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Estimation of stand-level aboveground biomass dynamics using tree ring analysis in a Chinese fir plantation in Shitai County, Anhui Province, China

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Abstract

Chinese fir [(Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook] is one of the most important plantation tree species in subtropical China, accounting for about 21 % of China’s total forest plantation area. Although many studies have been conducted in Chinese fir plantations, uncertainties remain regarding its potential and dynamics to sequestrate carbon as a function of stand type, stand age and management. In this study, we applied tree ring analysis as a retrospective tool to study tree- and stand-level aboveground biomass (AGB) dynamics in a 17-year old Chinese fir plantation in Shitai County, Anhui Province, China. A total of 18 trees from different dominance classes were felled for the stem analyses: 6 dominant, 6 co-dominant and 6 suppressed trees. The stem analyses showed that as expected the annual increments of dbh and AGB were significantly higher for dominant trees than those for co-dominant and suppressed trees. Total stand-level AGB increased from 1.85 t ha−1 at age 3 years to 108.12 t ha−1 at age 17 years. Splitting the stand into dominance classes, tree analysis was useful to explain variation of the stand-level AGB and provided more detailed information about the growth dynamics of the stands. Tree ring analyses offer a viable and efficient approach to retrospectively study tree growth and AGB accumulation dynamics in Chinese fir plantations. In the studied stand under the given management regime, a rotation period of 17 years would optizimise AGB productivity.

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Acknowledgments

The study was supported by project of Sino-German Cooperation on Innovative Technologies and Service Capacities of Multifunctional Forest Management (Lin2Value 033L049-CAFYBB2012013) supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and Chinese Academy of Forestry. We would thank Dr. Hans Fuchs, MSc. Sabine Schreiner, Dr. Haijun Yang, Dr. Torsten Vor and Msc. Dengkui Mo from Georg-August-Universität Göttingen for plot design and fieldwork support. We also would thank Director An’guo Fan, Mr. Bailing Ding, Miss Yue’e Chu from Shitai Forest bureau for kind organization for fieldwork. Thanks to Mr. Xiaozhu Wang, Mr. Hongbing Ruan for fieldwork support. The authors are grateful to editor and two anonymous reviewers’ great suggestion to improve the significance of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chair of Forest Inventory and Remote Sensing, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Büsgenweg 5, 37077, Göttingen, Germany

    Xiaolu Tang, Lutz Fehrmann, César Pérez-Cruzado & Christoph Kleinn

  2. Department of Forest Management and Statistics, Institute of Forest Resource Information Techniques, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Dongxiaofu 2, Xiangshan Road, Haidian, Beijing, 100091, People’s Republic of China

    Yuanchang Lu

  3. Chair of Silviculture, Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, Freiburg University, Tennenbacherstr. 4, 79108, Freiburg, Germany

    David I. Forrester & Rubén Guisasola-Rodríguez

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  1. Xiaolu Tang
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Correspondence to Xiaolu Tang.

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Tang, X., Lu, Y., Fehrmann, L. et al. Estimation of stand-level aboveground biomass dynamics using tree ring analysis in a Chinese fir plantation in Shitai County, Anhui Province, China. New Forests 47, 319–332 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-015-9518-0

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