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| Titel |
Do species traits determine patterns of wood production in Amazonian forests? |
| VerfasserIn |
T. R. Baker, O. L. Phillips, W. F. Laurance, N. C. A. Pitman, S. Almeida, L. Arroyo, A. DiFiore, T. Erwin, N. Higuchi, T. J. Killeen, S. G. Laurance, H. Nascimento, A. Monteagudo, D. A. Neill, J. N. M. Silva, Y. Malhi, G. López Gonzalez, J. Peacock, C. A. Quesada, S. L. Lewis, J. Lloyd |
| 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 ; 6, no. 2 ; Nr. 6, no. 2 (2009-02-25), S.297-307 |
| Datensatznummer |
250003438
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/bg-6-297-2009.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Understanding the relationships between plant traits and ecosystem
properties at large spatial scales is important for predicting how
compositional change will affect carbon cycling in tropical forests. In this
study, we examine the relationships between species wood density, maximum
height and above-ground, coarse wood production of trees ≥10 cm
diameter (CWP) for 60 Amazonian forest plots. Average species maximum height
and wood density are lower in Western than Eastern Amazonia and are
negatively correlated with CWP. To test the hypothesis that variation in
these traits causes the variation in CWP, we generate plot-level estimates of CWP
by resampling the full distribution of tree biomass growth rates whilst
maintaining the appropriate tree-diameter and functional-trait distributions
for each plot. These estimates are then compared with the observed values.
Overall, the estimates do not predict the observed, regional-scale pattern
of CWP, suggesting that the variation in community-level trait values does
not determine variation in coarse wood productivity in Amazonian forests. Instead,
the regional gradient in CWP is caused by higher biomass growth
rates across all tree types in Western Amazonia. Therefore, the regional
gradient in CWP is driven primarily by environmental factors, rather than
the particular functional composition of each stand. These results contrast
with previous findings for forest biomass, where variation in wood density,
associated with variation in species composition, is an important driver of
regional-scale patterns in above-ground biomass. Therefore, in tropical
forests, above-ground wood productivity may be less sensitive than biomass
to compositional change that alters community-level averages of these plant
traits. |
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