Welcome to Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology! Today is Share:

Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology ›› 2018, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (5): 1373-1380.doi: 10.13287/j.1001-9332.201805.010

• Special Features of Stable Isotope Ecology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Latitudinal trends in foliar δ13C and δ15N of Quercus variabilis and their influencing factors.

LIU Jian-feng1,2, ZHANG Yu-ting1, NI Yan-yan3, HUANG Yue-ning1, JIANG Ze-ping1,3*   

  1. 1Research Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China;
    2State Forestry Administration Key Laboratory of Tree Breeding and Cultivation, Beijing 100091, China;
    3Research Institute of Forest Ecology, Environment and Protection, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China)
  • Received:2018-02-05 Online:2018-05-18 Published:2018-05-18
  • Contact: *E-mail: jiangzp@caf.ac.cn
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41371075) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Non-profit Research Institution of CAF (CAFYBB2018ZB001)

Abstract: We aimed to reveal the latitudinal trends in foliar δ13C and δ15N of Quercus variabilis, a widely distributed species in East Asia, associated with two ontogenetic stages (juvenile and mature trees) along a North-South transect (26°-40° N). The results showed that mature trees had higher foliar δ13C and δ15N values than juveniles. Foliar δ13C and δ15N values of trees with both ontogenetic stages were nonlinearly increased and decreased with latitude, respectively. No interaction between ontogenetic stage and latitude for the changes of foliar δ15N and δ13C indicated that both ontogenetic stages across the transect consistently responded to latitudinal environmental variations. Results from the random forest models indicated that foliar δ15N of Q. variabilis was mainly affected by soil nutrient contents, e.g., soil organic matter, phosphorus, nitrogen, whereas dominated factors for foliar δ13C were related to moisture, such as relative humidity, precipitation of growing season.