Article
Plant Sciences
Giai Petit, Maurizio Mencuccini, Marco Carrer, Angela Luisa Prendin, Teemu Holtta
Summary: The transition from sapwood to heartwood is determined by conduit widening, tree height, and height growth rate. The adjustment of xylem to maintain a constant sapwood conductance with increasing height is still under debate. The hydraulic diameter of conduit and the number of sapwood rings at stem base may not increase with height, but they may be influenced by stem elongation.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Pekka Kaitaniemi, Anna Lintunen
Summary: This study explored a simple tree height- and distance-based competition index to predict structural tree attributes in three boreal tree species growing in low to moderate densities within mixed stands. The results suggest that quantifying competitive interactions based on individual tree heights and locations has the potential to improve the prediction of tree attributes, although outcomes may vary by species.
Article
Agronomy
Aline Bornand, Nataliia Rehush, Felix Morsdorf, Esther Thurig, Meinrad Abegg
Summary: This study evaluates the correlation between individual tree volume estimation methods based on 3D reconstruction and existing models, and determines the relationship between geometric parameters obtained from laser scanning data and tree volume. The results show that geometric parameters can effectively estimate tree volume, especially for coniferous species. This is crucial for calibration and validation of biomass mapping products based on remote sensing data.
AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Anna Repo, Tuomas Rajala, Helena M. Henttonen, Aleksi Lehtonen, Mikko Peltoniemi, Juha Heikkinen
Summary: The study highlights the importance of understanding the differences in biomass accumulation rates in different types of boreal forests under varying environmental conditions, such as on peatlands and mineral soils. The developed models can have practical implications for activities such as life-cycle assessments, carbon mapping, and predicting biomass stock development.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Yong-Ju Lee, Chang-Bae Lee, Min-Ki Lee
Summary: Forest biomass and biodiversity are crucial for forest functions and ecosystem services. This study investigates the potential and methods to enhance ecosystem functions and services related to biomass and biodiversity. By analyzing data from South Korea's National Forest Inventory, we find that abiotic drivers such as stand age and climate control tree size variation, while biotic drivers control aboveground biomass (AGB) through different mechanisms depending on the stand type. Increasing tree size variation is identified as the key driver for increasing AGB as stand age increases. Our study suggests that properly managing the key drivers for each stand type and considering different regulation factors among stand types can enhance forest carbon accumulation and maintain healthy and sustainable forests.
FRONTIERS IN FORESTS AND GLOBAL CHANGE
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
W. Gareth Rees, Jack Tomaney, Olga Tutubalina, Vasily Zharko, Sergey Bartalev
Summary: Growing stock volume is a crucial parameter of forests, with estimation at regional to global scales relying on satellite remote sensing data. However, accuracies are lower over sparse boreal forests, particularly in Russia where knowledge of GSV is currently lacking.
Article
Plant Sciences
Chenyan Huang, Han Y. H. Chen, Scott X. Chang, James F. Cahill, Zilong Ma
Summary: This study investigates the effect of tree species mixtures on root systems in natural forests. The results show that species mixtures have a greater fine root length and a positive impact on forest net primary productivity, especially in older stands. These findings suggest that conserving tree species diversity can improve forest productivity and carbon sequestration.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Thomas A. M. Pugh, Rupert Seidl, Daijun Liu, Mats Lindeskog, Louise P. Chini, Cornelius Senf
Summary: Human activities have significantly affected the dynamics, structure, and function of temperate and boreal forests, leading to substantial differences compared to their natural state. Forestry activities and past land-use change have altered forest age structure and composition. These changes have important implications for carbon dynamics and forest management.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Inger Elisabeth Maren, Lila Nath Sharma
Summary: Forests play a crucial role in achieving the UN's Agenda 2030, with efforts to stop deforestation being a priority on the international sustainability agenda. This study in the central Himalayas found that protected forests have higher aboveground tree carbon, with a stronger correlation to structural diversity than biodiversity.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Erika Gonzalez-Akre, Camille Piponiot, Mauro Lepore, Valentine Herrmann, James A. Lutz, Jennifer L. Baltzer, Christopher W. Dick, Gregory S. Gilbert, Fangliang He, Michael Heym, Alejandra Huerta, Patrick A. Jansen, Daniel J. Johnson, Nikolai Knapp, Kamil Kral, Dunmei Lin, Yadvinder Malhi, Sean M. McMahon, Jonathan A. Myers, David Orwig, Diego Rodriguez-Hernandez, Sabrina E. Russo, Jessica Shue, Xugao Wang, Amy Wolf, Tonghui Yang, Stuart J. Davies, Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira
Summary: The study introduces a new integrated R package, allodb, containing a wide range of allometric equations and functions for calculating tree above-ground biomass across the global extratropics. Based on ForestGEO forest dynamics plots data, the equation dataset can be customized and expanded for different forest types.
METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Forestry
R. Schoppach, K. P. Chun, J. Klaus
Summary: Catchment-scale transpiration is commonly determined by sap-flow sensors. The quantification of catchment sapwood area (A(s)) relies on the allometric relationships between A(s) and DBH. Our study compared these relationships between Quercus species from different sites and found that topographical factors do not affect the A(s)-DBH relationship in Quercus petraea. Using parameters from other sites may lead to significant differences in A(s) calculation and forest transpiration. We recommend building site- and species-specific A(s)-DBH relationships for accurate transpiration estimation.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF FOREST RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Jacob Levine, Perry de Valpine, John Battles
Summary: This study in the White Mountains of New Hampshire synthesized data from multiple studies and found variations in biomass allometric relationships among stands and species, including subtle nonlinearities and some attribution of among-stand heterogeneity to stand age differences. This research contributes to enhancing the accuracy of live tree biomass estimation.
CANADIAN JOURNAL OF FOREST RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Agronomy
Christoforos Pappas, Nicolas Belanger, Gabriel Bastien-Beaudet, Catherine Couture, Loic D'Orangeville, Louis Duchesne, Fabio Gennaretti, Daniel Houle, Alexander G. Hurley, Stefan Klesse, Simon Lebel Desrosiers, Miguel Montoro Girona, Richard L. Peters, Sergio Rossi, Karel St-Amand, Daniel Kneeshaw
Summary: This study analyzed the sapwood characteristics of fifteen common tree species in eastern North America, identifying differences in sapwood characteristics between angiosperms and gymnosperms, which can improve the accuracy of sap flow calculations and tree water use estimates.
AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY
(2022)
Article
Forestry
Choimaa Dulamsuren
Summary: The boreal forest biome in Mongolia is experiencing degradation due to conversion of larch forests to broadleaved pioneer forests, leading to a reduction in carbon stock density. Despite decreases in biomass stocks during vegetation conversion, soil organic carbon stocks remain stable, indicating potential for carbon sequestration in pioneer forest stages. The existing estimate of the total organic carbon pool in Mongolia's boreal forest is not substantially impacted by the current level of forest conversion, but could become more relevant with progressive degradation of late-successional forests.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Forestry
Chadrack Kafuti, Jan Van den Bulcke, Hans Beeckman, Joris Van Acker, Wannes Hubau, Tom De Mil, Hulda Hatakiwe, Brice Djiofack, Adeline Fayolle, Grace Jopaul Loubota Panzou, Nils Bourland
Summary: The study revealed that H-D allometric equations at pantropical, regional, and local scales significantly underestimated the total height of Pericopsis elata. Species-level H-D allometric equations showed significant underestimations for trees from disturbed and undisturbed forests in DRC, while overestimations were observed for similar sites in Cameroon. Within a single species, a substantial variation was found between sites, driven by differences in maximum asymptotic height (Hmax).
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2022)
Article
Fisheries
Charles Hinchliffe, Paloma A. Matis, Hayden T. Schilling, Jason D. Everett, Anthony G. Miskiewicz, Pierre Pepin, Daniel S. Falster, Iain M. Suthers
Summary: Estimating demographic changes in a population requires measuring various vital rates, including population growth rate, mortality rate, and individual growth rates. This study investigates the relationship between plankton size spectra and the recruitment potential of larval Pacific sardines. Contrary to expectations, the results show a negative relationship between plankton size spectra and recruitment potential, suggesting that plankton size spectra may not directly reflect recruitment potential. However, other strong relationships between recruitment potential and physical oceanographic parameters are observed. Incorporating size-based aspects of the plankton community into a broader modeling framework could improve our understanding of larval success variation across different oceanic regions.
FISHERIES OCEANOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Anna Scaini, Giulia Vico, Josefin Thorslund, Gustaf Hugelius, Stefano Manzoni
Summary: In arable systems, nutrient losses due to hydroclimatic processes have negative impacts on agricultural productivity and the environment. This study quantifies the effects of water availability, irrigation, agricultural practices, and soil conditions on nutrient use efficiencies in 110 agricultural catchments in the United States. The results show that climatic conditions and crop choice are important drivers of nutrient use efficiencies in agricultural catchments.
