Climate factors affect forest biomass allocation by altering soil nutrient availability and leaf traits

Biomass in forests sequesters substantial amounts of carbon;although the contribution of aboveground biomass has been extensively studied, the contribution of belowground biomass remains understudied. Investigating the forest biomass allocation is crucial for understanding the impacts of global change on carbon allocation and cycling.Moreover, the question of how climate factors affect biomass allocation in natural and planted forests remains unresolved. Here, we addressed this question by collecting data from 384 planted forests and 541 natural forests in China. We evaluated the direct and indirect effects of climate factors on the belowground biomass proportion(BGBP). The average BGBP was 31.09% in natural forests and was significantly higher(38.75%) in planted forests. Furthermore, we observed a significant decrease in BGBP with increasing temperature and precipitation. Climate factors, particularly those affecting soil factors, such as p H,strongly affected the BGBP in natural and planted forests. Based on our results, we propose that future studies should consider the effects of forest type(natural or planted) and soil factors on BGBP.

Seasonal variations and mechanism for environmental control of NEE of CO_2 concerning the Potentilla fruticosa in alpine shrub meadow of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

The study by the eddy covariance technique in the alpine shrub meadow of the Qing-hai-Tibet Plateau in 2003 and 2004 showed that the net ecosystem carbon dioxide exchange (NEE) exhibited noticeable diurnal and annual variations, with more distinct daily changes during the warmer seasons. The CO2 emission of the shrub ecosystem culminated in April and September while the CO2 absorption capacity reached a maximum in July and August. The absorbed carbon dioxide during the two consecutive years was 231.4 and 274.8 g CO2·m-2 respectively, yielding an average of 253.1 gCO2·m-2 per year: that accounts for a large proportion of absorbed CO2 in the region. Obviously, the diurnal carbon flux was negatively related to temperature, radiation and other atmospheric factors. Still, minute discrepancies in kurtosis and duration of carbon emission/absorption were detected between 2003 and 2004. It was found that the CO2 flux in the daytime was similarly affected by photosynthetic photon flux density in both years. Temperature appears to be the most important determinant of CO2 flux: specifically, the high temperature during the plant growing season inhibits the carbon absorption capacity. One potential explanation is that soil respiration is enhanced under such condition. Analysis of biomass revealed that the annual net carbon fixed capacity of aboveground and belowground biomass was 544.0 in 2003 and 559.4 g Cm"2 in 2004, which coincided with the NEE absorption capacity (63.1 g C·m-2 in 2003 and 74.9 g C·m-2 in 2004) in the corresponding plant growing season.