CLIMATE GRADIENTS OF Quercus spp. FOREST BIOMASS IN EURASIA
V. A. Usoltsev1,2, I. S. Tsepordey1
1Botanical Garden, Russian Academy of Sciences, Ural Branch, Yekaterinburg, Russian Federation
2Ural State Forest Engineering University, Yekaterinburg, Russian Federation
Keywords: regression models, stand biomass, biomass structure, climate change, average January temperature, average annual precipitation
Abstract
Human economic activity has led to significant global changes in the functioning of the biosphere, and the observed warming of the climate has a significant impact on the vegetation cover of the planet. Due to the species-specific responses of forest ecosystems to climate change and the complexity of their morphostructure, changes in biological productivity within biomes and continents are modeled using compiled databases of empirical data on individual tree species, taking into account their morphostructure. At the same time, priority is given to changing the biomass of forest ecosystems under the influence of annual temperatures and precipitation. However, the results of modeling responses of forest biomass to global changes in temperature and precipitation are contradictory and are characterized by significant uncertainties in the forecasts of climate-related dynamics of forest cover. This article is devoted to the study of transcontinental climate-related trends in the structure of forest biomass formed by species of the genus Quercus spp. Based on the database of 663 sample plots established from France to Japan and China, statistically significant changes in the structure of forest stand biomass associated with shifts in winter temperatures and average annual precipitation are revealed. When the temperature is expected to increase, the biomass of total, aboveground and stems may be increasing, but the biomass of foliage, branches and roots increases only in regions of sufficient moisture, but when there is a lack of precipitation, it may be decreasing. If precipitation is expected to increase at a constant temperature, the total, aboveground, underground and stem biomass may decrease, but the biomass of foliage and branches will decrease only in cold regions, and in warm regions it may increase by up to 20-30 %.
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