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| Titel |
Landscape-scale changes in forest structure and functional traits along an Andes-to-Amazon elevation gradient |
| VerfasserIn |
G. P. Asner, C. B. Anderson, R. E. Martin, D. E. Knapp, R. Tupayachi, F. Sinca, Y. Malhi |
| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| ISSN |
1726-4170
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| Digitales Dokument |
URL |
| Erschienen |
In: Biogeosciences ; 11, no. 3 ; Nr. 11, no. 3 (2014-02-11), S.843-856 |
| Datensatznummer |
250117200
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/bg-11-843-2014.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Elevation gradients provide opportunities to explore environmental controls
on forest structure and functioning. We used airborne imaging spectroscopy
and lidar (light detection and ranging) to quantify changes in
three-dimensional forest structure and canopy functional traits in twenty
25 ha landscapes distributed along a 3300 m elevation gradient from lowland
Amazonia to treeline in the Peruvian Andes. Elevation was positively
correlated with lidar-estimated canopy gap density and understory vegetation
cover, and negatively related to canopy height and the vertical partitioning
of vegetation in canopies. Increases in canopy gap density were tightly
linked to increases in understory plant cover, and larger gaps
(20–200 m2) produced 25–30 times the response in understory cover
than did smaller gaps (< 5 m2). Vegetation NDVI and
photosynthetic fractional cover decreased, while exposed non-photosynthetic
vegetation and bare soil increased, with elevation. Scaling of gap size to
gap frequency (λ) was, however, nearly constant along the elevation
gradient. When combined with other canopy structural and functional trait
information, this suggests near-constant canopy turnover rates from the
lowlands to treeline, which occurs independent of decreasing biomass or
productivity with increasing elevation. Our results provide the first
landscape-scale quantification of forest structure and canopy functional
traits with changing elevation, thereby improving our understanding of
disturbance, demography and ecosystem processes in the Andes-to-Amazon
corridor. |
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