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Disentangling the factors that contribute to variation in forest biomass increments in the mid-subtropical forests of China

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Abstract

Mid-subtropical forests are the main vegetation type of global terrestrial biomes, and are critical for maintaining the global carbon balance. However, estimates of forest biomass increment in mid-subtropical forests remain highly uncertain. It is critically important to determine the relative importance of different biotic and abiotic factors between plants and soil, particularly with respect to their influence on plant regrowth. Consequently, it is necessary to quantitatively characterize the dynamic spatiotemporal distribution of forest carbon sinks at a regional scale. This study used a large, long-term dataset in a boosted regression tree (BRT) model to determine the major components that quantitatively control forest biomass increments in a mid-subtropical forested region (Wuyishan National Nature Reserve, China). Long-term, stand-level data were used to derive the forest biomass increment, with the BRT model being applied to quantify the relative contributions of various biotic and abiotic variables to forest biomass increment. Our data show that total biomass (t) increased from 4.62 × 106 to 5.30 × 106 t between 1988 and 2010, and that the mean biomass increased from 80.19 ± 0.39 t ha−1 (mean ± standard error) to 94.33 ± 0.41 t ha−1 in the study region. The major factors that controlled biomass (in decreasing order of importance) were the stand, topography, and soil. Stand density was initially the most important stand factor, while elevation was the most important topographic factor. Soil factors were important for forest biomass increment but have a much weaker influence compared to the other two controlling factors. These results provide baseline information about the practical utility of spatial interpolation methods for mapping forest biomass increments at regional scales.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Professor Li Hu for his helpful suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Key Laboratory of Urban Metabolism of Xiamen, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, 361021, China

    Yin Ren, Shanshan Chen, Yunjian Luo & Shudi Zuo

  2. Ningbo Urban Environment Observation and Research Station-NUEORS, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315800, China

    Yin Ren, Shanshan Chen, Yunjian Luo & Shudi Zuo

  3. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus, Kelowna, BC, V1V 1V7, Canada

    Xiaohua Wei

  4. Department of Biological and Health Sciences, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, TX, 78363, USA

    Weimin Xi

  5. College of Environment and Natural Resources, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Xiaodong Song

  6. Key Laboratory of Humid Subtropical Eco-Geographical Processes, Ministry of Education, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, 350007, China

    Yusheng Yang

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  1. Yin Ren
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  2. Shanshan Chen
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Correspondence to Yin Ren.

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Project funding: This work was supported by National Forestry Public Welfare Foundation of China (201304205), National Science Foundation of China (31470578 and 31200363), Fujian Provincial Department of S&T Project (2016Y0083, 2013YZ0001-1, 2014J05044 and 2015Y0083), Xiamen Municipal Department of Science and Technology (3502Z20130037 and 3502Z20142016), and Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS.

Corresponding editor: Hu Yanbo

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Ren, Y., Chen, S., Wei, X. et al. Disentangling the factors that contribute to variation in forest biomass increments in the mid-subtropical forests of China. J. For. Res. 27, 919–930 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-016-0237-y

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