Aboveground biomass stocks of species-rich natural forests in southern China are influenced by stand structural attributes,species richness and precipitation

Forests,the largest terrestrial carbon sinks,play an important role in carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation.Although forest attributes and environmental factors have been shown to impact aboveground biomass,their influence on biomass stocks in species-rich forests in southern China,a biodiversity hotspot,has rarely been investigated.In this study,we characterized the effects of environmental factors,forest structure,and species diversity on aboveground biomass stocks of 30 plots(1 ha each) in natural forests located within seven nature reserves distributed across subtropical and marginal tropical zones in Guangxi,China.Our results indicate that forest aboveground biomass stocks in this region are lower than those in mature tropical and subtropical forests in other regions.Furthermore,we found that aboveground biomass was positively correlated with stand age,mean annual precipitation,elevation,structural attributes and species richness,although not with species evenness.When we compared stands with the same basal area,we found that aboveground biomass stock was higher in communities with a higher coefficient of variation of diameter at breast height.These findings highlight the importance of maintaining forest structural diversity and species richness to promote aboveground biomass accumulation and reveal the potential impacts of precipitation changes resulting from climate warming on the ecosystem services of subtropical and northern tropical forests in China.Notably,many natural forests in southern China are not fully stocked.Therefore,their continued growth will increase their carbon storage over time.

Structural attributes,evolution and petroleum geological significances of the Tongnan negative structure in the central Sichuan Basin,SW China

The Tongnan secondary negative structure in central Sichuan Basin has controls and influences on the structural framework and petroleum geological conditions in the Gaoshiti-Moxi area.To clarify the controls and influences,the deformation characteristics,structural attributes and evolution process of the Tongnan negative structure were investigated through a series of qualitative and quantitative methods such as balanced profile restoration,area-depth-strain(ADS)analysis,and structural geometric forward numerical simulation,after comprehensive structural interpretation of high-precision 3D seismic data.The results are obtained in three aspects.First,above and below the P/AnP(Permian/pre-Permian)unconformity,the Tongnan negative structure demonstrates vertical differential structural deformation.It experiences two stages of structural stacking and reworking:extensional depression(from the Sinian Dengying Formation to the Permian),and compressional syncline deformation(after the Jurassic).The multi-phase trishear deformation of the preexisting deep normal faults dominated the extensional depression.The primary depression episodes occurred in the periods from the end of Late Proterozoic to the deposition of the 1st–2nd members of the Dengying Formation,and from the deposition of Lower Cambrian Longwangmiao Formation–Middle–Upper Cambrian until the Ordovician.Second,the multi-stage evolution process of the Tongnan negative structure controlled the oil and gas migration and adjustment and present-day differential gas and water distribution between the Tongnan negative structure and the Gaoshiti and Moxi-Longnüsi structural highs.Third,the Ordovician,which is limitedly distributed in the Tongnan negative structure and is truncated by the P/AnP unconformity on the top,has basic geological conditions for the formation of weathering karst carbonate reservoirs.It is a new petroleum target deserving attention.

Structure complexity is the primary driver of functional diversity in the temperate forests of northeastern China

Background:Assessing functional diversity to identify its spatial patterns and drivers is an important step towards understanding the adaptive capacity of ecosystems to environmental change. However, until now, these mechanisms were poorly understood in the temperate forests of northeastern China, which prevented the development of new management methods aimed at increasing functional trait diversity and thus ecological resilience.Methods:In this study, we mapped functional diversity distributions using a Kriging Interpolation Method. A specific random forest model approach was adopted to test the importance ranking of 18 variables in explaining the spatial variation of functional diversity. Three piecewise structural equation models (pSEMs) with forest types as random effects were constructed for testing the direct effects of climate, and the indirect effects of stand structure on functional diversity across the large study region. Specific causal relationships in each forest type were also examined using 15 linear structural equation models.Results:Although environmental filtering by climate is important, stand structure explains most of the functional variation of the forest ecosystems in northeastern China. Our study thus only partially supports the stressdominance hypothesis. Several abundant species determine most of the functional diversity, which supports the mass ratio hypothesis.Conclusions:Our results suggest that forest management aimed at increasing structural complexity can contribute to increased functional diversity, especially regarding the mixing of coniferous and broad-leaved tree species.