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Sapling growth as a function of light and landscape-level variation in soil water and foliar nitrogen in northern Michigan

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Abstract

Interspecific differences in sapling growth responses to soil resources could influence species distributions across soil resource gradients. I calibrated models of radial growth as a function of light intensity and landscape-level variation in soil water and foliar N for saplings of four canopy tree species, which differ in adult distributions across soil resource gradients. Model formulations, characterizing different resource effects and modes of influencing growth, were compared based on relative empirical support using Akaike’s Information Criterion. Contrary to expectation, the radial growth of species associated with lower fertility (Acer rubrum and Quercus rubra) was more sensitive to variation in soil resources than the high fertility species Acer saccharum. Moreover, there was no species tradeoff between growth under high foliar N versus growth under low foliar N, which would be expected if growth responses to foliar N mediated distributions. In general, there was functional consistency among species in growth responses to light, foliar N, and soil water availability, respectively. Foliar N influenced primarily high-light growth in F. grandifolia, A. rubrum, and Q. rubra (but was not significant for A. saccharum). In A. saccharum and A. rubrum, for which soil water availability was a significant predictor, soil water and light availability simultaneously limited growth (i.e., either higher light or water increased growth). Simple resource-based models explained 0.74–0.90 of growth variance, indicating a high degree of determinism. Results suggest that nitrogen effects on forest dynamics would be strongest in high-light early successional communities but that water availability influences growth in both early successional and understory environments.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support from NSF (DEB 9729245, DEB 0075472) and McIntire-Stennis (Project MICL01871) made this research possible. Matt Sands and Pat Fowler of the US Forest Service helped me locate field sites. I thank Sarah Synowiec for her hard work in the field and lab and Will Erickson for completing the tree ring measurements. I wrote the first draft of this MS while on sabbatical at Northern Arizona University (Biology and Forestry) and The Arboretum at Flagstaff and gratefully acknowledge the support of these institutions. This MS was improved by critical reviews from Meera Iyer, Sarah McCarthy, Michael Walters, Steve Rewa, and Steve Hart’s lab group at NAU. Experiments in this paper comply with current laws in the USA.

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  1. Department of Forestry, Michigan State University, Natural Resources Building, East Lansing, MI, 48824-1222, USA

    Richard K. Kobe

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  1. Richard K. Kobe
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Correspondence to Richard K. Kobe.

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Communicated by Louis Pitelka

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Kobe, R.K. Sapling growth as a function of light and landscape-level variation in soil water and foliar nitrogen in northern Michigan. Oecologia 147, 119–133 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-005-0252-8

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