Disentangling the Contributions of Plant Taxonomic and Functional Diversities in Shaping Aboveground Biomass of a Restored Forest Landscape in Southern China

Restoration is essential for supporting key ecosystem functions such as aboveground biomass production. However, the relative importance of functional versus taxonomic diversity in predicting aboveground biomass during restoration is poorly studied. Here, we used a trait-based approach to test for the importance of multiple plant diversity attributes in regulating aboveground biomass in a 30-years-old restored subtropical forest in southern China. We show that both taxonomic and functional diversities are significant and positive regulators of aboveground biomass; however, functional diversity (FD) was more important than taxonomic diversity (species richness) in controlling aboveground biomass. FD had the strongest direct effect on aboveground biomass compared with species richness, soil nutrients, and community weighted mean (CWM) traits. Our results further indicate that leaf and root morphological traits and traits related to the nutrient content in plant tissues represent the existence of a leaf and root economic spectrum, and the acquisitive resource use strategy influenced aboveground biomass. Our results suggest that both taxonomic and FD play a role in shaping aboveground biomass, but FD is more important in supporting aboveground biomass in this type of environments. These results imply that enhancing FD is important to restoring and managing degraded forest landscapes.