Forest Ecosystems最新文献

{"title":"Grouping tree species to estimate basal area increment in temperate multispecies forests in Durango, Mexico","authors":"Jaime Roberto Padilla-Martínez ,&nbsp;Carola Paul ,&nbsp;Kai Husmann ,&nbsp;José Javier Corral-Rivas ,&nbsp;Klaus von Gadow","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2023.100158","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fecs.2023.100158","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Multispecies forests have received increased scientific attention, driven by the hypothesis that biodiversity improves ecological resilience. However, a greater species diversity presents challenges for forest management and research. Our study aims to develop basal area growth models for tree species cohorts. The analysis is based on a dataset of 423 permanent plots (2,500 ​m²) located in temperate forests in Durango, Mexico. First, we define tree species cohorts based on individual and neighborhood-based variables using a combination of principal component and cluster analyses. Then, we estimate the basal area increment of each cohort through the generalized additive model to describe the effect of tree size, competition, stand density and site quality. The principal component and cluster analyses assign a total of 37 tree species to eight cohorts that differed primarily with regard to the distribution of tree size and vertical position within the community. The generalized additive models provide satisfactory estimates of tree growth for the species cohorts, explaining between 19 and 53 percent of the total variation of basal area increment, and highlight the following results: i) most cohorts show a “rise-and-fall” effect of tree size on tree growth; ii) surprisingly, the competition index “basal area of larger trees” had showed a positive effect in four of the eight cohorts; iii) stand density had a negative effect on basal area increment, though the effect was minor in medium- and high-density stands, and iv) basal area growth was positively correlated with site quality except for an oak cohort. The developed species cohorts and growth models provide insight into their particular ecological features and growth patterns that may support the development of sustainable management strategies for temperate multispecies forests.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2023-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2197562023000891/pdfft?md5=775f0deada2ff71bdd4ac3097f584372&pid=1-s2.0-S2197562023000891-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138565192","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Tree sapling vitality and recovery following the unprecedented 2018 drought in central Europe","authors":"Mirela Beloiu Schwenke ,&nbsp;Valeska Schönlau ,&nbsp;Carl Beierkuhnlein","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2023.100140","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fecs.2023.100140","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Ongoing climate change is anticipated to increase the frequency and intensity of drought events, thereby affecting forest recovery dynamics and elevating tree mortality. The drought of 2018, with its exceptional intensity and duration, had a significant adverse impact on tree species throughout Central Europe. However, our understanding of the resistance to and recovery of young trees from drought stress remains limited. Here, we examined the recovery patterns of native deciduous tree sapling species following the 2018 drought, and explored the impact of soil depth, understory vegetation, and litter cover on this recovery.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>A total of 1,149 saplings of seven deciduous tree species were monitored in the understory of old-growth forests in Northern Bavaria, Central Germany. The vitality of the saplings was recorded from 2018 to 2021 on 170 plots.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p><em>Fagus sylvatica</em> was the most drought-resistant species, followed by <em>Betula pendula</em>, <em>Acer pseudoplatanus</em>, <em>Quercus</em> spp., <em>Corylus avellana</em>, <em>Carpinus betulus</em>, and <em>Sorbus aucuparia</em>. Although the drought conditions persisted one year later, all species recovered significantly from the 2018 drought, albeit with a slight decrease in vitality by 2021. In 2018, the drought exhibited a more pronounced adverse effect on saplings in deciduous forests compared to mixed and coniferous forests. Conversely, sapling recovery in coniferous and mixed forests exceeded that observed in deciduous forests in 2019. The pivotal factors influencing sapling resilience to drought were forest types, soil depth, and understory vegetation, whereas litter and forest canopy cover had a negative impact.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>Long-term responses of tree species to drought can be best discerned through continuous health monitoring. These findings demonstrate the natural regeneration potential of deciduous species in the context of climate change. Selective tree species planting, soil management practices, and promoting understory diversity should be considered when implementing adaptive management strategies to enhance forest resilience to drought events.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49697198","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of lag time in forest restoration and management","authors":"Klaus J. Puettmann ,&nbsp;Jürgen Bauhus","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2023.100131","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fecs.2023.100131","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The increased speed of global change and associated high severity disturbances, in conjunction with the increasing suite of societal expectations on forests, suggest that the timeliness of interventions to encourage the adaptive capacity of ecosystems and to reduce negative impacts in regards to provision of ecosystem services is increasingly relevant. To address this issue, we expand the concept of lag time as used in ecological discussions into a forest management context. In this context, lag times have earlier starting and later ending points and can be separated into different components. These components include the delay till detection, decision making, and implementation, followed by ecological lag time and the time till ecosystem services are provided at acceptable levels. The first three components are influenced by the availability of information, the lack of which can extend lag times. Also, the lengths of components are not simply additive but they interact. For example, treatment preparation due to a quicker detection can lead to shorter decision and implementation lag times. We highlight the benefits of addressing the various components of lag time in forestry operations. Especially when considering adaptive capacity in times of global change, our analysis suggests that all aspects of the forestry sector are challenged to consider how to optimize lag times. Last, we propose that such issues need to be considered with any management action and are especially relevant in discussions whether the best strategy after disturbances or in the light of global change is to adopt a passive approach and let natural ecosystem processes play out on their own or whether active management is better suited to ensure a more rapid and fitting ecosystem response to facilitate the continued provision of ecosystem services.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49697970","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Plant functional trait diversity and structural diversity co-underpin ecosystem multifunctionality in subtropical forests","authors":"Shuai Ouyang ,&nbsp;Mengmeng Gou ,&nbsp;Pifeng Lei ,&nbsp;Yue Liu ,&nbsp;Liang Chen ,&nbsp;Xiangwen Deng ,&nbsp;Zhonghui Zhao ,&nbsp;Yelin Zeng ,&nbsp;Yanting Hu ,&nbsp;Changhui Peng ,&nbsp;Wenhua Xiang","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2023.100093","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fecs.2023.100093","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Tree species diversity is assumed to be an important component in managing forest ecosystems because of effects on multiple functions or ecosystem multifunctionality. However, the importance of tree diversity in determining multifunctionality in structurally complex subtropical forests relative to other regulators (e.g., soil microbial diversity, stand structure, and environmental conditions) remains uncertain. In this study, effects of aboveground (species richness and functional and structural diversity) and belowground (bacterial and fungal diversity) biodiversity, functional composition (community-weighted means of species traits), stand structure (diameter at breast height and stand density), and soil factors (pH and bulk density) on multifunctionality (including biomass production, carbon stock, and nutrient cycling) were examined along a tree diversity gradient in subtropical forests. The community-weighted mean of tree maximum height was the best predictor of ecosystem multifunctionality. Functional diversity explained a higher proportion of the variation in multifunctionality than that of species richness and fungal diversity. Stand structure -played an important role in modulating the effects of tree diversity on multifunctionality. The work highlights that species composition and maximizing forest structural complexity are effective strategies to increase forest multifunctionality while also conserving biodiversity in the management of multifunctional forests under global environmental changes.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49717465","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Alternative expressions for stand diameter in complex forests","authors":"Mark J. Ducey ,&nbsp;John A. Kershaw Jr.","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2023.100114","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fecs.2023.100114","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Quadratic mean diameter is the most frequently reported descriptor of the diameter distribution of forests. As such, it is often used as an indicator of forest stand structure, developmental stage, and ecological and economic potential. However, quadratic mean diameter can be heavily influenced by the presence or absence of large numbers of small stems in lower canopy strata, and it is also sensitive to left-truncation of the diameter distribution, making its interpretation across inventories with different protocols challenging. Here, we examine three alternative expressions of stand diameter: the arithmetic and quadratic mean diameter of the thickest 100 trees per hectare, and the basal area-weighted mean diameter. Using data from the United States Forest Inventory and Analysis program for New York and New England, these alternative expressions showed closer correlation with multiple stand structural variables than did quadratic mean diameter, including merchantable cubic and board foot volume per hectare, aboveground live tree carbon per hectare, and total number of live and dead standing trees greater than 40 ​cm diameter at breast height per hectare (previously proposed as an index of old-growth structure). Arithmetic and quadratic mean diameter of the thickest 100 trees per hectare showed nearly identical performance, and the strongest correlations across the board. We develop closed-form expressions for these variables when the diameter distribution is a Weibull, and illustrate their behavior relative to quadratic mean diameter for that situation. While the reasons for prevalence of quadratic mean diameter as an indicator remain valid, we suggest that these alternative measures should be more widely reported and analyzed to give a more informative depiction of stand structure and development in complex forests.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49717548","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Response of fungal communities to afforestation and its indication for forest restoration","authors":"Kaichuan Huang ,&nbsp;Zhenli Guo ,&nbsp;Wen Zhao ,&nbsp;Changge Song ,&nbsp;Hao Wang ,&nbsp;Junning Li ,&nbsp;Reyila Mumin ,&nbsp;Yifei Sun ,&nbsp;Baokai Cui","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2023.100125","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fecs.2023.100125","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Soil fungi in forest ecosystems have great potential to enhance host plant growth and systemic ecological functions and services. Reforestation at Saihanba Mechanized Forest Farm, the world's largest artificial plantation, has been integral to global forest ecosystem preservation since the 1950s. To better assess the ecological effects of soil microbiology after afforestation, fungal diversity and community structure (using Illumina sequencing) from forests dominated by <em>Larix gmelinii</em> var. <em>principis</em>-<em>rupprechtii</em>, <em>Pinus sylvestris</em> var. <em>mongolica</em> and <em>Picea asperata</em>, and from grassland were surveyed. In total, 4,540 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were identified, with <em>Mortierella</em> and <em>Solicoccozyma</em> being the dominant genera of grassland soil and <em>Inocybe</em>, <em>Cortinarius</em>, <em>Piloderma</em>, <em>Tomentella</em>, <em>Sebacina</em>, <em>Hygrophorus</em> and <em>Saitozyma</em> dominating the plantation soil. Principle coordinate analysis (PCoA) and co-occurrence networks revealed differences in fungal structure after afforestation. Significantly, more symbiotroph guilds were dominated by ectomycorrhizal fungi in plantations under the prediction of FUNGuild. The community composition and diversity of soil fungi were significantly influenced by pH via redundancy analysis (RDA) and the Mantel test (<em>p</em> ​&lt; ​0.01). This finding emphasizes that soil pH has a strong effect on the transition of fungal communities and functional taxa from grassland to plantation, providing a novel indicator for forest restoration.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49717765","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Growth plasticity of conifers did not avoid declining resilience to soil and atmospheric droughts during the 20th century","authors":"Tong Zheng ,&nbsp;Jordi Martínez-Vilalta ,&nbsp;Raúl García-Valdés ,&nbsp;Antonio Gazol ,&nbsp;J. Julio Camarero ,&nbsp;Changcheng Mu ,&nbsp;Maurizio Mencuccini","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2023.100107","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fecs.2023.100107","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Plasticity in response to environmental drivers can help trees cope with droughts. However, our understanding of the importance of plasticity and physiological adjustments in trees under global change is limited.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>We used the International Tree-Ring Data Bank (ITRDB) to examine 20th century growth responses in conifer trees during (resistance) and following (resilience) years of severe soil and atmospheric droughts occurring in isolation or as compound events. Growth resilience indices were calculated using observed growth divided by expected growth to avoid spurious correlations, in which the expected values were obtained by the autoregressive moving average (ARIMA) model. We used high atmospheric vapour pressure deficit (VPD) to select years of atmospheric drought and low annual values of the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) to select years with soil drought. We acquired the sensitivities (i.e., the slopes of the relationships) by fitting the resilience indices as a function of environmental drivers, and assessed how these sensitivities changed over time for different types of drought events using linear mixed models. We also checked whether plasticity in growth responses was sufficient to prevent long-term trends of growth reductions during or after severe droughts. We acknowledge that by focusing on the response of surviving trees from the ITRDB we are potentially biasing our results towards higher resilience, as stand level responses (e.g., mortality) may result in lowered competition after the disturbance event.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Sensitivities of resilience to VPD and SPEI changed throughout the 20th century, with the directions of these changes often reversing in the second half of the century. For the 1961–2010 period, changing sensitivities had positive effects on resilience, especially following years of high-VPD and compound events, avoiding growth losses that would have occurred if sensitivities had remained constant. Despite sensitivity changes, resilience was still lower at the end of the 20th century compared to the beginning of the century.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Future adjustments to low-SPEI and high-VPD events are likely to continue to compensate for the trends in climate only partially, leading to further generalized reductions in tree growth of conifers. An improved understanding of these plastic adjustments and their limits, as well as potential compensatory processes at the stand level, is needed to project forest responses to climate change.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49717906","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Hydraulic role in differential stomatal behaviors at two contrasting elevations in three dominant tree species of a mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forest in low subtropical China","authors":"Liwei Zhu,&nbsp;Tianyu Fu,&nbsp;Jie Du,&nbsp;Weiting Hu,&nbsp;Yanqiong Li,&nbsp;Xiuhua Zhao,&nbsp;Ping Zhao","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2023.100095","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fecs.2023.100095","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Quantifying the variation in stomatal behavior and functional traits of trees with elevation can provide a better understanding of the adaptative strategies to a changing climate. In this study, six water- and carbon-related functional traits were examined for three dominant tree species, <em>Schima superba</em>, <em>Pinus massoniana</em> and <em>Castanopsis chinensis</em>, in a mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forest at two elevations (70 and 360 ​m above sea level, respectively) in low subtropical China. We hypothesized that trees at higher elevations would develop more efficient strategies of stomatal regulations and greater water transport capacity to cope with more variable hydrothermal conditions than those at lower elevations. Results show that the hydraulic conductivity did not differ between trees at the two elevations, contrary to our expectation. The <em>C</em>. <em>chinensis</em> trees had greater values of leaf mass per unit area (LMA), and the <em>S. superba</em> and <em>C. chinensis</em> trees had greater values of wood density (WD), relative stem water content (RWC), and ratio of sapwood area to leaf area (<em>H</em>_v) at the 360-m elevation than at 70-m elevation. The mean canopy stomatal conductance was greater and more sensitive to vapor deficit pressure at 360 ​m than at 70 ​m for both <em>S. superba</em> and <em>C. chinensis</em>, while stomatal sensitivity did not differ between the two contrasting elevations for <em>P. massoniana</em>. The midday leaf water potential (<em>ψ</em>_L) in <em>P. massoniana</em> was significantly more negative at 360 ​m than at 70 ​m, but did not vary with increasing elevation in both <em>S. superba</em> and <em>C. chinensis</em>. Variations in <em>H</em>_v can be related to the differential stomatal behaviors between the two elevations. The variations of stomatal behavior and <em>ψ</em>_L with elevation suggested the isohydric strategy for the two broad-leaved species and the anisohydric strategy for the conifer species. The species-specific differences in LMA, WD, RWC, and <em>H</em>_v between the two elevations may reflect conservative resource use strategies at the higher elevation. Our findings revealed a close relationship between hydraulic and stomatal behavior and may help better understand the functional responses of forests to changing environmental conditions.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49736391","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The diameter of beech snags is an important factor for saproxylic beetle richness: Implications for forest management and conservation","authors":"Václav Zumr,&nbsp;Oto Nakládal,&nbsp;Lukáš Bílek,&nbsp;Jiří Remeš","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2023.100143","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fecs.2023.100143","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Snags are an important component of beech forests that promote biodiversity. However, their occurrence is completely marginal in managed stands. Creating snags in these stands would greatly enhance biodiversity. We investigated whether snag dimensions were important for saproxylic beetle richness since they were easily transferable parameters to forest management and assessed the presence of other snag microhabitats affecting beetle communities. Data collection was performed using passive flight traps placed on thirty snags in a recent beech reserve. A total of 6706 adults belonging to 231 saproxylic species (53 Red List species, 23%) were captured. The results showed that the most important snag parameters were the diameter (thickness) and canopy openness of the surrounding stands. The occurrence of <em>Fomes fomentarius</em>, the volume of snag and decay class 3 were marginally significant in terms of the preference of all saproxylic species. Alpha diversity was reduced by an advanced degree of decay and a surprisingly deep stem cavity. After dividing snag thickness into categories (&lt;35 cm; 35–70 cm and &gt;70 ​cm DBH), we found that categories with snag diameter greater than 35 ​cm showed little differences in all saproxylic and Red List species richness and diversity indices and exhibited the highest similarity in beetle communities. Regarding recommendations to forest managers in terms of optimization and simplification of practical procedures, we suggest actively creating high stumps to act as snags greater than 35 ​cm in DBH diameter to promote biodiversity in beech management stands.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S219756202300074X/pdfft?md5=afe5b58bbbcdf3bec962a2d6345b3a85&pid=1-s2.0-S219756202300074X-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49696219","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Trees species’ dispersal mode and habitat heterogeneity shape negative density dependence in a temperate forest","authors":"Lishunan Yang ,&nbsp;Daniel J. Johnson ,&nbsp;Zhichun Yang ,&nbsp;Xiaochao Yang ,&nbsp;Qiulong Yin ,&nbsp;Ying Luo ,&nbsp;Zhanqing Hao ,&nbsp;Shihong Jia","doi":"10.1016/j.fecs.2023.100139","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.fecs.2023.100139","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Conspecific negative density dependence (CNDD) is a potentially important mechanism in maintaining species diversity. While previous evidence showed habitat heterogeneity and species’ dispersal modes affect the strength of CNDD at early life stages of trees (e.g., seedlings), it remains unclear how they affect the strength of CNDD at later life stages. We examined the degree of spatial aggregation between saplings and trees for species dispersed by wind and gravity in four topographic habitats within a 25-ha temperate forest dynamic plot in the Qinling Mountains of central China. We used the replicated spatial point pattern (RSPP) analysis and bivariate pair-correlation function (PCF) to detect the spatial distribution of saplings around trees at two scales, 15 and 50 ​m, respectively. Although the signal was not apparent across the whole study region (or 25-ha), it is distinct on isolated areas with specific characteristics, suggesting that these characteristics could be important factors in CNDD. Further, we found that the gravity-dispersed tree species experienced CNDD across habitats, while for wind-dispersed species CNDD was found in gully, terrace and low-ridge habitats. Our study suggests that neglecting the habitat heterogeneity and dispersal mode can distort the signal of CNDD and community assembly in temperate forests.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54270,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecosystems","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49697154","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}