Tree species traits but not diversity mitigate stem breakage in a subtropical forest following a rare and extreme ice storm.

ABSTRACT: Future climates are likely to include extreme events, which in turn have great impacts on ecological systems. In this study, we investigated possible effects that could mitigate stem breakage caused by a rare and extreme ice storm in a Chinese subtropical forest across a gradient of forest diversity. We used Bayesian modeling to correct stem breakage for tree size and variance components analysis to quantify the influence of taxon, leaf and wood functional traits, and stand level properties on the probability of stem breakage. We show that the taxon explained four times more variance in individual stem breakage than did stand level properties; trees with higher specific leaf area (SLA) were less susceptible to breakage. However, a large part of the variation at the taxon scale remained une

SUBMITTER: Nadrowski K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4039427 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature