Factors controlling Eucalyptus productivity: How water availability and stand structure alter production and carbon allocation

Wood production varies substantially with resource availability, and the variation in wood production can result from several mechanisms: increased photosynthesis, and changes in partitioning of photosynthesis to wood production, belowground flux, foliage production or respiration. An understanding...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Forest ecology and management 2010-04, Vol.259 (9), p.1695-1703
Main Authors: Ryan, Michael G., Stape, Jose Luiz, Binkley, Dan, Fonseca, Sebastiao, Loos, Rodolfo A., Takahashi, Ernesto N., Silva, Claudio R., Silva, Sergio R., Hakamada, Rodrigo E., Ferreira, Jose Mario, Lima, Augusto M.N., Gava, Jose Luiz, Leite, Fernando P., Andrade, Helder B., Alves, Jacyr M., Silva, Gualter G.C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aboveground productivity
Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions
Allocation
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Belowground
Biochemistry and biology
Biological and medical sciences
Brazil Eucalyptus Productivity Project (BEPP)
carbon
Carbon allocation
Carbon budget
Carbon partitioning
Carbon sequestration
Chemical, physicochemical, biochemical and biological properties
dry matter partitioning
estimation
Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus production
forest growth
forest plantations
forest trees
forest yields
Forestry
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Irrigation
Irrigation. Drainage
light
Light-use efficiency
photorespiration
photosynthesis
Physics, chemistry, biochemistry and biology of agricultural and forest soils
primary productivity
site productivity
Soil respiration
Soil science
Soil tillage. Irrigation. Drainage
stand structure
Synecology
Terrestrial ecosystems
tree growth
tropical forests
tropical wood
water
wood growth
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Summary:Wood production varies substantially with resource availability, and the variation in wood production can result from several mechanisms: increased photosynthesis, and changes in partitioning of photosynthesis to wood production, belowground flux, foliage production or respiration. An understanding of the mechanistic basis for patterns in wood production within a stand and across landscapes requires a complete annual carbon budget. We measured annual carbon flows to wood production, foliage production and total belowground carbon flux (the sum of root production, root respiration, and mycorrhizal production and respiration) from ages three to five years in clonal Eucalyptus plantations at four sites in Brazil to test if fertility, water availability and stand structure changed wood production and by what mechanism. We also quantified the patterns in light interception and the efficiency of light use to provide additional mechanistic insights into growth responses and to determine if light-use efficiency was related to changes in flux and partitioning. The routine level of forest fertilization at these four sites was high enough that further increases in nutrient supply did not increase wood growth. Irrigation increased wood net primary productivity (age three to five) from 1.45 to 1.84 kg m −2 year −1 of C (27%), because of increases in light interception (5%), photosynthetic efficiency (from 0.028 to 0.031 mol C/mol photons absorbed, 11%), gross primary productivity (from 3.62 to 4.28 m −2 year −1 of C, 18%), and partitioning to wood (from 0.397 to 0.430 of photosynthesis, 8%). These changes increased light-use efficiency by 20%. Annual flux belowground varied among sites from 0.43 to 1.0 m −2 year −1 of C but did not vary with water availability. Across the four sites for the irrigated and unirrigated treatments, light-use efficiency was positively correlated with gross primary productivity and partitioning to wood production. Increasing heterogeneity of stand structure (resulting from staggered timing of planting within plots) led to a 14% loss in wood biomass relative to uniform stand structure at age six. Light-use efficiency, gross primary productivity, and wood net primary productivity were lower, but not significantly so, in heterogeneous compared to uniform stands.
ISSN:0378-1127
1872-7042
DOI:10.1016/j.foreco.2010.01.013