Niches and Interspecific Associations of Dominant Populations in Three Changed Stages of Natural Secondary Forests on Loess Plateau, P.R. China

Gu, Li; Gong, Zhijun; Li, Weizhong

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-06689-9

Cited by 36 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 47 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Interspecific association and niche overlap are closely correlated. Many studies have shown that a positive association indicates the use of similar resources and a niche overlap, whereas a negative association indicates that species have different habitat and resource requirements (Su et al 2015, Gu et al 2017. In this study, both Z. schneide riana and C. sinensis had a positive association, with a large overlap in habitat and niche, which may be related to the fact that both species are sun-loving deciduous trees.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 48%

Niche and interspecific association of dominant tree populations of Zelkova schneideriana communities in eastern China

Shao

Zhang

2021

Bot. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Zelkova schneideriana Hand.-Mazz., is an endangered species mainly distributed in subtropical China. Currently, little is known about its niche and interspecific association. Questions: What are the niche characteristics of Z. schneideriana and other associated species? What are the interspecific associations between these species? Study sites and dates: Z. schneideriana communities in Jiangsu, China in 2019. Methods: Twenty-one 400 m2 plots were studied for importance value, niche breadth and overlap, interspecific association of Z. schneideriana communities. Results: In 39 species of tree layer, Z. schneideriana had the greatest importance value and niche breadth. For the first 10 dominant species, a considerable difference was detected by the Levins index (1.75 - 19.84) and Shannon-Wiener index (0.77 - 3.02). Forty-four out of the 45 species pairs had the value of niche similarity indices ≤ 0.5; 38 species pairs had the value of niche overlap indices ≤ 0.5. Overall interspecific association was not a significantly negative association for variance ratio < 1. χ2 test and Spearman’s correlation coefficient further revealed that above 60 % of species pairs had negative associations, suggesting most dominant species were slightly associated with other species or even independent. Conclusions: Z. schneideriana was a constructive species. Dissimilarity in environmental requirements was found among most dominant tree species, thus decreasing competition. This is likely due to the unstable community in the early stage of succession.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 48%

Niche and interspecific association of dominant tree populations of Zelkova schneideriana communities in eastern China

Shao

Zhang

2021

Bot. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…While, the competition between species is more intense at seedling stage, which may due to limited distance between individuals at seedling stage ( Collet, Manso & Barbeito, 2017 ). Therefore, the strength of spatial association would decrease with the growing process ( Gu, Gong & Li, 2017 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial patterns and associations of tree species at different developmental stages in a montane secondary temperate forest of northeastern China

Liu

Bai

Yin

et al. 2021

PeerJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Secondary forests have become the major forest type worldwide. Research on spatial patterns and associations of tree species at different developmental stages may be informative in understanding the structure and dynamic processes of secondary forests. Methods In this study, we used point pattern analysis to analyze the spatial patterns and associations of tree species at seedling, sapling and adult stages in a 4ha plot in the montane secondary temperate forest of northeastern China. Results We found that species showed similar patterns at seedling, sapling and adult stages, and aggregation was the dominant pattern. The spatial patterns of tree species were mainly affected by habitat heterogeneity. In addition, the strength of positive or negative associated pattern among tree species would decrease with developmental stages, which attributed to neighborhood competition and plant size increasing. Conclusions Our results indicated that the spatial patterns and associations of tree species at seedling and sapling stages partly reflected that at adult stage; habitat heterogeneity and neighborhood competition jointly contributed to species coexistence in this secondary forest.

show abstract

“…Since the χ 2 test only provides a qualitative determination of species associations, the degree of species association for each species pair cannot be quantitatively described [47,51]. The DI is, therefore, used to quantitatively represent the degree of association.…”

Section: Dice Index (Di)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The overall species association describes the static relationship among all species in the community and reflects the stability of the community structure and species composition [50,51]. A significant overall net positive association was observed in the old-growth forest, indicating that it has a stable structure and its species composition is in a dynamic balance.…”

Section: Final Determination Of Species Associationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Species Association of the Dominant Tree Species in an Old-Growth Forest and Implications for Enrichment Planting for the Restoration of Natural Degraded Forest in Subtropical China

Liu

Zhu

Wang

et al. 2019

Forests

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Subtropical natural forests are unique due to their ecological and economic functions. However, most of these forests are highly degraded, which impairs the ability to provide ecological and economic benefits. Enrichment planting is an important approach to restore natural degraded forests. Species arrangement is of great importance to inform enrichment planting. Species association refers to the interrelationship of different species occupying a habitat and is a static description of the organic connection formed by the interaction of species. Species association, therefore, provides a scientific basis for species arrangement in enrichment planting. Additionally, because an old-growth forest is a climax community that has attained great age without significant disturbance, the species association in an old-growth forest can provide valuable information on the reference conditions for forest management. In this study, the species association between dominant tree species (including saplings and adult trees) was investigated in an old-growth forest in the Gutianshan National Nature Reserve in Zhejiang province in subtropical China. The objective of the study was to inform species arrangement for enrichment planting. The result showed that the overall species association exhibited a significant net positive association, indicating a dynamic balance of stable structure and species composition in the old-growth forest. Additionally, the pairwise species association was examined using the χ2 test, the Dice index, and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient; significant positive and negative pairwise species associations were detected. Based on the species association and the light requirements of the tree species, an optimal species arrangement was determined to support enrichment planting for restoring natural degraded forests. It is expected that the results of this study will contribute to the restoration of natural degraded forests in subtropical China.

show abstract

Niches and Interspecific Associations of Dominant Populations in Three Changed Stages of Natural Secondary Forests on Loess Plateau, P.R. China

Cited by 36 publications

References 47 publications

Niche and interspecific association of dominant tree populations of Zelkova schneideriana communities in eastern China

Niche and interspecific association of dominant tree populations of Zelkova schneideriana communities in eastern China

Spatial patterns and associations of tree species at different developmental stages in a montane secondary temperate forest of northeastern China

Species Association of the Dominant Tree Species in an Old-Growth Forest and Implications for Enrichment Planting for the Restoration of Natural Degraded Forest in Subtropical China

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About