Crown size-growth relationships of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) are driven by the interplay of disturbance intensity and inter-specific competition

Fichtner, Andreas; Sturm, Knut; Rickert, Corinna; Oheimb, Goddert von

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2013.03.027

Cited by 50 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…The crown profile, which is a useful predictor for crown size, has attracted the most attention as it exhibits a close relationship between species diversity and ecosystem stability [1][2][3]. The crown profile of a tree is generally characterized by simple regular geometrical shapes [4,5] or mathematical equations [6][7][8][9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Linear Mixed-Effects Models with Quantile Regression to Simulate the Crown Profile of Planted Pinus sylvestris var. Mongolica Trees

Sun¹,

Gao²,

Li³

2017

Forests

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Abstract:Crown profile is mostly related to the competition of individual trees in the stands, light interception, growth, and yield of trees. A total of 76 sample trees with a total number of 889 whorls and 3658 live branches were used to develop the outer crown profile model of the planted Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica trees in Heilongjiang Province, China. The power-exponential equation, modified Kozak equation, and simple polynomial equation were used and the model which showed the best performance was used as the basic model. The dummy variable approach was used to analyze the effect of stand age and stand density on the crown profile. Quantile regression for linear mixed-effects model, where the correlations between the series measurements on the same subject were considered, was used to model the outer crown profile. The results indicated that the power-exponential equation had the smallest error and was used as the basic model. Based on the dummy variable approach, stand age and stand density showed significant effects on the crown profile on the whole. Thus, they were directly included into the linear form of the power-exponential equation by a natural logarithm transformation to develop the quantile regression for the linear mixed-effects model. The 0.95th quantile regression model performed best in modeling the outer crown profile when compared to other quantiles. The prediction accuracy of the 0.95th quantile regression model by adding the random effects increased when compared to the quantile regression without random effect. The quantile regression for the linear mixed-effects model also showed an excellent performance in the largest crown radius prediction when compared to the quantile regression model. From suppressed trees to dominant trees, the crown radius increased, with tree size increasing for the same stand age and stand density increases. The crown radius of the suppressed trees from 21 to 40 year stands was the largest and the smallest was from older (>40 years) stands. The crown radius for both the intermediate and dominant trees from 21 to 40 year stands were similar and were larger than the younger (10-20 years) stands. The crown radius increased with tree size when the stand variables were constant. Furthermore, the crown radius increased with the increase of stand age, decreased with increasing stand density, and decreased with increased ratio of tree height to diameter at the breast height (HD) for trees with the same tree variables. Stand density had a weaker effect on the crown profile when compared to the HD. The growth rate of the crown radius of planted Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica trees increased with increasing stand age, and decreased with decreasing stand density. The growth rate of the crown radius decreased with increasing HD.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Linear Mixed-Effects Models with Quantile Regression to Simulate the Crown Profile of Planted Pinus sylvestris var. Mongolica Trees

Sun¹,

Gao²,

Li³

2017

Forests

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“…If spatially detailed information on the crown dimensions is available from TLS, such as CRmeanTLS calculated from 360 measurements, estimations of CSATLS that rely on simple geometric models seem to offer no advantages. Analyzing the same sites considered in our study, Fichtner et al (2013) showed that tree growth is related to CSA (R²>0.37-0.63), though a tree crown model developed only for the sun-exposed crown was mistakenly applied to the whole crown, thereby ignoring the usually assumed differences in shape between the sunexposed and the shaded part, as presented here and elsewhere (Pretzsch et al 2002, Pretzsch 2010.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…Since crown dimensions of such trees are overestimated, their diameter growth may mistakenly be interpreted as lower than expected, which may lead to misinterpretations. In their study at the same sites, Fichtner et al (2013) concluded that the growth efficiency of beech trees in managed forests, which had been released from competition and which were characterized by large crowns, was lower than that of trees with shallow crowns in an unmanaged stand. Actually, no difference in mean growth efficiency (basal area increment per m 2 crown projection area) between managed and unmanaged trees exists if the regression equation in Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Actually, no difference in mean growth efficiency (basal area increment per m 2 crown projection area) between managed and unmanaged trees exists if the regression equation in Fig. 6 is used for calculating the "true" crown projection areas for the trees investigated in Fichtner et al (2013). This is in line with the comprehensive study of Pretzsch & Schütze (2009) who found that dominant beech at a given age does hardly change its crown efficiency but immediately starts to occupy new space by enlarging its crown.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Relationship between tree growth and physical dimensions of Fagus sylvatica crowns assessed from terrestrial laser scanning

Seidel¹,

Schall²,

Gille³

et al. 2015

iForest

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, Christian Ammer (2) Measurements of physical tree crown dimensions were of subjective character in the past, even though they can be considered important for the management of many silvicultural operations, such as timing of thinning operations. In our study we investigated if and how measures of physical crown dimensions of trees differed when quantified conventionally versus based on 3D-terrestrial laser scanning and how they are related to basal area increment. Some 24 randomly selected predominant or dominant beech trees between 90 and 110 yrs of age and of varying height were used as study trees. We hypothesized that tree crown dimensions obtained from scans are more closely related to tree radial growth than those obtained from conventional field measurements. It was found that from a variety of compared crown size characteristics the scan-based tree attributes mean crown radius, maximum area of the crown and crown projection area were most closely related to individual tree growth. We conclude that the horizontal extension of a tree crown in general is to be considered one of the most important drivers of tree growth. We also conclude that terrestrial laser scanning is a powerful tool to reliably measure physical crown dimensions and TLS-based measurements are more reliable than conventional ones.

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“…However, such studies with multitemporal point cloud data analyses are rare, mainly focusing on standard tree dendrometrics or wood volume estimations (Liang et al., 2012; Srinivasan et al., 2014). Our new method is, thus, a very promising approach which should lead to important advances in several aspects of forest ecological research, such as investigations on crown growth, morphology and plasticity (Longuetaud, Piboule, Wernsdörfer, & Collet, 2013; Schröter, Härdtle, & von Oheimb, 2012), canopy structures and canopy packing (Jucker, Bouriaud, Coomes, & Baltzer, 2015; Morin, 2015; Pretzsch, 2014), crown‐related tree interactions and competition (Fichtner, Sturm, Rickert, von Oheimb, & Härdtle, 2013; Lang et al., 2012; Potvin & Dutilleul, 2009; Thorpe, Astrup, Trowbridge, & Coates, 2010), and niche differentiation and spatial complementarity (Ishii & Asano, 2010; Sapijanskas, Paquette, Potvin, Kunert, & Loreau, 2014; Williams, Paquette, Cavender‐Bares, Messier, & Reich, 2017), including changes over time.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A high‐resolution approach for the spatiotemporal analysis of forest canopy space using terrestrial laser scanning data

Hess

Härdtle

Kunz

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Forest canopies and tree crown structures are of high ecological importance. Measuring canopies and crowns by direct inventory methods is time‐consuming and of limited accuracy. High‐resolution inventory tools, in particular terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), is able to overcome these limitations and obtain three‐dimensional (3D) structural information about the canopy with a very high level of detail. The main objective of this study was to introduce a novel method to analyze spatiotemporal dynamics in canopy occupancy at the individual tree and local neighborhood level using high‐resolution 3D TLS data. For the analyses, a voxel grid approach was applied. The tree crowns were modeled through the combination of two approaches: the encasement of all crown points with a 3D α‐shape, which was then converted into a voxel grid, and the direct voxelization of the crown points. We show that canopy occupancy at individual tree level can be quantified as the crown volume occupied only by the respective tree or shared with neighboring trees. At the local neighborhood level, our method enables the precise determination of the extent of canopy space filling, the identification of tree–tree interactions, and the analysis of complementary space use. Using multitemporal TLS data recordings, this method allows the precise detection and quantification of changes in canopy occupancy through time. The method is applicable to a wide range of investigations in forest ecology research, including the study of tree diversity effects on forest productivity or growing space analyses for optimal tree growth. Due to the high accuracy of this novel method, it facilitates the precise analyses even of highly plastic individual tree crowns and, thus, the realistic representation of forest canopies. Moreover, our voxel grid framework is flexible enough to allow for the inclusion of further biotic and abiotic variables relevant to complex analyses of forest canopy dynamics.

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Crown size-growth relationships of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) are driven by the interplay of disturbance intensity and inter-specific competition

Cited by 50 publications

References 40 publications

Using Linear Mixed-Effects Models with Quantile Regression to Simulate the Crown Profile of Planted Pinus sylvestris var. Mongolica Trees

Using Linear Mixed-Effects Models with Quantile Regression to Simulate the Crown Profile of Planted Pinus sylvestris var. Mongolica Trees

Relationship between tree growth and physical dimensions of Fagus sylvatica crowns assessed from terrestrial laser scanning

A high‐resolution approach for the spatiotemporal analysis of forest canopy space using terrestrial laser scanning data

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