Forest stress and decline resulting from increased river levels were investigated in Myakka River State Park (MRSP), FL, USA. Since 1977, land-use changes around the upper Myakka River watershed have resulted in significant increases in water entering the river, which have caused extensive mortality in the upper watershed. The present study assessed whether similar forest stress and mortality was occurring downstream within the park. Our objectives were to (1) determine if tree die-off and/or stress resulting from increased river levels were present in MRSP and (2) determine the relationship between historical and present river levels regimes and growth of actively managed forested stands undergoing restoration located both above and below a dam. We used two methodological approaches. The first was recording indications of tree stress and decline (crown dieback, crown thinning, trunk rot, foliage discoloration, and parasitism) in Fraxinus caroliniana Miller dominated forested wetlands, Pinus elliottii Englem. var. densa Little & Dorman dominated mesic pine flatwoods, and Quercus laurifolia Michaux dominated oak palm hammocks. Our second approach was tree-ring analyses, which allows for more detailed analyses of growth in response to precipitation and river flow (a surrogate variable for water table depth) in the pine flatwoods stands.
Our results indicate significant stress and decline in some forested wetlands upstream of the dam, significant mortality in wet-mesic pine flatwoods sites close to the river, and significant amounts of stress in wet-mesic pine flatwoods sites upstream of the dam. F. caroliniana sites located upstream of the dam had more individuals with symptoms of stress than those downstream of the dam (67% versus 43%, P=0.031). In Q. laurifolia sites, 70–85% of the trees had evidence of flooding stress and mortality, which is comparable to distributions found in severely disturbed forest in the upper watershed. P. elliottii var. densa sites located <1000 m from the river had higher mortality than sites located >1050 m from the river (P<0.01), and the stressed trees in sites upstream of the dam had significantly lower growth rates in the 1990s versus the 1960s than those downstream. Although, the onset of stress and decline coincided with increasing river levels, we found that river levels were positively correlated with tree growth, both before and after flow increases in the system. Increasing river levels may play an indirect role through increased competition in the stress and decline in wet-mesic pine flatwoods, however, increased river levels seems to be the direct cause for stress and decline found in forested wetland stands. 相似文献
Fine root turnover plays a key role in carbon(C) budgets and nutrients cycles in forest ecosystems.However,the difference between branch-order-based and diameter-based approaches in estimating fine root turnover is still unclear.We studied root biomass turnover based on multiplying root standing biomass by turnover rate(inverse of median root longevity) in two Chinese temperate tree species,Fraxinus mandshurica Rupr.and Larix gmelinii Rupr.The minirhizotron(MR) technique was used to estimate longevities for first and second order roots,and total roots(R total) apparent on the MR tube surface.The corresponding biomass for each root group was estimated by soil monolith.The difference in biomass turnover between R total and the sum of the first and second order roots was used to represent the discrepancy between diameter-and order-based approaches.First order roots had shorter life spans and higher biomass turnover rates than the second order roots in both species.Biomass turnover estimated by the order-based method for F.mandshurica and L.gmelinii were 155.4 g m-2 a-1 and 158.9 g m-2 a-1,respectively,in comparison with 99.5 g m-2 a-1 and 117.7 g m-2 a-1 estimated by the diameter-based method,indicating that the diameter-based approach underestimated biomass turnover.The most probable reason was that the order-based method enhanced separation of the heterogeneous root population into relatively homogenous root groups with varying turnover rates.We conclude that separating fine root pool into different branch orders can improve the accuracy of estimates for fine root turnover,as well as the understanding of the belowground C allocation and nutrient cycling at ecosystem level. 相似文献
