ABSTRACT
Taking Betula ermanii forests distributed at the altitudes 1800-2050 m on the northern slope of Changbai Mountains as test objects, and using leaf carbon isotope content (813 C) as an indicator of B. ermanii water use efficiency (WUE), this paper studied the effects of altitudinal gradient on the WUE of B. ermanji forests in the area. With the increase of altitude, the soil volumetric water content (VMC) and the leaf mass per area (LMA) of B. ermanji increased significantly, while the leaf water content (LWC) and soil temperature were in adverse. There was a significant positive correlation between leaf delta13 C and altitude, with the increment of leaf delta13 C being 1.013 % per hundred x (100 m)(-1), and the leaf delta13C was positively correlated with soil VWC and LMA but negatively correlated with soil temperature and LWC. Temperature was not the sole limiting factor for the distribution of treeline in Changbai Mountains, whereas the physiological drought of B. ermanii during its growing season caused by the different water and heat conditions and their interactions along the altitudinal gradient could be the other limiting factors.
