Season dynamics of carbon use efficiency and its influencing factors in the old-growth Abies fabri forest in Gongga Mountain, western Sichuan, China

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2019.0289

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims Carbon use efficiency (CUE), an important function parameter, reflects the carbon sequestration capacity of forest ecosystems. It is useful in analyzing the temporal dynamics of carbon budgets at the organ, individual and community scales. It can help to determine and predict the carbon sink/source of terrestrial ecosystems, which is a matter of widespread concern.
Methods Using the biometric method, we measured and calculated the respiration and net productivity dynamics of different fir organs from an old-growth Abies fabri forest on Gongga Mountain in the eastern Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, China. We studied the CUE dynamics of the tree layer and its organs and analyzed their influencing factors. We also estimated the CUE of whole trees of different diameters at breast-height (DBH) classes.
Important findings (1) Monthly respiration rates in both the tree layer and its organs are positively related to temperature, and fine roots have the highest respiration rate of all. There is no significant difference in the annual respiration of whole trees with different DBH classes, and the small DBH trees (30-40 cm) have the minimum annual stem respiration. (2) The monthly net primary productivity (NPP) of the fine root and whole stem in the tree layer increases with temperature, with the fine root accounting for the largest proportion. The small trees have the greatest annual NPP, and their needle NPP is also significantly higher than that of the medium DBH (50- 60 cm) and large DBH (75-90 cm) trees. (3) The CUE of the tree layer and its organs are mostly among 0.30 to 0.60. The monthly changes in the CUE of both fine roots and stems are similar, and their CUE increases with temperature. The CUE of trees and their organs all decrease significantly with tree growth. (4) The CUE of both the stems and fine roots is positively related with the air and soil temperature, while precipitaion has a positive effect on needle CUE. Fine root CUE has negative and positive effects on stem CUE and needle CUE, respectively. The tree layer CUE depends mainly on stem and fine root CUE. These results indicate that old-growth forests have strong and sustainable carbon sink functions, and play an important role in regional carbon storage and the carbon cycle of the forest ecosystem.

Key words: carbon use efficiency, net primary productivity, respiration carbon consumption, old Abies fabri forest, Gongga Mountain

SHU Shu-Miao, ZHU Wan-Ze, RAN Fei, SUN Shou-Qin, ZHANG Yuan-Yuan. Season dynamics of carbon use efficiency and its influencing factors in the old-growth Abies fabri forest in Gongga Mountain, western Sichuan, China[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2020, 44(11): 1127-1137.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2019.0289

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2020/V44/I11/1127

Figures/Tables 6

Fig. 1 Research route of seasonal dynamics of carbon use efficiency (CUE) in an old-growth Abies fabri forest on Gongga Mountain. NPP, net primary productivity.

Fig. 2 Respiration of the tree layer and trees with different diameter classes in an old-growth Abies fabri forest on Gongga Mountain. Different lowercase letters indicate significant difference at p < 0.05 level for the respiration amount of same organ under different diameter classes.

Fig. 3 Net primary productivity of the tree layer and trees with different diameter classes in an old-growth Abies fabri forest on Gongga Mountain. Different lowercase letters indicate significant difference at p < 0.05 level for the net primary productivity of same organ under different diameter classes.

Fig. 4 Carbon use efficiency (CUE) of the tree layer and trees with different diameter classes in an old-growth Abies fabri forest on Gongga Mountain. Different lowercase letters indicate significant difference at p < 0.05 level for the CUE of same organ under different diameter classes.

Fig. 5 Influencing factors of carbon use efficiency (CUE) in tree layer and organs of an old-growth Abies fabri forest. Values associated with solid arrows are standardized path coefficients, indicating positive or negative effects. Values associated with the rectangles are R2, indicating the proportion of variation explained by relationships with other variables. Small circles represent residuals. Values associated with two way arrow indicate the correlation. The dotted line indicates the preset path.

Table 1 Standardized influence coefficients of the structural equation model (SEM) for the arbor layer carbon use efficiency (CUE) of Abies fabri old-growth forest

影响因素 Impact factor	标准化总影响系数 Standardized total influence coefficients				标准化直接影响系数 Standardized direct influence coefficients				标准化间接影响系数 Standardized indirect influence coefficients
影响因素 Impact factor	树干CUE Stem CUE	细根CUE Fine root CUE	针叶CUE Needle CUE	乔木层CUE Tree layer CUE	树干CUE Stem CUE	细根CUE Fine root CUE	针叶CUE Needle CUE	乔木层CUE Tree layer CUE	树干CUE Stem CUE	细根CUE Fine root CUE	针叶CUE Needle CUE	乔木层CUE Tree layer CUE
土壤温度 Soil temperature	-	0.59	-0.41	0.37	-	0.59	-	-	-	-	-0.41	0.37
气温 Air temperature	0.93	-	-0.06	0.45	0.93	-	-	-	-	-	-0.06	0.45
降水 Precipitation	0.09	-	-0.40	0.04	0.09	-	-0.39	-	-	-	-0.01	0.04
树干CUE Stem CUE	-	-	-0.07	0.48	-	-	-0.07	0.48	-	-	-	-
细根CUE Fine root CUE	-	-	-0.69	0.63	-	-	-0.69	0.63	-	-	-	-

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