abundance of SCs in leaves and trunks decreased,while the relative abundance of root SCs increased with increasing elevation.No significant correlations between SCs and NSCs in leaves were detected,while there were negative correlations between SCs and NSCs in trunks,roots,and all organs.Hierarchical partitioning analysis indicated that plant C/N and C/P were the main predictors of changes in SCs and NSCs.Our results suggest that tree organs have divergent responses to elevation and that increasing elevation will inhibit the aboveground part growth and enhance the root growth of trees.A tradeoff between the C distribution used for growth and storage was confirmed along the elevation gradient,which is mainly manifested in the"sink"organs of NSCs.Our results provide insight into tree growth in the context of global climate change scenarios in subtropical forest ecosystems.

Remote Sensing Indices to Measure the Seasonal Dynamics of Photosynthesis in a Southern China Subtropical Evergreen Forest

The accurate measurement of the dynamics of photosynthesis in China’s subtropical evergreen forest ecosystems is an important contribution to carbon(C) sink estimates in global terrestrial ecosystems and their responses to climate change. Eddy covariance has historically been the only direct method to assess C flux of whole ecosystems with high temporal resolution, but it suffers from limited spatial resolution. During the last decade, continuous global monitoring of plant primary productivity from spectroradiometer sensors on flux towers and satellites has extended the temporal and spatial coverage of C flux observations. In this study, we evaluated the performance of two physiological remote sensing indices, fluorescence reflectance index(FRI) and photochemical reflectance index(PRI), to measure the seasonal variations of photosynthesis in a subtropical evergreen forest ecosystem using continuous canopy spectral and flux measurements in the Dinghushan Nature Reserve in southern China.The more commonly used NDVI has been shown to be saturated and mainly affected by illumination(R^2=0.88, p <0.001), but FRI and PRI could better track the seasonal dynamics of plant photosynthetic functioning by comparison and are less affected by illumination(R^2=0.13 and R^2=0.51, respectively) at the seasonal scale. FRI correlated better with daily gross primary production(GPP) in the morning hours than in the afternoon hours, in contrast to PRI which correlated better with light-use efficiency(LUE) in the afternoon hours. Both FRI and PRI could show greater correlations with GPP and LUE respectively in the senescence season than in the recovery-growth season. When incident PAR was taken into account, the relationship between GPP and FRI was improved and the correlation coefficient increased from 0.22 to 0.69(p < 0.001). The strength of the correlation increased significantly in the senescence season(R^2=0.79, p < 0.001). Our results demonstrate the application of FRI and PRI as physiological indices for the accurate measurement of the seasonal dynamics of plant community photosynthesis in a subtropical evergreen forest, and suggest these indices may be applied to carbon cycle models to improve the estimation of regional carbon budgets.

Scientists Reveal Historical Assembly of East Asian Subtropical Evergreen Broadleaved Forests

The subtropical evergreen broadleaved forests(EBLFs),ranging in occurrence from c.23°N to 39°N and 97°E to 141°E,are amongst the most characteristic biomes in East Asia and are common in South China.They contribute fundamentally to both the biodiversity function and ecosystem services of the East Asiatic floristic kingdom.The East Asian subtropical EBLFs are considered as unique zonal vegetation that might have developed in concert with the Asian monsoons,particularly

Development of defoliating insects and their preferences for host plants under varying temperatures in a subtropical evergreen forest in eastern China

Abstract The aim of this work was to understand the development of defoliating insects and their preferences for host plants under varying temperatures in a subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest in China. We measured the main developmental parameters of three typical defoliating insects （i.e., Ourapteryx ebuleata szechuana, Biston marginata, and Euproctis angulata） and their preferences for five host plants at temperatures from 16~C to 31 ~C at 3~C intervals in the Tiantong National Forest Research station in eastern China. The results showed the following. 1） An appropriate rise in temperature increases the survival rate with an increase in the number of offspring. The developmental durations for these three insects were shortened, and pupal weight increased with an increase in temperature. 2） A shift in the preference for host plants for these three insects was observedat elevated tempera- tures. They all preferred to feed on Schima superba and Castanopsis sclerophylla at elevated temperatures, show- ing an opposite response to the other three plants. The daily leaf consumption of the three insects was positively correlated with their feeding preference, with more leaves being consumed from the plants they preferred. 3） For O. ebuleata szechuana larvae, daily leaf consumption initially increased and then decreased with increasing temperatures. In contrast, Biston marginata and Euproctis angulata larvae consumed more leaves at elevated temperatures. The feeding preferences of O. ebuleata szechuana and Biston marginata were more sensitive to changing temperatures than that of Euproctis angulata laevae. We concluded that increased numbers of offspring and generations, pupal weights, and a shift in preference to two plants for these three defoliating insects might lead to severe damage to these two plants which would enhance the fragmentation and decrease the stability of the forest communities under changing temperatures. Meanwhile, the variations in the responses of defoliating insects to the changing temperatures should be taken into consideration for the pest management of forests to adapt to the changing climate.

Distribution patterns of tree species in an evergreen broadleaved forest in eastern China

Ecological assembly rules in evergreen broad-leaved forest are far from clear understanding.Spatial dispersion of individuals in a species is central in ecological theory.We analyzed the spatial patterns as well as associations between adult and juvenile of each tree species in a 5-ha subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest plot in eastern China.Out of the 74 species occurring with more than 10 individuals,88.4%of these species are aggregated.Most of them are aggregated from small to large scales.Spatial distributions of some species corre-spond with topography.Many bad dispersed species in the Baishanzu exhibit a highly aggregated distribution at small scales.These suggest that environmental heterogeneity and/or dispersal limitation may be the most important mechanisms that control the distribution patterns of these species.Our observations of the aggregations of abundant species basically support the hypothesis that dispersal limitation decreases as the number of reproductive trees increases.The rest species are randomly distributed,with less than 10 individuals.For most common species,spatial aggregation is weaker in larger diameter classes,and the distance between adults is larger than that between juveniles and adults,suggesting that density-dependence works on loosing aggregation and excluding conspecific juveniles away from adult trees.However,the density-dependent effect is not strong enough to eliminate all seedlings near adult trees and to result in a regular distribution of trees;thus the density dependence is usually masked by the refuge effect.