Mark Ping (right), Liu Xiaojuan (middle) and Professor Bernhard Schmid of the University of Zurich at the BEF-China experimental plot courtesy of interviewees
Mark Ping (right), Liu Xiaojuan (middle) and Professor Bernhard Schmid of the University of Zurich at the BEF-China experimental plot courtesy of interviewees Three years ago, the team of researcher Mark Ping of the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and collaborators proved that the productivity and carbon storage of mixed forests are twice that of pure forests
In a study published in "Nature-Ecology and Evolution" on November 5th, they unlocked the tree species combination based on 200,000 trees planted by "Baoshantou" 10 years ago
Therefore, planting mixed forests with high functional diversity can better achieve a win-win situation for carbon sequestration and productivity
10 years of data drawing "combined boxing" spectrum
10 years of data drawing "combined boxing" spectrum Natural vegetation carbon sequestration is an important way to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality, and planting mixed forests has a multi-win effect on high forest yield, mitigating climate change and protecting biodiversity
But where to plant, what to plant, and how to fight this set of tree-planting "combined boxing" is not only a problem that has plagued the international academic community for a long time, but also the "old difficulty" faced by relevant decision-making departments and actual forest planters
In order to thoroughly understand the relationship between forest biodiversity and ecosystems, and to solve more important scientific issues, in 2009, scientists from China, Germany and Switzerland established the "Experimental Research on China’s Subtropical Forest Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function" (BEF-China)” platform, a few mountains were “wrapped” in Xingangshan Town, Dexing City, Jiangxi Province, and a 50-hectare large-scale forest biodiversity control experimental plot was built.
Mark Ping, the person in charge of the BEF-China platform, told the China Science Daily that there are currently 28 forest diversity experimental plots in the world.
Although the research team based on BEF-China's tamped data three years ago proved that the output of mixed forest is twice that of pure forest, more than half of the forests that have been planted and planned to be restored in the world are still aimed at increasing wood production.
"We must further solve the specific problem of how to combine in order to better guide the actual afforestation work
Based on the monitoring data of 200,000 trees planted in BEF-China for ten consecutive years, the research team evaluated the impact of community traits (CWM) and functional diversity (FD) on community productivity based on 38 plant functional traits.
"These 38 traits include leaf economic spectrum, leaf structure, leaf element content, stomatal conductance, stem and leaf hydraulic properties and other different types, covering almost most of the above-ground functional traits of trees
Chinese Academy of Sciences Regarding the experiment using two indexes of community traits and functional diversity to characterize community functional characteristics, she explained, “Because the abundance and density of each species in the experiment are uniformly designed, the mean community traits are the functions of all species in the plot.
The study found that with the growth of tree age, especially after the 7th year, the impact of forests with high functional diversity on productivity is gradually greater than that of forests with low functional diversity or high average community traits
"The greater the difference in the traits of the tree species in the forest, the greater the possibility of ecological complementarity and the greater the ecosystem functions that can be produced
More reliable experiments
More reliable experiments It is worth mentioning that this is the world's first large-scale forest diversity control experiment to prove that plant functional traits are a reliable method for guiding forest restoration and reforestation
In fact, there are many international teams that have conducted research on the relationship between forest functional diversity and ecosystems, but the time span of these studies is relatively short
.
"The long-term benefits brought by functional diversity will take longer to be seen
.
The seventh year is the time when the canopy of the study community begins to close, and it is also the node where significant changes have taken place in the study.
Only short-term data cannot be observed.
of
.
"Liu Xiaojuan representation
.
Only solid data can obtain more reliable scientific results
.
From the beginning of the construction of the experimental plots, the researchers carefully designed what to plant per mu of land and how much to plant
.
In the end, they took 1 mu as the smallest plot and constructed a total of 566 plots, and 400 trees were planted in each 1 mu plot
.
The forest appearance and diversity of the BEF-China sample plots after ten years of planting
The forest appearance and diversity of the BEF-China sample plots after ten years of planting In order to bring them closer to the natural forest structure, the highest level of diversity in the experiment was set to 24 species of trees per acre
.
However, the real afforestation practice is out of the experimental plot.
If you change a batch of species, will you get the same conclusion?
To this end, the research team designed 10 different species pools and tested whether the effects of 38 traits on productivity are consistent in the 10 species pools
.
"If most of the 10 species pools have the same impact on productivity by the community functional characteristics of most species pools, we believe that the results of the study will not be affected by the species pool, and vice versa
.
" Liu Xiaojuan told reporters
.
The results showed that the functional diversity of 31 traits showed a consistent positive effect on productivity, while only the mean value of community traits of 8 traits showed a consistent positive effect on productivity
.
"That is to say, the impact of functional diversity on productivity does not depend on the specific species in the community
.
If a group of species is changed, the research conclusions are also applicable
.
" Liu Xiaojuan said
.
In addition, through model predictions, researchers have found that in the next 10 or even 20 years, forests with high functional diversity will have a greater impact and reliability on productivity
.
Except for extreme climate change, this rule may be broken
.
From "Baoshan People" to "Orderers"
From "Baoshan People" to "Orderers" From a dozen years ago in Tongshan Zhuozhuo, to the present day, there are many trees
.
Whenever he sets foot on the experimental plot, Markpin feels very excited
.
In his opinion, if the people inside the high wall want to see the outside world, they need a ladder, and BEF-China is the "ladder" that realizes the long-distance climbing, "only standing on a larger platform, To see more and see farther
.
"
Today, more than 20 research teams from all over the world use the BEF-China platform to carry out scientific research every year, and there are more than 160 scientific research papers based on the BEF-China platform.
"This is very important to promote the development of the discipline
.
" Mark Ping said
.
In fact, when BEF-China was first proposed, some people thought it was a strategic idea, and some people worried that it would be difficult to achieve results after time-consuming and laborious work
.
However, Mark Ping is well aware that in the process of loss of biodiversity, the negative impact on the ecosystem has already begun
.
"We must understand the quantitative relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functions
.
"
However, Baoshan afforestation is not easy
.
When they were busiest, they had to hire more than 100 villagers to participate in planting and weeding every day.
Among those involved, there were many graduate students who were often tired to sleep on the ground
.
As the research results brought by BEF-China have received more and more attention, in recent years, many people have approached the Makoping team, hoping that they would help guide practical work such as ecological restoration and afforestation
.
In the face of such "orders", Mark Ping did not dare to accept at first, because scientific research is going to be applied, and many links are involved, such as management costs, investment benefits, environmental heterogeneity in various regions, and difficulty in raising seedlings.
.
"However, if scientific research can be applied to production practice, it is also a way to realize the value of research, and it will be a real help to local forestry production
.
"
Not long ago, Mark Ping led the team to take over the "list" guiding the ecological restoration planning of Qianjiangyuan National Park, in order to help degraded ecosystems achieve near-naturalization of the ecological environment and maximize ecosystem functions after restoration
.
And this work uses scientific conclusions based on the research of the BEF-China platform
.
In the future, they hope that through more attempts and accumulation, they will gradually receive more "lists" of production practices to actually guide forestry production and ecological restoration
.
"To do macrobiological research, on the one hand, we must have a strategic vision and long-term consideration.
Without a good research platform and long-term efforts, we will not be able to answer important scientific questions with good data; on the other hand, we must carry out extensive and in-depth international research.
Cooperation, only in this way can we continuously deepen our understanding of scientific issues
.
" Mark Ping said
.
(Source: Tian Ruiying, China Science News)
Related paper information: https://doi.
org/10.
1038/s41559-021-01564-3
https://doi.
org/10.
1038/s41559-021-01564-3
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