attributable to species’ life history strategy under low light availability
in the understorey. Shade-tolerant seedlings and saplings
that can tolerate low light levels tend to grow slower and have
denser wood, resulting in higher C concentration (Elias and
Potvin, 2003; Poorter et al., 2005). However, the generality of these
results is still uncertain, given that previous studies also found positive
relationships between C concentration and tree size for
shade-tolerant tree species in tropical forests (Martin et al.,2013). Further empirical study of woody tissue C concentration,
that explicitly accounts for volatile C, is needed from different
biomes to further test the underlying effects of shade tolerance
(or other functional traits) on tree C concentration.