GLOBAL BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES
(2023)
Letter
Ecology
Fons van der Plas, Thomas Schroeder-Georgi, Alexandra Weigelt, Kathryn Barry, Sebastian Meyer, Adriana Alzate, Romain L. Barnard, Nina Buchmann, Hans de Kroon, Anne Ebeling, Nico Eisenhauer, Christof Engels, Markus Fischer, Gerd Gleixner, Anke Hildebrandt, Eva Koller-France, Sophia Leimer, Alexandru Milcu, Liesje Mommer, Pascal A. Niklaus, Yvonne Oelmann, Christiane Roscher, Christoph Scherber, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Stefan Scheu, Bernhard Schmid, Ernst-Detlef Schulze, Vicky Temperton, Teja Tscharntke, Winfried Voigt, Wolfgang Weisser, Wolfgang Wilcke, Christian Wirth
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Stefano Manzoni, Arjun Chakrawal, Glenn Ledder
Summary: Decomposition kinetics are crucial for understanding carbon and nutrient cycling in ecosystems. A new optimization framework is proposed to consider the adaptability of microbial decomposers and their influence on decomposition rates. The study finds that the optimal decomposition kinetics are influenced by substrate concentration and the trade-off between microbial carbon-use efficiency and decomposition rate. This framework offers an alternative to empirical or process-based approaches for studying decomposition and its impact on element cycling.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Water Resources
Maoya Bassiouni, Stefano Manzoni, Giulia Vico
Summary: Plant responses to water stress affect water and carbon cycles and may have climate feedbacks, but characterizing these responses at the ecosystem level is uncertain. Quantifying ecosystem-level water use strategies is challenging due to difficulties in upscaling plant traits and disentangling environmental factors, limiting our understanding of global change in ecosystem dynamics and ecohydrological fluxes.
ADVANCES IN WATER RESOURCES
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Philip Zylstra, Grant Wardell-Johnson, Daniel Falster, Melissa Howe, Nathan McQuoid, Simon Neville
Summary: In south-western Australia, wildfire likelihood increases and then declines over several decades due to ecological controls on understorey growth, such as self-thinning and self-pruning. These controls transfer biomass from fuel to overstorey shelter, reducing flame dimensions and canopy damage.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Feng Tao, Yuanyuan Huang, Bruce A. Hungate, Stefano Manzoni, Serita D. Frey, Michael W. I. Schmidt, Markus Reichstein, Nuno Carvalhais, Philippe Ciais, Lifen Jiang, Johannes Lehmann, Ying-Ping Wang, Benjamin Z. Houlton, Bernhard Ahrens, Umakant Mishra, Gustaf Hugelius, Toby D. Hocking, Xingjie Lu, Zheng Shi, Kostiantyn Viatkin, Ronald Vargas, Yusuf Yigini, Christian Omuto, Ashish A. Malik, Guillermo Peralta, Rosa Cuevas-Corona, Luciano E. Di Paolo, Isabel Luotto, Cuijuan Liao, Yi-Shuang Liang, Vinisa S. Saynes, Xiaomeng Huang, Yiqi Luo
Summary: Soils store more carbon than other terrestrial ecosystems, but how soil organic carbon (SOC) forms and persists remains uncertain, making it challenging to predict its response to climate change. This study investigates the role of microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) in SOC persistence and finds that it is at least four times more important than other factors in determining SOC storage. Understanding the environmental dependence of microbial processes underlying CUE may help predict SOC feedback to a changing climate.
