Context-dependent forest carbon storage: a shift in dominance from structural complexity to large-sized trees across disturbance gradients

Ondertitel:a shift in dominance from structural complexity to large-sized trees across disturbance gradients

Korte inhoud:Forest biomass stores vast amounts of carbon, playing a vital role in biodiversity maintenance, carbon sequestration, and climate change mitigation. However, the synergistic effects of forest attributes (e.g., plant diversity, community-level functional traits, and structural complexity) on biomass carbon stock remain unclear, especially across large ecological scales. By conducting a systematic forest survey encompassing 62,842 trees in 1217 plots in southwest China, we quantified the relationships between forest attributes and carbon stock, and investigated the modulating effects of topography, climate and anthropogenic disturbance. Results demonstrated significantly positive relationships between forest carbon and tree species diversity, community-level maximum tree height and structural complexity. These relationships were modulated by elevation, precipitation, and disturbance intensity. Interestingly, the best predictor of forest carbon shifted from structural complexity in undisturbed forests to maximum tree height in disturbed ecosystems, reflecting the intensification of dominant species effect under anthropogenic disturbance. Our study reveals the critical context-dependency of forest attribute-carbon stock relationships. This finding offers a framework for carbon- and climate-targeted forest restoration across tropical and subtropical regions under similar environmental conditions, highlighting the need for strategies that synergistically manage both diversity and large-sized trees.

Jaar van publicatie:2026

Trefwoorden:Biology, Plant- en bodemkunde en technologie

Toegankelijkheid:Closed