title: Tree species traits but not diversity mitigate stem breakage in a subtropical forest following a rare and extreme ice storm.
abstract: Future climates are likely to include extreme events, which in turn have great impacts on ecological systems. In this study, we investigated possible effects that could mitigate stem breakage caused by a rare and extreme ice storm in a Chinese subtropical forest across a gradient of forest diversity. We used Bayesian modeling to correct stem breakage for tree size and variance components analysis to quantify the influence of taxon, leaf and wood functional traits, and stand level properties on the probability of stem breakage. We show that the taxon explained four times more variance in individual stem breakage than did stand level properties; trees with higher specific leaf area (SLA) were less susceptible to breakage. However, a large part of the variation at the taxon scale remained unexplained, implying that unmeasured or undefined traits could be used to predict damage caused by ice storms. When aggregated at the plot level, functional diversity and wood density increased after the ice storm. We suggest that for the adaption of forest management to climate change, much can still be learned from looking at functional traits at the taxon level.
authors.affiliation: Systematic Botany and Functional Biodiversity, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nadrowski
authors.affiliation: Systematic Botany and Functional Biodiversity, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Katherina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pietsch
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baruffol
authors.affiliation: Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Both
authors.affiliation: Department of Soil Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Halle, Germany.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gutknecht
authors.affiliation: Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
authors.forename: Helge
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bruelheide
authors.affiliation: Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
authors.forename: Heike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Heklau
authors.affiliation: Systematic Botany and Functional Biodiversity, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kahl
authors.affiliation: Waldbau-Institut, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Tiemo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kahl
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Niklaus
authors.affiliation: Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
authors.forename: Wenzel
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kröber
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xiaojuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xiangcheng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Mi
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Halle, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Michalski
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ecology, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Lüneburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Goddert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: von Oheimb
authors.affiliation: German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Purschke
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schmid
authors.affiliation: Gutianshan National Nature Reserve, Kaihua, China.
authors.forename: Teng
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Welk
authors.affiliation: Systematic Botany and Functional Biodiversity, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wirth
mesh_terms: D001499:Bayes Theorem; D044822:Biodiversity; D055907:Climatic Processes; D065928:Forests; D007053:Ice / Q000009:adverse effects; D018547:Plant Stems / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D014197:Trees / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000235:genetics; D014329:Tropical Climate
chemical_list: D007053:Ice