Seasonal Dynamics of Nonstructural Carbon Compounds in Pine Forest

Abstract

Non-structural carbon compounds (NSCs) serve to buffer short-term imbalances between carbon supply and demand in trees; however, their seasonal dynamics throughout the entire tree remain inadequately understood. We quantified year-round non-structural carbohydrate storage and fluxes in a temperate pine forest by integrating monthly measurements of soluble sugars, starch, and lipids across five tissues with biometric scaling to ecosystem stocks. Soluble sugars were consistently highest in canopy tissues and maintained a relatively stable concentration, even as sugar fluxes exhibited pronounced seasonal variations and reversals. In contrast, starch showed clear seasonality, increasing during the mid-growing season and decreasing later, whereas lipid pools remained relatively stable and contributed minimally to short-term fluctuations. Ecosystem-scale analyses indicated that sugars predominantly contributed to NSC turnover, accounting for approximately 80% of the total annual flux, while stored pools exhibited slower changes. The net annual NSC flux, approximately 65 g C m-2 yr-1, was relatively modest in comparison to biomass production, which totaled around 522g C m-2 yr -1. These findings indicate that seasonal changes in carbon balance are primarily driven by rapid redistribution of soluble carbon rather than by significant changes in overall NSC storage.