Effects of precipitation and temperature on rain-use efficiency of China's forests
Water plays an important role in the growth of plants. It is important to investigate the responses of different ecosystems to precipitation patterns, especially in terms of global changes involving extreme precipitation or drought. However, little is known about the rain-use efficiency (RUE) in China's forests and the correlation of the RUE with the precipitation and other environmental factors. Furthermore, it is unclear whether differences in the forest types or functional groups result in divergent RUE patterns. To investigate the RUE in China's forests, we analyzed the data from 1 266 sampling plots from 17 forest types. The results indicated that: (1) the mean RUE of China's forests is 1.21 gm-2 mm-1. The RUE and precipitation are negatively correlated in all the 17 forest types; (2) the average RUE of broadleaved forests (mainly angiosperms) is higher than that of coniferous forests (mainly gymnosperms), and the angiosperms are more adaptable to changes in the precipitation than gymnosperms; (3) the average RUE of deciduous forests is higher than that of the evergreen forests. The RUE of deciduous forests declines with increasing precipitation to a threshold value. However, the RUE of evergreen forests are unaffected by changes in the precipitation; and (4) the latitude and mean annual temperature are the major factors constraining the RUE under comprehensive environmental factors. We conclude that the mean RUE declines with increasing precipitation to a threshold value, and that the temperature is a crucial factor for RUE.
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
维普
