Spring phenological variability promoted by topography and vegetation assembly processes in a temperate forest landscape

Adams, Bryce T.; Matthews, Stephen N.; Iverson, Louis R.; Prasad, Anantha; Peters, Matthew P.; Zhao, Kunmin

doi:10.1016/j.agrformet.2021.108578

Cited by 9 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 81 publications

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“…Both canopy height and LMA are associated with plant productivity and competitive ability, and their variations may reflect inter‐ and intraspecific responses to environmental conditions (Poorter et al ., 2009; Huang et al ., 2018). Previous studies have also suggested significant impacts of these two traits on plant phenology within a few field sites (Osada, 2017; Adams et al ., 2021; Liu et al ., 2021; Sporbert et al ., 2022). Furthermore, canopy height and PAI can influence microclimatic conditions, such as temperature and light availability (Jucker et al ., 2018; De Frenne et al ., 2021), which can affect the occurrence of phenological events (Fisher et al ., 2006; Klosterman & Richardson, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By utilizing multi‐year average LSP, we could reduce the potential impact of yearly climate anomalies and obtain a more reliable characterization of the spatial pattern of LSP. Similar approaches have been adopted in other studies to mitigate the effects of interannual climate variations and characterize LSP spatial variability (Misra et al ., 2018; Adams et al ., 2021).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploring the role of biotic factors in regulating the spatial variability in land surface phenology across four temperate forest sites

Zhao,

Wang,

Yan

et al. 2024

New Phytologist

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Summary Land surface phenology (LSP), the characterization of plant phenology with satellite data, is essential for understanding the effects of climate change on ecosystem functions. Considerable LSP variation is observed within local landscapes, and the role of biotic factors in regulating such variation remains underexplored. In this study, we selected four National Ecological Observatory Network terrestrial sites with minor topographic relief to investigate how biotic factors regulate intra‐site LSP variability. We utilized plant functional type (PFT) maps, functional traits, and LSP data to assess the explanatory power of biotic factors for the start and end of season (SOS and EOS) variability. Our results indicate that PFTs alone explain only 0.8–23.4% of intra‐site SOS and EOS variation, whereas including functional traits significantly improves explanatory power, with cross‐validation correlations ranging from 0.50 to 0.85. While functional traits exhibited diverse effects on SOS and EOS across different sites, traits related to competitive ability and productivity were important for explaining both SOS and EOS variation at these sites. These findings reveal that plants exhibit diverse phenological responses to comparable environmental conditions, and functional traits significantly contribute to intra‐site LSP variability, highlighting the importance of intrinsic biotic properties in regulating plant phenology.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the role of biotic factors in regulating the spatial variability in land surface phenology across four temperate forest sites

Zhao,

Wang,

Yan

et al. 2024

New Phytologist

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“…On one hand, the external environmental ecosystem context is influenced by agricultural intensification, land use types, and forest management measures (Hong et al, 2021; Roy et al, 2019; Zhang, Yu, et al, 2021). On the other hand, it also depends on the multi‐directional transformation of biomass, biodiversity, and functional types caused by internal environmental factors (e.g., vegetation phenological features, ecological adaptability, and community succession) (Adams et al, 2021; Li, Shi, Zhao, & Wu, 2022; Li, Yang, & Wang, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, it also depends on the multi-directional transformation of biomass, biodiversity, and functional types caused by internal environmental factors (e.g., vegetation phenological features, ecological adaptability, and community succession) (Adams et al, 2021;Li, Shi, Zhao, & Wu, 2022;.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional vegetation community responses to soil and topographic factors in the Loess Plateau of China

