Effects of biodiversity, stand factors and functional identity on biomass and productivity during the restoration of subtropical forests in Central China. (19th September 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Miao, Wenhao; Ma, Shupeng; Guo, Zhiwen; Sun, Haozhe; Wang, Xuemei; Lyu, Yueming; Wang, Xiangping
• Editors: Ma, Keping
• Is Part Of: Journal of plant ecology. Volume 15:Number 2(2022)
• Page Start: 385
• Page End: 398
• Publication Date: 2021-09-19
• Subjects: BEF (biodiversity and ecosystem function) -- functional identity -- restoration -- stand factors -- subtropical forest; BEF(生物多样性和生态系统功能) -- 功能特性 -- 恢复阶段 -- 林分因子 -- 亚热带森林; Plant ecology -- Periodicals; Phytogeography -- Periodicals; 581.705
• DOI: 10.1093/jpe/rtab104
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1752-9921

Abstract

Abstract: Biodiversity is found to have a significant promotion effect on ecosystem functions in manipulation experiments on grassland communities. However, its relative role compared with stand factors or functional identity is still controversial in natural forests. Here, we examined their relative effects on biomass and productivity during forest restoration. We investigated stand biomass and productivity for 24 plots (600 m 2 ) across restoration stages in the subtropical forests of Mt. Shennongjia, Central China. We measured five key functional traits and calculated functional diversity (functional richness, evenness and dispersion) and community-weighted mean of traits. We used general linear models, variation partitioning methods to test the relative importance of stand factors (density, stand age, maximum height, etc.), functional identity, species and functional diversity on biomass and productivity. Our results illustrated that stand biomass and productivity increased significantly as forest restoration, and that community species richness increased, while functional dispersion decreased significantly. Variation partitioning analyses showed that diversity had no significant pure effects on biomass and productivity. However, diversity may affect biomass and productivity through the joint effect with stand factors and functional identity. Overall, we found that stand factors had the strongest effect on biomass and productivity, while functional identity significantly affects productivity but not biomass, suggesting that modulating stand structure and species identity are effective ways to enhance forest carbon storage and sequestrations potential in forest management.