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Characteristics of canopy stomatal conductance in plantations of three revegetation tree species and its sensitivity to environmental factors.

HU Yan-ting, ZHAO Ping, NIU Jun-feng, SUN Zhen-wei, ZHU Li-wei   

  1. (Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China)
  • Online:2015-09-18 Published:2015-09-18

Abstract:

In plantations of three different re-vegetation tree species (Schima superba, Acacia auriculaeformis and Eucalyptus citriodora) in southern China, the stem sap flow of individuals at different DBH classes were monitored using Granier’s thermal dissipation probes. With synchronouslymeasured meteorological data, the canopy stomatal conductance (gc) was determined and the responses of gc to environmental variables were analyzed. We found that daytime mean gc in S. superba forest on average was significantly higher than those of A. auriculaeformis and E. citriodora plantations during a year (except in March). In the three plantations, gc was positively logarithmically correlated with photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) (P<0.001), with a higher sensitivity of gc to PAR during wet season than that of dry season. By contrast, a negative logarithmical correlation between gc and vapor pressure deficit (VPD) was observed, with a higher sensitivity of gc to VPD during the wet season. Additionally, a higher partial correlation coefficient between gc and VPD was observed during wet season, indicating that VPD played a more important role in regulating the behavior of stomata during wet season. In general, the sensitivity of gc to VPD decreased with the decreases of soil water content, but more manifest decreases were found in S. superba and E. citriodora forests than in A. auriculaeformis plantation, while the descend degree in S. superba and E. citriodora forests were equal. Overall, our results demonstrated that the native species S. superba is more suitable for revegetation in southern China than the exotic species A. auriculaeformis and E. citriodora.