Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of local biotic neighbors and habitat heterogeneity on tree and shrub seedling survival in an old-growth temperate forest

  • Community ecology - Original research
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Seedling dynamics play a crucial role in determining species distributions and coexistence. Exploring causes of variation in seedling dynamics can therefore provide key insights into the factors affecting these phenomena. We examined the relative importance of biotic neighborhood processes and habitat heterogeneity using survival data for 5,827 seedlings in 39 tree and shrub species over 2 years from an old-growth temperate forest in northeastern China. We found significant negative density-dependence effects on survival of tree seedlings, and limited effects of habitat heterogeneity (edaphic and topographic variables) on survival of shrub seedlings. The importance of negative density dependence on young tree seedling survival was replaced by habitat in tree seedlings ≥4 years old. As expected, negative density dependence was more apparent in gravity-dispersed species compared to wind-dispersed and animal-dispersed species. Moreover, we found that a community compensatory trend existed for trees. Therefore, although negative density dependence was not as pervasive as in other forest communities, it is an important mechanism for the maintenance of community diversity in this temperate forest. We conclude that both negative density dependence and habitat heterogeneity drive seedling survival, but their relative importance varies with seedling age classes and species traits.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bates D, Maechler M, Bolker B (2010) lme4: Linear mixed-effects models using S4 classes. R Package Version: 0.999375-37 edn

  • Burnham KP, Anderson DR (2002) Model selection and multimodel inference: a practical information-theoretic approach. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Canham CD, LePage PT, Coates KD (2004) A neighborhood analysis of canopy tree competition: effects of shading versus crowding. Can J For Res 34:778–787

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cavender-Bares J, Kitajima K, Bazzaz FA (2004) Multiple trait associations in relation to habitat differentiation among 17 Floridian oak species. Ecol Monogr 74:635–662

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen L, Mi XC, Comita LS, Zhang LW, Ren HB, Ma KP (2010) Community-level consequences of density dependence and habitat association in a subtropical broad-leaved forest. Ecol Lett 13:695–704

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chesson P (2000) Mechanisms of maintenance of species diversity. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 31:343–366

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Comita LS, Hubbell SP (2009) Local neighborhood and species’ shade tolerance influence survival in a diverse seedling bank. Ecology 90:328–334

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Comita LS, Aguilar S, Perez R, Lao S, Hubbell SP (2007a) Patterns of woody plant species abundance and diversity in the seedling layer of a tropical forest. J Veg Sci 18:163–174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Comita LS, Condit R, Hubbell SP (2007b) Developmental changes in habitat associations of tropical trees. J Ecol 95:482–492

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Comita LS, Uriarte M, Thompson J, Jonckheere I, Canham CD, Zimmerman JK (2009) Abiotic and biotic drivers of seedling survival in a hurricane-impacted tropical forest. J Ecol 97:1346–1359

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Comita LS, Muller-Landau HC, Aguilar S, Hubbell SP (2010) Asymmetric density dependence shapes species abundances in a tropical tree community. Science 329:330–332

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Connell JH (1971) On the role of natural enemies in preventing competitive exclusion in some marine animals and in rain forest trees. In: den Boer PJ, Gradwell GR (eds) Dynamics of Populations. Centre for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation, Wageningen, pp 298–312

    Google Scholar 

  • Connell JH, Tracey JG, Webb LJ (1984) Compensatory recruitment, growth, and mortality as factors maintaining rain forest tree diversity. Ecol Monogr 54:141–164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert GS, Harms KE, Hamill DN, Hubbell SP (2001) Effects of seedling size, El Nino drought, seedling density, and distance to nearest conspecific adult on 6-year survival of Ocotea whitei seedlings in Panama. Oecologia 127:509–516

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grothendieck G (2010) sqldf: Perform SQL Selects on R Data Frames. 0.3–5 edn

  • Grubb PJ (1977) Maintenance of species-richness in plant communities-importance of regeneration niche. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 52:107–145

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hao ZQ, Zhang J, Song B, Ye J, Li BH (2007) Vertical structure and spatial associations of dominant tree species in an old-growth temperate forest. For Ecol Manag 252:1–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hao ZQ, Li BH, Zhang J, Wang XG, Ye J, Yao XL (2008) Broad-leaved Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis) mixed forest plot in Changbaishan (CBS) of China: community composition and structure. Acta Phytoecol Sinica 32:238–250

    Google Scholar 

  • Harms KE, Condit R, Hubbell SP, Foster RB (2001) Habitat associations of trees and shrubs in a 50-ha neotropical forest plot. J Ecol 89:947–959

