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A meta-analysis of experimental warming effects on woody plant growth and photosynthesis in forests

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Abstract

Increasing field experiments have been conducted in forests to better understand the response of plant growth and photosynthesis to climatic warming. However, it is still unknown whether there is a general pattern in relation to how and to what extent warming impacts woody plants in forests. In this study, a meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the warming effects. When temperatures increased between 0.3 and 10 °C, specific leaf area (SLA) was significantly increased by 5.9%, plant height by 7.8%, biomass by 21.9%, foliar calcium (Ca) and manganese (Mn) concentrations by 20.7% and 39.6% and net photosynthetic rate (Pn) by 9.9%. Enhanced growth and Pn may have a relationship with changing SLA, efficiency of PSII (photosystem II), photosynthetic pigment concentrations and foliar nutrients. The results will be useful to understand the underlying mechanisms of forests responding to global warming.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Natural History Research Center, Shanghai Natural History Museum, Branch of Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, Shanghai, China

    Yongge Yuan

  2. National Audit Office of the People’s Republic of China, Beijing, China

    Litao Ge

  3. College of Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China

    Haishui Yang

  4. College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Yongge Yuan & Weizheng Ren

Authors
  1. Yongge Yuan
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  2. Litao Ge
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  3. Haishui Yang
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  4. Weizheng Ren
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yongge Yuan.

Additional information

Project funding: This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC No. 31500416) and Research Funds for the Introduction of Talents of Shanghai Science and Technology Museum.

The online version is available at http://www.springerlink.com

Corresponding editor: Hu Yanbo.

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Yuan, Y., Ge, L., Yang, H. et al. A meta-analysis of experimental warming effects on woody plant growth and photosynthesis in forests. J. For. Res. 29, 727–733 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-017-0499-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-017-0499-z

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