Dominant Species in Subtropical Forests Could Decrease Photosynthetic N Allocation to Carboxylation and Bioenergetics...

It is important to understand how eco-physiological characteristics shift in forests when elucidating the mechanisms underlying species replacement and the process of succession and stabilization. In this study, the dominant species at three typical successional stages (early-, mid-, and late-succession) in the subtropical forests of China were selected. At each stage, we compared the leaf construction costs (CC), payback time (PBT), leaf area based N content (N_A), maximum CO₂ assimilation rate (P_max), specific leaf area (SLA), photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency (PNUE), and leaf N allocated to carboxylation (N_C), and to bioenergetics (N_B). The relationships between these leaf functional traits were also determined. The results showed that the early-succession forest is characterized with significantly lower leaf CC, PBT, N_A, but higher P_max, SLA, PNUE, N_C, and N_B, in relation to the late-succession forest. From the early- to the late-succession forests, the relationship between P_max and leaf CC strengthened, whereas the relationships between N_B, N_C, PNUE, and leaf CC weakened. Thus, the dominant species are able to decrease the allocation of the photosynthetic N fraction to carboxylation and bioenergetics during forest succession. The shift in these leaf functional traits and their linkages might represent a fundamental physiological mechanism that occurs during forest succession and stabilization.