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Large-diameter trees buffer monsoonal changes to tree biomass over two decades

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Abstract

Forest carbon storage inherently depends on the frequency and severity of characteristic disturbances and long-term changes in climate. The tropical forest of Lanjenchi, Taiwan is affected by the northeast monsoon wind, resulting in a varying vegetation structure depending on wind exposure. However, the northeast monsoon winds have been decreasing due to the climate change. We used four censuses over 22 years (1997, 2005, 2013, and 2019) to examine how tree density and aboveground biomass change under different levels of wind stress. We assessed tree density, aboveground biomass, aboveground woody productivity, and aboveground woody mortality from trees with diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 1 cm across 5.28 ha subdivided into 10 × 10 m quadrats. We tested for differences in tree density and aboveground biomass among three habitat types (windward, intermediate, and leeward), among small-diameter (1 cm ≤ DBH < 10 cm), medium-diameter (10 cm ≤ DBH < 17.2 cm) and large-diameter trees (DBH ≥ 17.2 cm). The 49,481 trees (density 9,272 ± 3612 trees ha−1) of 140 species held 129.37 ± 51.95 Mg ha−1 of aboveground biomass. From 1997 to 2019, tree density decreased and aboveground biomass was stable in the whole forest. However, changes in density and aboveground biomass were apparent among different habitat types and among different diameter classes. Specifically, in the windward habitat, aboveground biomass of small-diameter trees declined over time (from 35.34 Mg ha−1 to 26.29 Mg ha−1), and that of large-diameter trees increased (from 48.62 Mg ha−1 to 57.78 Mg ha−1). In the leeward habitat, large-diameter trees exhibited both high biomass productivity (1.04 Mg ha−1 year−1) and mortality (1.43 Mg ha−1 year−1). Although the overall state of the forest appears to possess multi-decadal stability, differences in dynamics among diameter classes and habitats may lead to forest changes if trees in those habitats continue to respond differentially to shifting magnitudes of monsoon wind speed.

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Data are available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our sincere appreciation to all the volunteers, workers, and research assistants who dedicated their time, effort, and expertise to the tropical forest from 1991 to 2019. We are also grateful to Chieh-Yu Liao and Wen-Ling Shen for their careful review of this study. Furthermore, we would like to acknowledge the financial support provided from Forestry Bureau of Taiwan (tfbp-1010223, tfbc-1070204) and the logistic assistance provided by Kenting National Park. Additionally, Chen-Chia Ku and Kuo-Jung Chao were supported by the Innovation and Development Center of Sustainable Agriculture from The Featured Areas Research Center Program within the framework of the Higher Education Sprout Project by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan. We would also like to express our sincere appreciation to Jianwu Tang, our co-author, who unfortunately passed away before this paper could be published. He made significant contributions to Nanjenshan, and his invaluable insights and expertise to our work will not be forgotten.

Funding

This work was supported by the Forestry Bureau of Taiwan (Grant numbers tfbc-1070204 and tfbp-1010223). The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by CCK and WCC. The first draft of the manuscript was written by CCK and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Wei-Chun Chao.

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Communicated by Peter le Roux.

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Ku, CC., Tang, J., Chao, WC. et al. Large-diameter trees buffer monsoonal changes to tree biomass over two decades. Plant Ecol 224, 1037–1048 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-023-01360-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-023-01360-y

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