Biogeosciences www.biogeosciences.net 1726-4170 1726-4189 6 9 2009 10.5194/bg-6-1839-2009 http://www.biogeosciences.net/6/1839/2009/ http://www.biogeosciences.net/6/1839/2009/bg-6-1839-2009.html http://www.biogeosciences.net/6/1839/2009/bg-6-1839-2009.pdf 1839 1848 2009-09-01 Applying biomass and stem fluxes to quantify temporal and spatial fluctuations of an old-growth forest in disturbance S. Liu Y.-L. Li G.-Y. Zhou gyzhou@scbg.ac.cn K. O. Wenigmann Y. Luo D. Otieno J. Tenhunen South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China Agro-Environmental Protection Institute, Ministry of Agriculture, Tianjin 300191, China Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China Barr Engineering, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55435, USA Climatic and Agrometeorological Center of Guangdong Province, Guangzhou 510080, China Department of Plant Ecology, University of Bayreuth, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany These authors contribute equally to this work. A subtropical old-growth forest was studied over a twelve-year period to investigate temporal and spatial fluctuations of biomass and stem fluxes under disturbances. Vegetations were categorized into three types according to disturbances caused by biotic and abiotic factors, including <i>Castanopsis chinensis</i> population, insect direct-influenced population, and insect indirect-influenced population according to disturbance scenarios. The biomass fluxes (growth and mortality) and stem fluxes (stem recruitment and mortality) were used to quantify population fluctuations. Annual average biomass growth rate was stable throughout the study while annual biomass mortality and stem fluxes increased consistently. <i>C. chinensis</i> population predominantly contributed to biomass fluxes of the community. Biomass and stem mortalities of insect direct-influenced population increased significantly during the whole study period (1992–2004). 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