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • He FL, Legendre P, LaFrankie JV (1997) Distribution patterns of tree species in a Malaysian tropical rain forest. J Veg Sci 8:105–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • HilleRisLambers J, Clark JS (2003) Effects of dispersal, shrubs, and density-dependent mortality on seed and seedling distributions in temperate forests. Can J For Res 33:783–795

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • HilleRisLambers J, Clark JS, Beckage B (2002) Density-dependent mortality and the latitudinal gradient in species diversity. Nature 417:732–735

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hosmer DW, Lemeshow S (2000) Applied logistic regression, 2nd edn. Wiley, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hubbell SP (2001) The unified neural theory of biodiversity and biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Hubbell SP, Ahumada JA, Condit R, Foster RB (2001) Local neighborhood effects on long-term survival of individual trees in a neotropical forest. Ecol Res 16:859–875

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iida S, Nakashizuka T (1998) Spatial and temporal dispersal of Kalopanax pictus seeds in a temperate deciduous forest, central Japan. Plant Ecol 135:243–248

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janzen DH (1970) Herbivores and the number of tree species in tropical forests. Am Nat 104:501–528

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • John R et al (2007) Soil nutrients influence spatial distributions of tropical tree species. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 104:864–869

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kraft NJB, Valencia R, Ackerly DD (2008) Functional traits and niche-based tree community assembly in an Amazonian forest. Science 322:580–582

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kraft NJB et al (2011) Disentangling the drivers of beta diversity along latitudinal and elevational gradients. Science 333:1755–1758

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Martínez-Vilalta J, Mencuccini M, Vayreda J, Retana J (2010) Interspecific variation in functional traits, not climatic differences among species ranges, determines demographic rates across 44 temperate and Mediterranean tree species. J Ecol 98:1462–1475

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masaki T, Nakashizuka A (2002) Seedling demography of Swida controversa: effect of light and distance to conspecifics. Ecology 83:3497–3507

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McMahon SM, Metcalf CJE, Woodall CW (2011) High-dimensional coexistence of temperate tree species: functional traits, demographic rates, life-history stages, and their physical context. PLoS ONE 6:e16253

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Metz MR, Sousa WP, Valencia R (2010) Widespread density-dependent seedling mortality promotes species coexistence in a highly diverse Amazonian rain forest. Ecology 91:3675–3685

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Murray KG (1988) Avan seed dispersal of 3 Neotropical gap-dependent plants. Ecol Monogr 58:271–298

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakashizuka T (2001) Species coexistence in temperate, mixed deciduous forests. Trends Ecol Evol 16:205–210

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Packer A, Clay K (2000) Soil pathogens and spatial patterns of seedling mortality in a temperate tree. Nature 404:278–281

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Paine CET, Harms KE, Schnitzer SA, Carson WP (2008) Weak competition among tropical tree seedlings: implications for species coexistence. Biotropica 40:432–440

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paine CET et al (2011) Phylogenetic density dependence and environmental filtering predict seedling mortality in a tropical forest. Ecol Lett 15:34–41

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Queenborough S, Burslem D, Garwood N, Valencia R (2007a) Habitat niche partitioning by 16 species of Myristicaceae in Amazonian Ecuador. Plant Ecol 192:193–207

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Queenborough SA, Burslem D, Garwood NC, Valencia R (2007b) Neighborhood and community interactions determine the spatial pattern of tropical tree seedling survival. Ecology 88:2248–2258

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Queenborough SA, Burslem DFRP, Garwood NC, Valencia R (2009) Taxonomic scale-dependence of habitat niche partitioning and biotic neighbourhood on survival of tropical tree seedlings. Proc R Soc Lond B 276:4197–4205

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramaswami G, Sukumar R (2011) Woody plant seedling distribution under invasive Lantana camara thickets in a dry-forest plot in Mudumalai, southern India. J Trop Ecol 27:365–373

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Russo SE, Davies SJ, King DA, Tan S (2005) Soil-related performance variation and distributions of tree species in a Bornean rain forest. J Ecol 93:879–889

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shao GF, Schall P, Weishampel JF (1994) Dynamic simulations of mixed broadleaved-Pinus koraiensis forests in the Changbaishan Biosphere Reserve of China. For Ecol Manag 70:169–181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shibata M et al (2010) Effects of abiotic and biotic factors and stochasticity on tree regeneration in a temperate forest community. Ecoscience 17:137–145

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stone R (2006) Ecology—a threatened nature reserve breaks down Asian borders. Science 313:1379–1380