Article
Plant Sciences
Meitong Jiang, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Mengting Maggie Yuan, Jixian Ding, Etienne Yergeau, Jizhong Zhou, Thomas W. Crowther, Yuting Liang
Summary: This study found that native microbial strains originating from typical agricultural soils can promote maize growth better than commercial plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria in soils with different fertility. The colonization and positive interaction with resident microbial communities contribute to the superior performance of native strains. These findings suggest that engineering crop microbiomes using native microbes could improve food production in poor soils.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Benjawan Tanunchai, Li Ji, Olaf Schroeder, Susanne Julia Gawol, Andreas Geissler, Sara Fareed Mohamed Wahdan, Francois Buscot, Stefan Kalkhof, Ernst-Detlef Schulze, Matthias Noll, Witoon Purahong
Summary: This study investigated the degradation of Poly(butylene succinate-co-adipate) (PBSA) and its plastisphere microbiome in forest ecosystems. The results showed that forest type significantly affected the richness and fungal community composition of the plastisphere microbiome. Bacterial community composition was mainly governed by stochastic processes, while fungal community composition was influenced by both stochastic and deterministic processes. Potential keystone taxa involved in PBSA degradation, such as fungal PBSA decomposers (Tetracladium) and N2-fixing bacteria, were identified.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Leonardo de A. Galera, Tim Eckhardt, Christian Beer, Eva-Maria Pfeiffer, Christian Knoblauch
Summary: Arctic warming leads to permafrost thaw and accelerates the decomposition of soil organic matter, resulting in the release of CO2 and CH4. This study quantified the ratios of CO2:CH4 from decomposition in wet and dry tundra soils using in situ measurements. The CO2:CH4 ratios decreased sharply in the water-saturated site, with a median of 12.2 over the vegetation period. Factors such as active layer depth and soil temperature played a significant role in controlling these ratios. The study provides insights into the dynamic nature of CO2:CH4 ratios and will help improve future simulations of greenhouse gas fluxes.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-BIOGEOSCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Yuval R. R. Zelnik, Stefano Manzoni, Riccardo Bommarco
Summary: Ecosystems worldwide receive nutrients from both natural processes and human activities. While the direct effects of subsidies on primary production are well-known, the indirect effects on producers mediated by the brown food web and predators are often overlooked. Using a model, researchers found that nutrient subsidies increase net primary production, with the effect saturating at higher subsidies. Changing the subsidy quality from inorganic to organic tends to increase net primary production in terrestrial ecosystems, but has less impact in aquatic ecosystems.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Julia Le Noe, Stefano Manzoni, Rose Abramoff, Tobias Bolscher, Elisa Bruni, Remi Cardinael, Philippe Ciais, Claire Chenu, Hugues Clivot, Delphine Derrien, Fabien Ferchaud, Patricia Garnier, Daniel Goll, Gwenaelle Lashermes, Manuel Martin, Daniel Rasse, Frederic Rees, Julien Sainte-Marie, Elodie Salmon, Marcus Schiedung, Josh Schimel, William Wieder, Samuel Abiven, Pierre Barre, Lauric Cecillon, Bertrand Guenet
Summary: Numerical models are crucial for understanding and predicting soil organic carbon dynamics. Validation is important for predictive models to gain confidence in projections. However, there is a lack of independent validation using observed time series, which should be a priority to improve model reliability. Conceptual models provide insights and alternative formalisms for predictive models, but combining validation and information flow between the two types of models will increase reliability in predictions.
COMMUNICATIONS EARTH & ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Pascal Edelmann, Wolfgang W. Weisser, Didem Ambarli, Claus Baessler, Francois Buscot, Martin Hofrichter, Bjorn Hoppe, Harald Kellner, Cynthia Minnich, Julia Moll, Derek Persoh, Sebastian Seibold, Claudia Seilwinder, Ernst-Detlef Schulze, Stephan Woellauer, Werner Borken
Summary: A long-term experiment in Germany suggests that climate, soil traits, and forest structure have significant impacts on the decay process and mass loss of deadwood. Soil nutrient content and precipitation have negative effects on mass loss, while temperature has a positive effect. Forest structure has a small influence on mass loss. The results indicate that at the regional scale, organismic diversity and microbial activity have a stronger impact on the decay process than exogenous factors.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Zhaofei Wu, Yongshuo H. Fu, Thomas W. Crowther, Shuxin Wang, Yufeng Gong, Jing Zhang, Yun-Peng Zhao, Ivan Janssens, Josep Penuelas, Constantin M. Zohner
Summary: The study found a non-linear effect of temperature on the spatial variation of spring phenological responsiveness in Ginkgo biloba trees, with the highest response rate at around 12 degrees Celsius. Trees in central China are currently the most responsive, and under a high-emission scenario, the maximum responsiveness is predicted to shift 4 degrees latitude towards higher latitudes over the rest of the century. These findings provide new insights into the mechanism of spring phenology and can inform models of ecosystem functioning.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Pengfa Li, Leho Tedersoo, Thomas W. Crowther, Baozhan Wang, Yu Shi, Lu Kuang, Ting Li, Meng Wu, Ming Liu, Lu Luan, Jia Liu, Dongzhen Li, Yongxia Li, Songhan Wang, Muhammad Saleem, Alex J. Dumbrell, Zhongpei Li, Jiandong Jiang
Summary: This study builds a global atlas of phytopathogenic fungi using over 20,000 globally distributed samples, and predicts that their diversity and invasion potential will increase globally by the end of this century, especially in forest and cropland ecosystems.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
