TY - JOUR
T1 - Different responses of stem and soil CO2 efflux to pruning in a Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) plantation
AU - Yang, Qingpeng
AU - Liu, Lanlan
AU - Zhang, Weidong
AU - Xu, Ming
AU - Wang, Silong
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, Grant no. 2012CB416905), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant nos. 31200302 and 41030533), and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA05050205). We thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions. We also thank Bing Fan, Xiuyong Zhang, Zhengqi Shen, Xiaojun Yu, and Ke Huang for their assistance in the laboratory and in field experiments.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
PY - 2015/8/27
Y1 - 2015/8/27
N2 - Key message: Pruning significantly reduced stem CO2efflux, but had little effect on soil CO2efflux and root respiration.Pruning did not alter temperature sensitivity of CO2efflux from stem and soil. Abstract: Pruning is one of the common silvicultural practices for Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) plantations to produce knot-free wood. However, little is known about the effects of pruning on stem and soil CO2 efflux in Chinese fir plantations. In this study, we experimentally manipulated the canopy of Chinese fir by pruning the lower 50 % of the green crown length in a Chinese fir plantation. We monitored the effects of pruning on the stem and soil CO2 efflux, stem radial growth, xylem sap flow, and nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) concentrations. Our results showed that pruning resulted in the significant reduction of stem CO2 efflux, particularly during the growing season. Despite the removal of the lower 50 % of the green crown length, we did not observe a pronounced reduction in soil CO2 efflux and its components. Moreover, pruning had only little effect on sap flow. No significant difference was observed in the NSC concentrations between treatments in the stem cores and fine roots. We speculated that the different responses of stem and soil CO2 efflux to pruning in the Chinese fir (sprouting species) plantation may have resulted from the different carbon allocations between aboveground and belowground tissues. However, further studies are required to confirm if our findings could be applied to other tree species or ecosystems.
AB - Key message: Pruning significantly reduced stem CO2efflux, but had little effect on soil CO2efflux and root respiration.Pruning did not alter temperature sensitivity of CO2efflux from stem and soil. Abstract: Pruning is one of the common silvicultural practices for Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) plantations to produce knot-free wood. However, little is known about the effects of pruning on stem and soil CO2 efflux in Chinese fir plantations. In this study, we experimentally manipulated the canopy of Chinese fir by pruning the lower 50 % of the green crown length in a Chinese fir plantation. We monitored the effects of pruning on the stem and soil CO2 efflux, stem radial growth, xylem sap flow, and nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) concentrations. Our results showed that pruning resulted in the significant reduction of stem CO2 efflux, particularly during the growing season. Despite the removal of the lower 50 % of the green crown length, we did not observe a pronounced reduction in soil CO2 efflux and its components. Moreover, pruning had only little effect on sap flow. No significant difference was observed in the NSC concentrations between treatments in the stem cores and fine roots. We speculated that the different responses of stem and soil CO2 efflux to pruning in the Chinese fir (sprouting species) plantation may have resulted from the different carbon allocations between aboveground and belowground tissues. However, further studies are required to confirm if our findings could be applied to other tree species or ecosystems.
KW - Nonstructural carbohydrate
KW - Sap flow
KW - Soil respiration
KW - Sprouting species
KW - Stem respiration
KW - Substrate availability
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U2 - 10.1007/s00468-015-1201-8
DO - 10.1007/s00468-015-1201-8
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84933178465
VL - 29
SP - 1207
EP - 1218
JO - Trees - Structure and Function
JF - Trees - Structure and Function
SN - 0931-1890
IS - 4
ER -