The inter‐forest line could be the master key to track biocoenotic effects of climate change in a subtropical forest

Biotropica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Buitrago‐Guacaneme ◽  
Carlos Molineri ◽  
Luciana Cristóbal ◽  
Daniel Andrés Dos Santos
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Subtropical Forest ◽  
Forest Line

scholarly journals The Effects of Biotic and Abiotic Factors on the Community Dynamics in a Mountain Subtropical Forest

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 427
Author(s):  
Tianyang Zhou ◽  
Jiaxin Zhang ◽  
Yunzhi Qin ◽  
Mingxi Jiang ◽  
Xiujuan Qiao
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Forest Dynamics ◽  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Subtropical Forest ◽  
Above Ground Biomass ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Forest Ecosystem Services ◽  
Number Of Individuals

From supporting wood production to mitigating climate change, forest ecosystem services are crucial to the well-being of humans. Understanding the mechanisms that drive forest dynamics can help us infer how to maintain forest ecosystem services and how to improve predictions of forest dynamics under climate change. Despite the growing number of studies exploring above ground biomass (AGB) dynamics, questions of dynamics in biodiversity and in number of individuals still remain unclear. Here, we first explored the patterns of community dynamics in different aspects (i.e., AGB, density and biodiversity) based on short-term (five years) data from a 25-ha permanent plot in a subtropical forest in central China. Second, we examined the relationships between community dynamics and biodiversity and functional traits. Third, we identified the key factors affecting different aspects of community dynamics and quantified their relative contributions. We found that in the short term (five years), net above ground biomass change (ΔAGB) and biodiversity increased, while the number of individuals decreased. Resource-conservation traits enhanced the ΔAGB and reduced the loss in individuals, while the resource-acquisition traits had the opposite effect. Furthermore, the community structure contributed the most to ΔAGB; topographic variables and soil nutrients contributed the most to the number of individuals; demographic process contributed the most to biodiversity. Our results indicate that biotic factors mostly affected the community dynamics of ΔAGB and biodiversity, while the number of individuals was mainly shaped by abiotic factors. Our work highlighted that the factors influencing different aspects of community dynamics vary. Therefore, forest management practices should be formulated according to a specific protective purpose.

scholarly journals Soil–atmosphere exchange flux of total gaseous mercury (TGM) at subtropical and temperate forest catchments

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (24) ◽  
pp. 16117-16133
Author(s):  
Jun Zhou ◽  
Zhangwei Wang ◽  
Xiaoshan Zhang ◽  
Charles T. Driscoll ◽  
Che-Jen Lin
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Solar Radiation ◽  
Open Field ◽  
Temperate Forest ◽  
Subtropical Forest ◽  
Pine Forest ◽  
Broad Leaved Forest ◽  
Leaved Forest ◽  
Soil Hg

Abstract. Evasion from soil is the largest source of mercury (Hg) to the atmosphere from terrestrial ecosystems. To improve our understanding of controls and in estimates of forest soil–atmosphere fluxes of total gaseous Hg (TGM), measurements were made using dynamic flux chambers (DFCs) over 130 and 96 d for each of five plots at a subtropical forest and a temperate forest, respectively. At the subtropical forest, the highest net soil Hg emissions were observed for an open field (24 ± 33 ng m−2 h−1), followed by two coniferous forest plots (2.8 ± 3.9 and 3.5 ±  4.2 ng m−2 h−1), a broad-leaved forest plot (0.18 ±  4.3 ng m−2 h−1) and the remaining wetland site showing net deposition (−0.80 ± 5.1 ng m−2 h−1). At the temperate forest, the highest fluxes and net soil Hg emissions were observed for a wetland (3.81 ± 0.52 ng m−2 h−1) and an open field (1.82 ± 0.79 ng m−2 h−1), with lesser emission rates in the deciduous broad-leaved forest (0.68 ± 1.01 ng m−2 h−1) and deciduous needle-leaved forest (0.32 ± 0.96 ng m−2 h−1) plots, and net deposition at an evergreen pine forest (−0.04 ± 0.81 ng m−2 h−1). High solar radiation and temperature during summer resulted in the high Hg emissions in the subtropical forest and the open field and evergreen pine forest at the temperate forest. At the temperate deciduous plots, the highest Hg emission occurred in spring during the leaf-off period due to direct solar radiation exposure to soils. Fluxes showed strong positive relationships with solar radiation and soil temperature and negative correlations with ambient air TGM concentration in both the subtropical and temperate forests, with area-weighted compensation points of 6.82 and 3.42 ng m−3, respectively. The values of the compensation points suggest that the atmospheric TGM concentration can play a critical role in limiting TGM emissions from the forest floor. Climate change and land use disturbance may increase the compensation points in both temperate and subtropical forests. Future research should focus on the role of legacy soil Hg in reemissions to the atmosphere as decreases in primary emissions drive decreases in TGM concentrations and disturbances of climate change and land use.

scholarly journals Swiss tree lines - a GIS-based Approximation

2012 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erich Szerencsits
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Moving Window ◽  
Tree Line ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Geographical Regions ◽  
Moving Window Analysis ◽  
Closed Forest ◽  
The Alps ◽  
Forest Line

Mountain timber lines are relevant in the context of land abandonment and climate change. For Switzerland, GIS-compliant delimitations of the tree line and the forest line are still lacking. Recent high-resolution landcover information offers new possibilities for GIS-based approaches. In a Swiss-wide study, an analysis based on slope zones was combined with a moving-window analysis to assess tree and forest line altitude, using topographic data. The tree and the forest lines were delimited at the upper altitude reached by a tree or closed forest respectively. The model delivered a fine-scaled delimitation sensitive to local conditions. The results indicate that earlier studies underestimated the tree line altitudes for the fringes of the Alps. Also the variability inside climatic and bio-geographical regions is larger than it was estimated up to now.

Averting robo-bees: why free-flying robotic bees are a bad idea

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 723-729
Author(s):  
Roslyn Gleadow ◽  
Jim Hanan ◽  
Alan Dorin
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Computer Simulation ◽  
Food Security ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Plant Interactions ◽  
Plant Insect Interactions ◽  
Native Habitat ◽  
Insect Pollinators ◽  
Insect Interactions

Food security and the sustainability of native ecosystems depends on plant-insect interactions in countless ways. Recently reported rapid and immense declines in insect numbers due to climate change, the use of pesticides and herbicides, the introduction of agricultural monocultures, and the destruction of insect native habitat, are all potential contributors to this grave situation. Some researchers are working towards a future where natural insect pollinators might be replaced with free-flying robotic bees, an ecologically problematic proposal. We argue instead that creating environments that are friendly to bees and exploring the use of other species for pollination and bio-control, particularly in non-European countries, are more ecologically sound approaches. The computer simulation of insect-plant interactions is a far more measured application of technology that may assist in managing, or averting, ‘Insect Armageddon' from both practical and ethical viewpoints.

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