Multiple environmental factors regulate the large-scale patterns of plant water use efficiency and nitrogen availability across China’s forests
Global changes, e.g. global warming, elevated nitrogen deposition, and shifts of precipitation regime, exert a major influence on forests via affecting plant water use efficiency (WUE) and plant nitrogen (N) availability. Large-scale ecological sampling can help us to better understand variation acr...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abe3bb |
| _version_ | 1797747708957556736 |
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| author | Songbo Tang Yuan Lai Xuli Tang Oliver L. Phillips Jianfeng Liu Dexiang Chen Dazhi Wen Silong Wang Longchi Chen Xingjun Tian Yuanwen Kuang |
| author_facet | Songbo Tang Yuan Lai Xuli Tang Oliver L. Phillips Jianfeng Liu Dexiang Chen Dazhi Wen Silong Wang Longchi Chen Xingjun Tian Yuanwen Kuang |
| author_sort | Songbo Tang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Global changes, e.g. global warming, elevated nitrogen deposition, and shifts of precipitation regime, exert a major influence on forests via affecting plant water use efficiency (WUE) and plant nitrogen (N) availability. Large-scale ecological sampling can help us to better understand variation across regions and provide opportunities to investigate the potential impacts of multiple aspects of global change on forest ecosystem responses. Here, we determine the geographical patterns of key isotopic measures of ecosystem function—plant WUE (calculated from foliar δ ^13 C values) and plant N availability (assessed by foliar δ ^15 N values)—across China’s forests covering ∼21 latitude (∼22–43°N) and ∼28 longitude (∼93–121°E) degree, and investigate how a suite of soil, plant, and atmospheric factors regulate them. We found that plant WUE increased but N availability decreased with latitude, while plant WUE and N availability did not vary with longitudinal gradient. Different factors regulate the large-scale patterns in WUE and N availability. The mean annual temperature, atmospheric N deposition, and soil water content exhibit considerable effects on plant WUE over both the north-to-south and east-to-west transects, while the mean annual precipitation, soil potassium content, foliar N, and precipitation seasonality considerably affect the latitudinal patterns of plant N availability. In addition, the east-to-west spatial pattern in plant N availability is associated with the variation in solar radiation. Our results suggest that key forest ecological functions respond to an array of environmental factors, and imply that changes in many different environmental attributes need to be considered in order to successfully assess plant WUE and N availability responses to global changes this century. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:55:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-30b2662080eb4c35a898b4b49ccbd003 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:55:29Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-30b2662080eb4c35a898b4b49ccbd0032023-08-09T14:56:35ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262021-01-0116303402610.1088/1748-9326/abe3bbMultiple environmental factors regulate the large-scale patterns of plant water use efficiency and nitrogen availability across China’s forestsSongbo Tang0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9334-8089Yuan Lai1Xuli Tang2Oliver L. Phillips3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8993-6168Jianfeng Liu4Dexiang Chen5Dazhi Wen6Silong Wang7Longchi Chen8Xingjun Tian9Yuanwen Kuang10https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0627-9519Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Xingke Road 723, Guangzhou 510650, People’s Republic of China; Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory , Guangzhou 511458, People’s Republic of China; Heshan National Field Research Station of Forest Ecosystem, South China Botanical Garden , Guangzhou 510650, People’s Republic of China; College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, People’s Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Xingke Road 723, Guangzhou 510650, People’s Republic of China; Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory , Guangzhou 511458, People’s Republic of China; Heshan National Field Research Station of Forest Ecosystem, South China Botanical Garden , Guangzhou 510650, People’s Republic of China; College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, People’s Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Xingke Road 723, Guangzhou 510650, People’s Republic of China; Heshan National Field Research Station of Forest Ecosystem, South China Botanical Garden , Guangzhou 510650, People’s Republic of ChinaSchool of Geography, University of Leeds , Leeds LS2 9JT, United KingdomKey Laboratory of Tree Breeding and Cultivation of State Forestry Administration, Research Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry , Beijing 100091, People’s Republic of ChinaHainan Jianfengling Forest Ecosystem National Field