The correlation between the volatile organic compound emissions and the vegetation succession of the ecosystems in different climatic zones of China

Isoprene and stored volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions along the succession of ecosystem in tropical, subtropical and temper-ate areas were characterized using a portable hydrocarbon detector and GCMS-AED analysis. Isoprene emissions were observed to exhibit an ecological pattern whereby emissions were highest in early to middle successional (developmental) woodland and forest communities, and relatively low in late successional forest and peatland communities. This pattern may result from the ability of isoprene to enhance the availability of nitrogen that is deposited in the strongly nitrogen limited ecosystems. These findings from China along with the similar findings from North America, Puerto Rico, central Amazon, and central Africa point to characteristic growth form structure and VOC chemistry that ecosystems may share globally. This successional pattern would be useful in building a simple ecosystem-based, instead of painstaking species-based, model of VOC emission.