Abstract
The effects of climate change on forest ecosystems take on increasing importance more than ever. Information on plant traits is a powerful predictor of ecosystem dynamics and functioning. We reviewed the major ecological traits, such as foliar gas exchange and nutrients, xylem morphology and drought tolerance, of Cryptomeria japonica and Chamaecyparis obtusa, which are major timber species in East Asia, especially in Japan, by using a recently developed functional trait database for both species (SugiHinokiDB). Empirically, C. obtusa has been planted under drier conditions, whereas C. japonica, which grows faster but thought to be less drought tolerant, has been planted under wetter conditions. Our analysis generally support the empirical knowledge: The maximum photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, foliar nutrient content and soil-to-foliage hydraulic conductance were higher in C. japonica than in C. obtusa. In contrast, the foliar turgor loss point and xylem pressure corresponding to 50% conductivity, which indicate drought tolerance, were lower in C. obtusa and are consistent with the drier habitat of C. obtusa. Ontogenetic shifts were also observed; as the age and height of the trees increased, foliar nutrient concentrations, foliar minimum midday water potential and specific leaf area decreased in C. japonica, suggesting that nutrient and water limitation occurs with the growth. In C. obtusa, the ontogenetic shits of these foliar traits were less pronounced. Among the Cupressaceae worldwide, the drought tolerance of C. obtusa, as well as C. japonica, was not as high. This may be related to the fact that the Japanese archipelago has historically not been subjected to strong dryness. The maximum photosynthetic rate showed intermediate values within the family, indicating that C. japonica and C. obtusa exhibit relatively high growth rates in the Cupressaceae family, and this is thought to be the reason why they have been selected as economically suitable timber species in Japanese forestry. This study clearly demonstrated that the plant trait database provides us a promising opportunity to verify out empirical knowledge of plantation management and helps us to understand effect of climate change on plantation forests by using trait-based modelling.
Highlights
There is an emerging scientific consensus that the global climate change is resulting in decreased stability in forest ecosystems [1, 2]
In contrast to our hypothesis that photosynthetic capacity and foliar N concentration are higher in fast-growing C. japonica than in slowgrowing C. obtusa, they were not significantly different between the species when presented on a foliage area basis (Amaxan, Vcmaxan, Jmaxan, Nan) (Fig 2, compare “needle” of C. japonica and “scale” of C. obtusa)
How much do the contrasts we found between C. japonica and C. obtusa in the present study account for the ranges in traits exhibited by Cupressaceae species? Here, we compare traits related to drought tolerance between the two species and other Cupressaceae species using data from [152] to gain more insight into the ecological characteristics of these species
Summary
There is an emerging scientific consensus that the global climate change is resulting in decreased stability in forest ecosystems [1, 2]. The major issues include how the ranges in which commercially important tree species are suitable for plantations will change in the future and whether climatic influence can be overridden by appropriate forest management. Answering these questions requires a basic understanding of the physiology and ecology of target tree species. Information on plant traits, that is, any physiological, morphological or phenological features measurable at the individual level [9], is widely used to predict how forests will respond to future climate change [10,11,12,13]. Trait information holds promise for better understanding of the vulnerability to drought, as well as parameterizing models with increased robustness and accuracy
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