Science Observation and Research Station, Research Institute of Tropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry , Guangzhou 510520, People’s Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Xingke Road 723, Guangzhou 510650, People’s Republic of China; Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory , Guangzhou 511458, People’s Republic of China; Heshan National Field Research Station of Forest Ecosystem, South China Botanical Garden , Guangzhou 510650, People’s Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Huitong Experimental Station of Forest Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Shenyang 110016, People’s Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Huitong Experimental Station of Forest Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Shenyang 110016, People’s Republic of ChinaSchool of Life Science, Nanjing University , Nanjing 210023, People’s Republic of ChinaKey Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Xingke Road 723, Guangzhou 510650, People’s Republic of China; Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory , Guangzhou 511458, People’s Republic of China; Heshan National Field Research Station of Forest Ecosystem, South China Botanical Garden , Guangzhou 510650, People’s Republic of ChinaGlobal changes, e.g. global warming, elevated nitrogen deposition, and shifts of precipitation regime, exert a major influence on forests via affecting plant water use efficiency (WUE) and plant nitrogen (N) availability. Large-scale ecological sampling can help us to better understand variation across regions and provide opportunities to investigate the potential impacts of multiple aspects of global change on forest ecosystem responses. Here, we determine the geographical patterns of key isotopic measures of ecosystem function—plant WUE (calculated from foliar δ ^13 C values) and plant N availability (assessed by foliar δ ^15 N values)—across China’s forests covering ∼21 latitude (∼22–43°N) and ∼28 longitude (∼93–121°E) degree, and investigate how a suite of soil, plant, and atmospheric factors regulate them. We found that plant WUE increased but N availability decreased with latitude, while plant WUE and N availability did not vary with longitudinal gradient. Different factors regulate the large-scale patterns in WUE and N availability. The mean annual temperature, atmospheric N deposition, and soil water content exhibit considerable effects on plant WUE over both the north-to-south and east-to-west transects, while the mean annual precipitation, soil potassium content, foliar N, and precipitation seasonality considerably affect the latitudinal patterns of plant N availability. In addition, the east-to-west spatial pattern in plant N availability is associated with the variation in solar radiation. Our results suggest that key forest ecological functions respond to an array of environmental factors, and imply that changes in many different environmental attributes need to be considered in order to successfully assess plant WUE and N availability responses to global changes this century.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abe3bbbroad-leaved forestgeographical transectfoliar carbon and nitrogen isotope ratiosnitrogen availabilityprecipitation seasonalitywater use efficiency |
| spellingShingle | Songbo Tang Yuan Lai Xuli Tang Oliver L. Phillips Jianfeng Liu Dexiang Chen Dazhi Wen Silong Wang Longchi Chen Xingjun Tian Yuanwen Kuang Multiple environmental factors regulate the large-scale patterns of plant water use efficiency and nitrogen availability across China’s forests Environmental Research Letters broad-leaved forest geographical transect foliar carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios nitrogen availability precipitation seasonality water use efficiency |
| title | Multiple environmental factors regulate the large-scale patterns of plant water use efficiency and nitrogen availability across China’s forests |
| title_full | Multiple environmental factors regulate the large-scale patterns of plant water use efficiency and nitrogen availability across China’s forests |
| title_fullStr | Multiple environmental factors regulate the large-scale patterns of plant water use efficiency and nitrogen availability across China’s forests |
| title_full_unstemmed | Multiple environmental factors regulate the large-scale patterns of plant water use efficiency and nitrogen availability across China’s forests |
| title_short | Multiple environmental factors regulate the large-scale patterns of plant water use efficiency and nitrogen availability across China’s forests |
| title_sort | multiple environmental factors regulate the large scale patterns of plant water use efficiency and nitrogen availability across china s forests |
| topic | broad-leaved forest geographical transect foliar carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios nitrogen availability precipitation seasonality water use efficiency |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abe3bb |
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