Fig. 4.

Contrasting clonal bamboo growth forms in China, with implications for spatial and temporal patterns of soil carbon and nutrient dynamics. Bamboo species vary in phalanx vs. guerrilla growth form and degree of woodiness, while some species also show synchronized stem mortality on decadal time scales against leaf turnover on an annual cycle. All this, in combination with large interspecific variation in decomposability for both bamboo leaves and stems (G. F. Liu et al., unpubl. res.), could result in differential effects of different bamboo species on soil carbon and nutrient dynamics in both space and time. (A) Phyllostachys pubescens on Mount Jinyun, Chongqing, with guerrilla growth form. (B) Dendrocalamus spec. in Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical garden, with phalanx (clumped) growth form. Photos by J. H. C. Cornelissen.