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Streng DR, Glitzenstein JS, Harcombe PA (1989) Woody seedling dynamics in an east texas floodplain forest. Ecol Monogr 59:177–204

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Svenning JC, Fabbro T, Wright SJ (2008) Seedling interactions in a tropical forest in Panama. Oecologia 155:143–150

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tateno R, Takeda H (2003) Forest structure and tree species distribution in relation to topography-mediated heterogeneity of soil nitrogen and light at the forest floor. Ecol Res 18:559–571

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsujino R, Takafumi H, Agetsuma N, Yumoto T (2006) Variation in tree growth, mortality and recruitment among topographic positions in a warm temperate forest. J Veg Sci 17:281–290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uriarte M, Canham CD, Thompson J, Zimmerman JK (2004a) A neighborhood analysis of tree growth and survival in a hurricane-driven tropical forest. Ecol Monogr 74:591–614

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uriarte M, Condit R, Canham CD, Hubbell SP (2004b) A spatially explicit model of sapling growth in a tropical forest: does the identity of neighbours matter? J Ecol 92:348–360

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Volkov I, Banavar JR, He F, Hubbell SP, Maritan A (2005) Density dependence explains tree species abundance and diversity in tropical forests. Nature 438:658–661

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang Z, Xu ZB, Li X (1980) The main forest types and their features of community structure in northern slope of Changbai Mountain. Res For Ecosyst 1:25–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Webb CO, Peart DR (1999) Seedling density dependence promotes coexistence of Bornean rain forest trees. Ecology 80:2006–2017

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Webb CO, Gilbert GS, Donoghue MJ (2006) Phylodiversity-dependent seedling mortality, size structure, and disease in a bornean rain forest. Ecology 87:S123–S131

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Welden CW, Hewett SW, Hubbell SP, Foster RB (1991) sapling survival, growth, and recruitment: relationship to canopy height in a neotropical forest. Ecology 72:35–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson BF (1995) Shrub stems: form and function. In: Gerter BL (ed) Plant stems: physiology and functional morphology. Academic, New York, pp 91–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Winkler M, Hulber K, Hietz P (2005) Effect of canopy position on germination and seedling survival of epiphytic bromeliads in a Mexican humid montane forest. Ann Bot 95:1039–1047

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wright J (2002) Plant diversity in tropical forests: a review of mechanisms of species coexistence. Oecologia 130:1–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright IJ et al (2007) Relationships among ecologically important dimensions of plant trait variation in seven neotropical forests. Ann Bot 99:1003–1015

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yang H, Li D, Wang B, Han J (1985) Distribution patterns of dominant tree species on northern slope of Changbai mountain. Res For Ecosyst 5:1–14

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yuan ZQ et al (2011) Scale specific determinants of tree diversity in an old growth temperate forest in China. Basic Appl Ecol 12:488–495

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang J, Hao ZQ, Li BH, Ye J, Wang XG, Yao XL (2008) Composition and seasonal dynamics of seed rain in broad-leaved Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis) mixed forest, Changbai Mountain. Acta Ecol Sinica 28:2445–2454

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank Drs. Liza S. Comita, Fangliang He, Xiangcheng Mi, Luxiang Lin, and Lei Chen, ChiaHao ChangYang for helpful suggestions on data analysis. We thank Drs. Walter P. Carson, Erin Kurten, C. E. Timothy Paine and an anonymous reviewer for critical comments for the manuscript. We also thank Liwei Wang for his field work and data collection. This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31061160188 and No. 31011120470), the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. KZCX2-EW-401 and No. KSCX2-EW-Z-5). The publication of this manuscript has been approved by all co-authors.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Simon A. Queenborough

    Present address: Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, People’s Republic of China

    Xuejiao Bai, Xugao Wang, Buhang Li, Zuoqiang Yuan, Dingliang Xing, Fei Lin, Ji Ye & Zhanqing Hao

  2. Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, 100049, China

    Xuejiao Bai, Buhang Li & Dingliang Xing

  3. National Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, USA

    Simon A. Queenborough

  4. Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2R3, Canada

    Jian Zhang

Authors
  1. Xuejiao Bai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Simon A. Queenborough
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Xugao Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jian Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Buhang Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Zuoqiang Yuan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Dingliang Xing
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Fei Lin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Ji Ye
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Zhanqing Hao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhanqing Hao.

Additional information

Communicated by Walt Carson.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bai, X., Queenborough, S.A., Wang, X. et al. Effects of local biotic neighbors and habitat heterogeneity on tree and shrub seedling survival in an old-growth temperate forest. Oecologia 170, 755–765 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-012-2348-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-012-2348-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation