The influence of overstory trees and abiotic factors on the sapling community in an old-growth<i>Fagus-Acer</i>forest

Arii, Ken; Lechowicz, Martin J.

doi:10.1080/11956860.2002.11682726

Cited by 39 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Beech-maple forests are one of the most studied deciduous forests, where various researchers have examined the mechanisms giving rise to the development and the dynamics of this forest type, with particular emphasis on the patterns found in the two dominant species (e.g., Fox 1977;Woods 1979Woods , 1984Brisson et al 1994;Poulson and Platt 1996;Beaudet et al 1999;Forrester and Runkle 2000;Arii and Lechowicz 2002).…”

Section: Beech-maple Forests Where Acer Saccharum Marshall and Fagusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantitative and qualitative effects of a severe ice storm on an old-growth beech–maple forest

2007

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Section: Beech-maple Forests Where Acer Saccharum Marshall and Fagusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantitative and qualitative effects of a severe ice storm on an old-growth beech–maple forest

2007

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“…Dispersal assembly, by contrast, takes the view that community structure arises from stochasticity in dispersal and demography (Bell 2001;. Many aspects of niche assembly have found empirical support: species distributions often track environmental conditions (Harms et al 2001;Arii and Lechowicz 2002;John et al 2007), competition can structure community composition (Fargione et al 2003;Harpole and Tilman 2006), and species differ in trait values, which can affect demographic performance (Bloor and Grubb 2003;Shipley et al 2006). While challenged by abundant evidence of non-neutral patterns, dispersal assembly theories predict some aspects of community structure, such as relative species abundance, accurately and with extreme parsimony Volkov et al 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying the effects of seed arrival and environmental conditions on tropical seedling community structure

Paine

Harms

2009

Oecologia

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Though it is recognized that both stochastic and deterministic processes structure all communities, empirical assessments of their relative importance are rare, particularly within any single community. In this paper, we quantify the dynamic effects of dispersal assembly and niche assembly on the seedling layer in a diverse neotropical rain forest. The two theories make divergent predictions regarding the roles of seed arrival and environmental heterogeneity in generating community structure. Put simply, dispersal assembly posits that the stochasticity inherent to seed arrival structures communities, whereas niche assembly suggests that heterogeneity in post-dispersal environmental conditions is more important. We experimentally sowed 15,132 seeds of eight tree species at varying levels of density and diversity. Every six months we censused the seedlings that germinated and assessed the abiotic and biotic conditions of each plot. We assessed the density, diversity, and species composition of three nested subsets , and all woody seedlings. We partitioned the variance in density and diversity of each subset of the seedling layer into components representing seed-addition treatments and environmental conditions at 6-to 12-month intervals. Seed additions initially explained more variance in the density and diversity than did environmental heterogeneity for seven of eight sown species, but explained little variance in the density or diversity of the entire seedling layer. Species composition was better explained by seed-addition treatments than by environmental heterogeneity for all three subsets and in all time periods. Nevertheless, the variance in community structure explained by seed-addition treatments declined over the two years following germination, presaging shifts in the relative importance of dispersal assembly and niche assembly. Our study quantifies how dispersal assembly and niche assembly may vary among the components of an ecological community and shift dynamically through time.

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“…Similarly, Murphy and McCarthy (2017) found that American beech survival was unaffected by conspecific neighbors, and that growth rates were weakly positively associated with conspecific density. In addition, American beech is sometimes found in nearly monodominant stands, and patterns suggesting self-replacement have been documented (Tubbs and Houston 1990;Arii and Lechowicz 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conspecific negative density dependence in American beech

Ramage

Mangana

2017

For. Ecosyst.

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Background: One of the most important drivers of forest biodiversity is conspecific negative density dependence (CNDD), a reduction in performance when conspecific densities are high. While the majority of CNDD research has focused on tropical forests, evidence is mounting that CNDD may also play an important role in temperate forests. To further explore the potential reach of this phenomenon, we investigated CNDD in American beech (Fagus grandifolia) in a mature mid-Atlantic forest. Methods: We used bivariate point pattern analyses to examine spatial relationships between large beech trees and conspecific saplings, and we also contrasted these patterns with comparable patterns for heterospecifics. In addition, to address the possibility of dispersal limitation and the associated effects on spatial patterns, we analyzed seedling density as a function of adult conspecific abundance. Results: We found that beech saplings were more repelled from large conspecifics than large heterospecifics, despite the fact that beech seedling density was positively correlated with beech basal area. However, saplings of other canopy tree species were also repelled from adult beech trees, suggesting a general suppressive effect. Nonetheless, the discrepancy between beech seedling and sapling densities beneath adult conspecifics suggests that beech seedling survival rates were reduced in vicinity of conspecific adults. Conclusions: Regardless of the extent to which beech inhibits heterospecific trees, a negative effect on conspecific recruits may be critical for biodiversity maintenance. Without this conspecific suppression, a dense layer of shade-tolerant beech saplings could form beneath adult beech trees. If this were to occur, beech would have a substantial head-start following canopy disturbance, and this late-successional species could potentially dominate a stand in perpetuity, through repeated disturbance cycles.

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The influence of overstory trees and abiotic factors on the sapling community in an old-growthFagus-Acerforest

Cited by 39 publications

References 44 publications

Quantitative and qualitative effects of a severe ice storm on an old-growth beech–maple forest

Quantitative and qualitative effects of a severe ice storm on an old-growth beech–maple forest

Quantifying the effects of seed arrival and environmental conditions on tropical seedling community structure

Conspecific negative density dependence in American beech

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