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Carbon and nitrogen dynamics during forest stand development: a global synthesis
Author(s) -
Yang Yuanhe,
Luo Yiqi,
Finzi Adrien C.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
new phytologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.742
H-Index - 244
eISSN - 1469-8137
pISSN - 0028-646X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2011.03645.x
Subject(s) - ecosystem , terrestrial ecosystem , ecology , litter , forest ecology , forest floor , environmental science , nitrogen , chronosequence , carbon cycle , vegetation (pathology) , global change , nitrogen cycle , stand development , biology , climate change , chemistry , medicine , organic chemistry , pathology
Summary• Our knowledge of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) dynamics during stand development is not only essential for evaluating the role of secondary forests in the global terrestrial C cycle, but also crucial for understanding long‐term C–N interactions in terrestrial ecosystems. However, a comprehensive understanding of forest C and N dynamics over age sequence remains elusive due to the diverse results obtained across individual studies. • Here, we synthesized the results of more than 100 studies to examine C and N dynamics during forest stand development. • Our results showed that C accumulated in aboveground vegetation, litter and forest floor pools, while the mineral soil C pool did not exhibit significant changes in most studies. The rate of C changes declined with stand age and approached equilibrium during the later stage of stand development. The rate of N changes exhibited linear increases with that of C changes, indicating that N also accrued in various ecosystem components except mineral soil. • These results demonstrate that substantial increases in C pools over age sequence are accompanied by N accretion in forest ecosystems. The concurrent C and N dynamics suggest that forest ecosystems may have an intrinsic ability to preclude progressive N limitation during stand development.