Disturbance history mediates climate change effects on subtropical forest biomass and dynamics

The responses of forest communities to interacting anthropogenic disturbances like climate change and logging are poorly known. Subtropical forests have been heavily modified by humans and their response to climate change is poorly understood. We investigated the nine year-change observed in a mixed conifer-hardwood Atlantic forest mosaic that included both mature and selectively-logged forest patches in subtropical South America. We used demographic monitoring data within 10 1 ha plots that were subjected to distinct management histories (plots logged until 1955, until 1987, and unlogged) to test the hypothesis that climate change affected forest structure and dynamics differentially depending on past disturbances. We determined the functional group of all species based on life-history affinities as well as many functional traits like leaf size, specific leaf area, wood density, total height, stem slenderness, and seed size data for the 66 most abundant species. Analysis of climate dat...

森林群落对气候变化、采伐等多重人为复合干扰的响应机制目前仍不甚明晰。亚热带森林已遭受人类活动的强烈改造，其对气候变化的响应同样尚未得到充分解析。本研究针对南美亚热带地区的大西洋沿岸针叶阔叶混交森林镶嵌体——涵盖成熟林与择伐林斑块——开展了为期九年的动态变化调查。我们依托10块面积为1公顷的样地的种群动态监测数据，这些样地具有差异化的经营历史：1955年终止采伐、1987年终止采伐，以及未采伐样地，以此验证“气候变化对森林结构与动态的影响因既往干扰历史而异”这一研究假说。研究基于66个优势物种的生活史属性，以及叶面积、比叶面积（specific leaf area）、木材密度（wood density）、植株总高度、茎秆细瘦度（stem slenderness）、种子大小等多项功能性状数据，明确了所有物种的功能群（functional group）划分。针对气候数据的分析……