OOS 7 - How Climate Change Affect the Relationship Between Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functions of Forests

Organizer(s)

• GZ

  Guiyao Zhou

  Humboldt Research Fellow
  German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research, Germany

Co-Organizer(s)

• ZH

  Zhenhong Hu

  Professor
  Northwest A&F University, Shaanxi, China (People's Republic)

As the most widespread terrestrial ecosystem, forests harbour around two-thirds of all terrestrial plant species and play a key role in global carbon cycle because of their huge carbon storage and high productivity. It has been postulated that biodiversity effects may be weak or absent in forests, especially in those with high species richness, because the coexistence of so many species may require similar niches and heighten competition among species. Decrease biodiversity could affect multiple ecosystem functions such as food production, carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling, which in turn reinforce or dampen the feedback between carbon cycle and climate change. More importantly, ecosystem functions are not solely determined by biodiversity but also climate change such as drought and warming. Climate change could also alter species dynamics and interactions, resulting in rapid change in above and/or belowground biodiversity. However, we are still lacking to know how climate change affect the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functions of forests despite the fact that solely effect of climate change on biodiversity and/or ecosystem functions has been well addressed before. These may largely limit our ability to predict how above and belowground biodiversity loss affect human wellbeing and ecosystem sustainability in the Anthropocene.< br> This session aims to bring together climate change and biodiversity conservation researchers, plant community ecologists, forest restoration scholar and microbial ecologists to foster communication, identify hotspots of biodiversity and ecosystem functions, and relate them to the patterns of land-use and climatic change. Meanwhile, it explores diverse forest types including natural, plantation and urban forests, and multiple diversity including plant, litter and microbial ones. The session aims to provide new insights into fundamental questions into how above and belowground biodiversity regulate multiservice responses to climate change. Finally, this can be translated to establish a theoretical framework and restoration strategies for future biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation.

Presentations:

• 3:30 PM – 3:45 PM PDT

  Microbial respiratory thermal adaptation is regulated by r-/K-strategy dominance
  

  Presenting Author: Hongyang Chen – Research Center for Northeast Asia Carbon Sink, Center for Ecological Research, Key Laboratory of Sustainable Forest Ecosystem Management-Ministry of Education, School of Forestry, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040, China.
• 3:45 PM – 4:00 PM PDT

  The consistent temperature dependence of wood carbon fluxes across nutrient gradients
  

  Presenting Author: Zhenhong Hu – Northwest A&F University
• 4:00 PM – 4:15 PM PDT

  Impacts of herbaceous plants on the relationship between tree functional diversity and early-stage forest productivity
  

  Presenting Author: Liting Zheng – University of Michigan
• 4:15 PM – 4:30 PM PDT

  Effect of drought on soil carbon decomposition depend on microbial biodiversity in subtropical forests
  

  Presenting Author: Ruiqiang Liu – Northeast Forestry University
• 4:30 PM – 4:45 PM PDT

  The contribution of rare species to explain carbon sequestration after decades of subtropical forest rewilding
  

  Presenting Author: Kaiyan Zhai – Shenyang Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

  Co-Author: Weidong Zhang – University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

  Co-Author: Silong Wang – Huitong National Research Station of Forest Ecosystem

  Co-Author: Manuel Delgato-Baquerizo – Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (IRNAS)
• 4:45 PM – 5:00 PM PDT

  Fungi K-/r-strategy mediate drought-induced reductions in wood decomposition
  

  Presenting Author: Shuxian Jia, Jr. – East China Normal University