A recent study published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences has provided new insights into how wood density in trees and shrubs adapts to different climate and soil conditions.
A recent study published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences has provided new insights into how wood density in trees and shrubs adapts to different climate and soil conditions. Led by Dr. SONG Xiang from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the research offers a more detailed understanding of vegetation responses to environmental factors, with implications for improving Earth system models and dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs).
Wood density, a critical trait for both the quality and function of plant species, plays a significant role in predicting vegetation distributions and ecosystem dynamics. However, current global models typically treat wood density as a uniform constant across plant functional types, such as broadleaf trees, needle-leaf trees, and shrubs. This generalization can lead to inaccuracies when predicting how different plant types interact with their environments.
“Our research shows that this simplification in current models could introduce serious biases,” explained Dr. SONG. “By incorporating the variability in wood density across different plant functional types and environmental gradients, we can greatly enhance the accuracy of simulations, particularly for tree morphology and forest dynamics.”
Read More: Institute of Atmospheri Physics - Chinese Academy of Science
Climate and soil factors have important effects on wood density of trees and shrubs. (Photo Credit: ZENG Xiaodong)
