Temperature controls growth of Pinus taiwanensis along an elevational gradient
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Temperature controls growth of Pinus taiwanensis along an elevational gradient Min Lyu1,2,5 · Mengke Sun1,2 · Josep Peñuelas3,4 · Jordi Sardans3,4 · Jun Sun1,2 · Xiaoping Chen1,2 · Quanlin Zhong1,2 · Dongliang Cheng1,2 Received: 17 March 2020 / Accepted: 5 October 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Alpine treelines are thought to be controlled by low temperature, which affects tree physiology and limits growth. Irrespective of carbon and nutrient limitations are physiological mechanisms affecting the formation of alpine treelines still needs to be defined. We measured the rates of tree growth (basal area increment, BAI), nutrient concentrations in leaves and roots, foliar concentration of nonstructural carbohydrates (NSCs), and gas exchange in Pinus taiwanensis at five elevations (1200, 1400, 1600, 1800, and 2000 m) in the Wuyi Mountains, China. Leaves and roots were sampled twice (summer and winter). The soil nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations and BAI were measured during the summer. We analyzed the foliar traits in summer and winter. The N:P ratio was also analyzed. BAI decreased significantly as elevation increased, accompanied by increases in foliar NSC, N, and P concentrations in both summer and winter. The root P concentration increased with elevation in summer, but the foliar N:P ratio and root N and P concentrations were not affected by elevation in winter. Foliar photosynthesis and respiration did not change in winter, but increased in summer as elevation increased. These results suggest that C and nutrients may not be limiting resources in P. taiwanensis at this alpine treeline site, which instead may be controlled by temperature. P. taiwanensis at alpine treelines accumulates C and nutrient to increase its rates of biochemical reactions at low temperatures. Keywords Alpine treeline · Carbon storage · Nutrient limitation · Foliar traits · Gas exchange · Pinus taiwanensis
Introduction Alpine treelines represent a type of landscape boundary in which forests give way to shorter alpine vegetation along a relatively narrow elevational gradient (Hoch and Körner Communicated by G. Weiser. * Dongliang Cheng [email protected] 1
Key Laboratory of Humid Subtropical Eco‑Geographical Processes, Ministry of Education, Fuzhou 350007, Fujian, China
2
Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Ecophysiology, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350007, Fujian, China
3
Global Ecology Unit, CSIC, CREAF‐CSIC‐UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain
4
CREAF, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Catalonia, Spain
5
School of Urban and Rural Construction, Shaoyang University, Shaoyang 422000, Hunan, China
2012). Alpine treelines globally have been thought to be physiologically controlled by low temperatures and thus are considered to be strongly affected by global warming (Körner, 1998, 2012). Supporting evidence includes the relationships between treeline position and temperature isotherms (Grace et al. 2002; Körner and Paulsen 2004), fluctuation
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