Relative contributions of biotic and abiotic factors to the spatial variation of litter stock in a mature subtropical forest

doi:10.1093/jpe/rtz018

J Plant Ecol ›› 2019, Vol. 12 ›› Issue (4): 769-780 .DOI: 10.1093/jpe/rtz018

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Relative contributions of biotic and abiotic factors to the spatial variation of litter stock in a mature subtropical forest

Jing Wang^1,2, Qingsong Yang¹, Yang Qiao¹, Deli Zhai^3,4, Lifen Jiang⁵, Guopeng Liang⁵, Xiaoying Sun¹, Ning Wei¹, Xihua Wang^1,* and Jianyang Xia^1,2,*

¹ Zhejiang Tiantong Forest Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station & Research Center for Global Change and Ecological Forecasting, Shanghai Key Lab for Urban Ecological Processes and Eco-Restoration, School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
² State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, Research Center for Global Change and Ecological Forecasting, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China
³ Key Laboratory of Economic Plants and Biotechnology, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 132 Lanhei Road, Kunming 650201, Yunnan, China
⁴ World Agroforestry Centre, East and Central Asia Office, 132 Lanhei Road, Kunming 650201, Yunnan, China
⁵ Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, Northern Arizona University, Arizona, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA
*Correspondence address. Jianyang Xia, State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, Research Center for Global Change and Ecological Forecasting, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China. Tel/Fax: +86-021-54341270, E-mail: jyxia@des.ecnu.edu.cn; Xihua Wang, Zhejiang Tiantong Forest Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station & Research Center for Global Change and Ecological Forecasting, Shanghai Key Lab for Urban Ecological Processes and Eco-Restoration, School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China. Tel/Fax: +86-021-54342677, E-mail:xhwang@des.ecnu.edu.cn

Received:2018-09-26 Revised:2019-02-04 Accepted:2019-03-21 Online:2019-03-26 Published:2019-08-01

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims

Dead plant material (i.e. litter) is the major source of soil organic matter and thus plays a fundamental role in regulating soil carbon cycling in global forest ecosystems. The storage of litter is jointly determined by its production from plants and decomposition in a given environment. However, only few studies have explored the relative importance of environmental (i.e. abiotic) and plant (i.e. biotic) factors in driving the spatial variation of litter mass. The objective of this study is to quantify the relative contributions of biotic and abiotic factors in affecting the spatial variation of aboveground litter stock in a mature subtropical forest.

Methods

The aboveground litter mass was sampled in 187 grids of a 20-hm forest dynamics plot in a subtropical broad-leave forest in eastern China. The contributions of environmental variables, topographical and species variables on litter stocks were quantified by the boosted regression tree analysis.

Important Findings

The mean aboveground litter stock was 367.5 g m^?2 in the Tiantong dynamics forest plot across all the 187 grids. The litter stock ranged from 109.2 to 831.3 g m^?2 and showed a large spatial variation with the coefficient of variance as 40.8%. The boosted regression tree analysis showed that slope elevation and soil moisture were the most influential variables on the spatial variation of litter stock. The relatively influence of abiotic factors (environmental and topographical factors) was 71.4%, which is larger than biotic factors (28.6%). Overall, these findings suggest that abiotic factors play a more important role than plants in driving the spatial variation of aboveground litter stock in the subtropical forest. Given that the global carbon-cycle models have been aiming to refine from the hundred kilometers to sub-kilometer scale, this study highlights the urgency of a better understanding of the spatial variation of litter stock on the fine scale.

Key words: litter stock, spatial variability, subtropical forest, topography

Jing Wang, Qingsong Yang, Yang Qiao, Deli Zhai, Lifen Jiang, Guopeng Liang, Xiaoying Sun, Ning Wei, Xihua Wang and Jianyang Xia. Relative contributions of biotic and abiotic factors to the spatial variation of litter stock in a mature subtropical forest[J]. J Plant Ecol, 2019, 12(4): 769-780.

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Relative contributions of biotic and abiotic factors to the spatial variation of litter stock in a mature subtropical forest

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