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Freezing-induced loss of carbon uptake in a subtropical coniferous plantation in southern China

  • Original Paper
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Abstract

• Context

In January 2008, a freeze in southern China, unprecedented in 50 years, severely affected local subtropical coniferous plantations.

• Aims

We investigated the freezing-induced loss of carbon uptake in a subtropical coniferous plantation at Qianyanzhou site in southern China.

• Methods

We used data from eddy covariance observations, field surveys and remote sensing.

• Results

Field surveys revealed that the trees (especially slash pine, Pinus elliottii) at forest edges and valley banks were susceptible to the freezing weather, and about 6% of trees were severely damaged by glaze ice. The vegetation index showed a phenological lag of about 10 days in 2008 due to the freezing weather. Photosynthesis in 2008 was more sensitive to the freezing weather than was ecosystem respiration, and this fact led to significantly less annual carbon uptake. This uptake loss (∼66 g C m–2, 17% of annual uptake) was due to the physical damage caused by glaze ice and physiological injuries caused by low temperatures. With gradual ecosystem recovery over time, the quarterly ratios of ecosystem respiration to photosynthesis in 2008 returned gradually to normal levels. Because of the seasonal variation of footprint biases with monsoon transition, the flux observations possibly overestimated both carbon uptake loss in early 2008 and ecosystem recovery in the following months to some extent.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported financially by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2009CB421101), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30870444, 40801175), the Knowledge Innovation Project of Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX2-YW-Q1-14), the Hundred Talents Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (20100470536).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Qianyanzhou Ecological Station, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Wenjiang Zhang, Huimin Wang, Xuefa Wen, Fengting Yang, Zeqing Ma, Xiaomin Sun & Guirui Yu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China

    Wenjiang Zhang

Authors
  1. Wenjiang Zhang
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  2. Huimin Wang
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  3. Xuefa Wen
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  4. Fengting Yang
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  5. Zeqing Ma
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  6. Xiaomin Sun
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  7. Guirui Yu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Huimin Wang.

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Handling Editor: Reinhart Ceulemans

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Zhang, W., Wang, H., Wen, X. et al. Freezing-induced loss of carbon uptake in a subtropical coniferous plantation in southern China. Annals of Forest Science 68, 1151 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13595-011-0120-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13595-011-0120-0

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