Zhang

Zha

et al. 2023

Land Degrad Dev

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Given the developmental program outlined in United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 15 (Life on Land) and the to effectively address the challenge of biodiversity decline while mitigating the adverse effects of climate change, particularly drought, on terrestrial forest ecosystems, a fundamental reorientation of global forest restoration paradigms is warranted. It is imperative to move beyond a narrow emphasis on expanding forest area and instead prioritize the enhancement of biodiversity and functional attributes within these ecosystems. However, the differential response mechanisms of forest ecosystem functional communities and main plant functional types (PFTs) to environmental factors, especially soil and topography, remains unclear, especially at plant level. Here, we divided the functional communities of 93 sites in the study area into seven groups through Two‐way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN), and studied the different functional communities, namely dynamic succession, species richness, and PFT compositional differences. We also analyzed the various PFTs and functional community response mechanisms to soil and topographic factors using canonical correspondence analysis (CCA). The main results were as follows: (1) With the successional stages of PFTs, vegetation diversity across multiple functional communities inceased, tree and shrub proportions and importance increased, while herbs decreased. (2) From the arid and barren areas (i.e., G2), to the humid and fertile areas (i.e., G6 and G7), various compositional PFT differences, and their responses to soil and topographic factors, were found, namely, xerophytic, annual and biennial species gradually changed to mesophytic, hygrophytic, and perennial species (richness increased 6.94 ~ 27.33%, important value (IV) increased 8.73 ~ 29.45%) for shrubs and herbs. (3) Functional communities in various successional stages display distinct sensitivities to soil and topographic factors, as evidenced by a notable increase in the richness and IV of deciduous broad‐leaved tree species, rendering their communities more responsive to SOC and AS, whereas evergreen coniferous trees (e.g., Pinus tabuliformis Carr.) were sensitive to altitude (AL) and exhibited a tendency to transition from plantations to natural secondary forests predominantly at higher altitudes (above 1200 m). Our findings suggest that site conditions influence scenarios, and that different PFT responses and adjustments to soil and topography factors affect whole functional community dynamic succession processes, which can profoundly impact forest ecosystem function predictions based on PFT changes in the Loess Plateau of China.

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“…Still, very few studies have assessed the role of this factor in holm oak decline (e.g., Gazol et al, 2020). Likewise, previous research has shown that local topography influences how forest resilience (Carnicer et al, 2021), phenology (Adams et al, 2021), and decline (Wang et al, 2021) respond to climate variability. In this sense, topographic features together with vegetation structure strongly determine local microclimate (Bennie et al, 2008;Bramer et al, 2018;Ma et al, 2010;Scherrer & Körner, 2010) and soil water availability (Burt & Butcher, 1985;Huang et al, 2012;Tromp-van Meerveld & McDonnell, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Topography modulates climate sensitivity of multidecadal trends of holm oak decline

López‐Ballesteros,

Rodríguez‐Caballero,

Moreno

et al. 2023

Global Change Biology

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Forest decline events have increased worldwide over the last decades being holm oak (Quercus ilex L.) one of the tree species with the most worrying trends across Europe. Since this is one of the tree species with the southernmost distribution within the European continent, its vulnerability to climate change is a phenomenon of enormous ecological importance. Previous research identified drought and soil pathogens as the main causes behind holm oak decline. However, despite tree health loss is a multifactorial phenomenon where abiotic and biotic factors interact in time and space, there are some abiotic factors whose influence has been commonly overlooked. Here, we evaluate how land use (forests versus savannas), topography, and climate extremes jointly determine the spatiotemporal patterns of holm oak defoliation trends over almost three decades (1987–2014) in Spain, where holm oak represents the 25% of the national forested area. We found an increasing defoliation trend in 119 out of the total 134 holm oak plots evaluated, being this defoliation trend significantly higher in forests compared with savannas. Moreover, we have detected that the interaction between topography (which covariates with the land use) and summer precipitation anomalies explains trends of holm oak decline across the Mediterranean region. While a higher occurrence of dry summers increases defoliation trends in steeper terrains where forests dominate, an inverse relationship was found in flatter terrains where savannas are mainly located. These opposite relationships suggest different causal mechanisms behind decline. Whereas hydric stress is likely to occur in steeper terrains where soil water holding capacity is limited, soil waterlogging usually occurs in flatter terrains what increases tree vulnerability to soil pathogens. Our results contribute to the growing evidence of the influence of local topography on forest resilience and could assist in the identification of potential tree decline hotspots and its main causes over the Mediterranean region.

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Spring phenological variability promoted by topography and vegetation assembly processes in a temperate forest landscape

Cited by 9 publications

References 81 publications

Exploring the role of biotic factors in regulating the spatial variability in land surface phenology across four temperate forest sites

Exploring the role of biotic factors in regulating the spatial variability in land surface phenology across four temperate forest sites

Functional vegetation community responses to soil and topographic factors in the Loess Plateau of China

Topography modulates climate sensitivity of multidecadal trends of holm oak decline

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