Disentangling biodiversity and climatic determinants of wood production
Vilà, Montserrat (Estación Biológica de Doñana)
Carrillo Gavilán, Ma. Amparo (Estación Biológica de Doñana)
Vayreda Duran, Jordi (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Bugmann, Harald (Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems)
Fridman, Jonas (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Department of Forest Resource Management)
Grodzki, Wojciech (Forest Research Institute (Polonia))
Haase, Josephine (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg)
Kunstler, Georges (Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologie pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (France). UR Ecosystèmes Montagnards)
Schelhaas, Mart-Jan (Alterra (Organization : Netherlands))
Trasobares, Antoni (Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems)

Date:	2013
Abstract:	Background: Despite empirical support for an increase in ecosystem productivity with species diversity in synthetic systems, there is ample evidence that this relationship is dependent on environmental characteristics, especially in structurally more complex natural systems. Empirical support for this relationship in forests is urgently needed, as these ecosystems play an important role in carbon sequestration. -Methodology/Principal Findings: We tested whether tree wood production is positively related to tree species richness while controlling for climatic factors, by analyzing 55265 forest inventory plots in 11 forest types across five European countries. On average, wood production was 24% higher in mixed than in monospecific forests. Taken alone, wood production was enhanced with increasing tree species richness in almost all forest types. In some forests, wood production was also greater with increasing numbers of tree types. Structural Equation Modeling indicated that the increase in wood production with tree species richness was largely mediated by a positive association between stand basal area and tree species richness. Mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation affected wood production and species richness directly. However, the direction and magnitude of the influence of climatic variables on wood production and species richness was not consistent, and vary dependent on forest type. - Conclusions: Our analysis is the first to find a local scale positive relationship between tree species richness and tree wood production occurring across a continent. Our results strongly support incorporating the role of biodiversity in management and policy plans for forest carbon.
Grants:	European Commission 226299 Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CSD2008-00040
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Wood production ; Biodiversity
Published in:	PloS one, Vol. 8, Issue 2 (February 2013) , p. e53530, ISSN 1932-6203

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0053530
PMID: 23437038

9 p, 771.1 KB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > CREAF (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles