Individual-tree radial growth in a subtropical broad-leaved forest: The role of local neighbourhood competition

Oheimb, Goddert von; Lang, Anne; Bruelheide, Helge; Forrester, David I.; Wäsche, Ilka; Yu, Mingjian

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2010.10.035

Cited by 91 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…This finding strongly points to belowground competition for water as the likely mechanism generating competitive suppression of growth rates, as has been suggested by other studies of woody plant spatial patterns in the region (Franz et al 2011(Franz et al , 2012. Studies of competition among trees in forests generally show increased performance of models utilizing crown area to describe tree size, reflective of size-asymmetric competition for light typical in wetter systems (e.g., von Oheimb et al 2011, Fraver et al 2014. Water limitations and drought seasonality characteristic of tropical savannas shift the primary limiting factor to belowground resources.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

Spatial vegetation patterns and neighborhood competition among woody plants in an East African savanna

Dohn

Augustine

Hanan

et al. 2017

Ecology

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Abstract. The majority of research on savanna vegetation dynamics has focused on the coexistence of woody and herbaceous vegetation. Interactions among woody plants in savannas are relatively poorly understood. We present data from a 10-yr longitudinal study of spatially explicit growth patterns of woody vegetation in an East African savanna following exclusion of large herbivores and in the absence of fire. We examined plant spatial patterns and quantified the degree of competition among woody individuals. Woody plants in this semiarid savanna exhibit strongly clumped spatial distributions at scales of 1-5 m. However, analysis of woody plant growth rates relative to their conspecific and heterospecific neighbors revealed evidence for strong competitive interactions at neighborhood scales of up to 5 m for most woody plant species. Thus, woody plants were aggregated in clumps despite significantly decreased growth rates in close proximity to neighbors, indicating that the spatial distribution of woody plants in this region depends on dispersal and establishment processes rather than on competitive, density-dependent mortality. However, our documentation of suppressive effects of woody plants on neighbors also suggests a potentially important role for tree-tree competition in controlling vegetation structure and indicates that the balanced-competition hypothesis may contribute to well-known patterns in maximum tree cover across rainfall gradients in Africa.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

Spatial vegetation patterns and neighborhood competition among woody plants in an East African savanna

Dohn

Augustine

Hanan

et al. 2017

Ecology

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“…Since quantitative information about previous management or natural disturbances is often unreliable or unavailable, most studies specifically focus on stands that are close to the maximum stand density and select at least one plot for each treatment at each site [52,53]. When this cannot be done, these factors have been accounted for by using structured equation models [3, 4•, 49•], multiple regression and grouping the data by site and density [54], and by analyzing tree-level patterns using neighborhood indices [45,55,56].…”

Section: Stand Densitymentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Processes Behind Diversity—Productivity Relationships in Forests

2016

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Through complementarity interactions, mixedspecies forests can be more productive than monocultures, and this effect can increase with tree-species richness. However, this is not always the case. This review examines the processes and stand structural attributes that can influence diversity-productivity relationships (DPRs); how they influence resource availability, resource uptake, and resource-use efficiency; and also describes some important differences between tree-diversity versus grassland-diversity experiments. The size of the complementarity effects caused by these processes and stand structures varies along spatial and temporal gradients in resource availability and climate. These spatial and temporal dynamics have now been examined in many studies, and the general patterns are summarized using a simple framework; complementarity is predicted to increase as the availability of resource BX^declines (or climatic condition X becomes harsher) if the species interactions improve the availability, uptake, or use efficiency of resource X (or interactions improve climatic condition X). Importantly, this framework differs from the stress-gradient hypothesis to account for a wider range of inter-specific plant interactions (not only facilitation) by considering contrasting methods used to quantify species interactions while accounting for stand structure. In addition, complementarity (as opposed to facilitation) for a given species combination can increase as growing conditions improve in forests, contrary to predictions of the stressgradient hypothesis with regards to facilitation. This review indicates that while the effects of tree-species diversity on growth and other forest functions are now receiving a lot of attention, far less is known about the effects of structural diversity on growth or forest functioning. Direct measurements of the processes, as opposed to focusing mainly on growth responses, could greatly contribute to our understanding of structural diversity effects.

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“…It has frequently been demonstrated that tree growth in stands with closed canopies is largely a function of local neighborhood competition and that the nature of this competition is mainly size-asymmetric (Oheimb et al, 2011;Grabarnik & Särkkä, 2011). The nature of competition and not only its intensity has proved an important factor driving forest dynamics and the resulting structure (Toda et al, 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A forest simulation approach using weighted Voronoi diagrams. An application to Mediterranean fir Abies pinsapo Boiss stands

Abellanas¹,

Abellanas

Pommerening

et al. 2016

For. syst.

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Aim of study: a) To present a new version of the forest simulator Vorest, an individual-based spatially explicit model that uses weighted Voronoi diagrams to simulate the natural dynamics of forest stands with closed canopies. b) To apply the model to the current dynamics of a Grazalema pinsapo stand to identify the nature of its competition regime and the stagnation risks it is currently facing.Area of study: Sierra del Pinar de Grazalema (S Spain) Material and methods: Two large plots representative of Grazalema pinsapo stands were used to fit and validate the model (plus 6 accesory plots to increase the availability of mortality data). Two inventories were carried out in 1998 and 2007 producing tree size and location data. We developed a forest simulator based on three submodels: growth, competition and mortality. The model was fitted, evaluated and validated for Grazalema plots. The simulation outputs were used to infer the expected evolution of structural diversity of forest stands.Main results: Vorest has proved to be a good tool for simulating dynamics of natural closed stands. The application to Grazalema pinsapo stands has allowed assessing the nature of the main processes that are driving its development pathway. We have found that the prevailing size-asymmetric competition dominates the self-thinning process in small-sized trees. At the same time, there is an active tree-size differentiation process.Research highlights:• Vorest has proved to be a good tool for simulating natural stands with closed canopies.• The Grazalema pinsapo stand under consideration is currently undergoing a natural process of differentiation, avoiding longterm stagnation.

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Individual-tree radial growth in a subtropical broad-leaved forest: The role of local neighbourhood competition

Cited by 91 publications

References 44 publications

Spatial vegetation patterns and neighborhood competition among woody plants in an East African savanna

Spatial vegetation patterns and neighborhood competition among woody plants in an East African savanna

A Review of Processes Behind Diversity—Productivity Relationships in Forests

A forest simulation approach using weighted Voronoi diagrams. An application to Mediterranean fir Abies pinsapo Boiss stands

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