Abstract:
As an alien invasive species,
Bursaphelenchus xylophlius has a great impact on the biodiversity and carbon sequestration capacity of
Pinus massoniana forests. In this study,
P.
massoniana forests infected by
B.
xylophlius for 4 years and 8 years were chosen as the research objects, and uninfected
P.
massoniana forest and evergreen broad-leaved forest were used as control groups, aiming to explore the change pattern of carbon storage of such
P.
massoniana forests. Results are presented as follows: the carbon storage of uninfected
P.
massoniana forests was the largest, surpassing the remaining (
P<0.05), followed by that of the evergreen broad-leaved forest which was much greater than those of 4-year and 8-year infected
P.
massoniana forests. The annual increment of carbon storage for the uninfected
P.
massoniana forest was the largest, ranking above the remaining obviously (
P<0.05), followed successively by those of the 4-year infected
P.
massoniana forest and the evergreen broad-leaved forest with no significant difference. The annual increment of the 8-year infected
P.
massoniana forest was the smallest, which is significantly less than the others. The relative growth rate of carbon storage of the 8-year infected
P.
massoniana forest exceeded the remaining obviously (
P<0.05), which was higher than those of the 4-year infected
P.
massoniana forest, the uninfected and evergreen broad-leaved forests successively. Simultaneously, the invasion of
B.
xylophilus would result in the distribution homogenization of carbon storage for species in
P.
massoniana forests, the accelerative succession to evergreen broad-leaved forest and the augmentation of the relative growth rate of carbon storage probably by the increase of soil total nitrogen content.