Abstract: Drastic climate change over past decades has seriously affected the structure and function of forest ecosystems, making Tibetan Plateau one of the hotspots for exploring the response of forest to climate change. In this study, we used a forest ecosystem process model and set up four simulation scenarios to simulate the dynamics of Chuanxi spruce (Picea likiangensis var.rubescens) forest biomass at different elevations and different stand ages under various climate change scenarios. The variation rates of biomass among different climate change scenarios were used to quantify the response intensity of Chuanxi spruce forest biomass to climate change. The results showed that future climate warming would increase Chuanxi spruce forest biomass and that the increment in biomass was positively correlated with the magnitude of climate warming (P<0.05). With the increases of elevation, the response of biomass to climate change showed an increasing trend. In the short and mid-term, the biomass of young forests showed the stronger response to climate change; but in the long-term, the biomass of middle-aged forests showed the stronger response to climate change.

Key words: Picea likiangensis var.rubescens, ecosystem process model, biomass simulation, stand age.