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Spatial associations among major tree species in a cool-temperate forest community under heterogeneous topography and canopy conditions

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Population Ecology

Abstract

Analysis of the spatial pattern of plants may provide insight into the processes and mechanisms that promote species coexistence and community organization. Using torus-translation tests and point-pattern analyses for a heterogeneous Poisson process, we investigated habitat association and intra- and inter-specific spatial relationships of six major tree species in a cool-temperate forest community. All stems ≥5 cm in diameter at breast height were mapped on a 1.4-ha (100 × 140 m) plot and the topographic conditions (convexity and slope degree) and canopy state were assessed. Our results showed that all six species exhibited habitat associations with topographic and/or canopy conditions except for Magnolia salicifolia. Intra-specific aggregation was found for Acer japonicum, M. salicifolia, and Hamamelis japonica var. obtusata. Community-wide analysis of the inter-specific spatial patterns showed mainly mixed or partially overlapped patterns at a scale of up to 30 m, whereas individual pairwise analyses of inter-specific patterns revealed that Fagus crenata was positively associated with two Acer species and M. salicifolia at a spatial scale of up to 5 m. These results highlight that scale-dependant ecologically important processes, such as species-specific habitat preference, regeneration mode, seed dispersal, facilitation and niche complementarity, may operate simultaneously to shape tree distributional patterns, although their presence/absence as well as relative importance vary among species. Given the complexity of the process and mechanisms promoting species coexistence and community organization, more attention should be given to the effect of spatial scale in analyzing the spatial patterns of tree species in forest communities.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a Hirosaki University Grant for Exploratory Research by Young Scientists, a Management Expense Grant for an Integrated Research on the Ecology of the Shirakami-Sanchi World Heritage Area, and the Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Environmental Fund (R09-D103). We thank the Aomori Prefectural Office and Tsugaru District Forest Office for permitting this study. Field assistance was provided by students from Hirosaki University and their help was greatly appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Faculty of Agriculture and Life Science, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki, 036-8561, Japan

    Takeshi Torimaru, Kiyoshi Ishida & Machiko Narita

  2. Department of Applied Biosciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Life Science, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki, 036-8561, Japan

    Shinji Akada

  3. Department of Crop Science, Obihiro University of Agricultural and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, 080-0834, Japan

    Shuichi Matsuda

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  1. Takeshi Torimaru
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  3. Kiyoshi Ishida
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Correspondence to Takeshi Torimaru.

Appendix 1: Stem number, diameter at breast height (dbh) and basal area of woody plants occurring in the 1.4-ha study plot

Appendix 1: Stem number, diameter at breast height (dbh) and basal area of woody plants occurring in the 1.4-ha study plot

Species

Life forma

Number of living stems (No./1.4 ha)

Relative density (%)

dbh

Basal area

Mean (cm)

SD (cm)

Min. (cm)

Max. (cm)

(m2/1.4 ha)

(%)

All species

 

1544

100.0

14.3

15.6

5.0

125.8

54.52

100.0

Acer japonicum

t

338

21.9

7.8

2.9

5.0

20.9

1.83

3.4

Fagus crenata

t

287

18.6

37.6

22.3

5.1

125.8

42.94

78.7

Acer mono

t

221

14.3

12.5

7.2

5.1

48.7

3.60

6.6

Hamamelis japonica var. obtusata

st or s

110

7.1

6.0

1.8

5.0

23.9

0.34

0.6

Magnolia salicifolia

st

102

6.6

6.5

1.5

5.0

11.7

0.35

0.6

Acanthopanax sciadophylloides

t

96

6.2

8.4

3.1

5.1

19.7

0.61

1.1

Acer tschonoskii

st or s

58

3.8

6.2

1.0

5.0

9.4

0.18

0.3

Fraxinus lanuginosa

st

52

3.4

8.7

2.8

5.0

16.6

0.34

0.6

Sorbus commixta

t

48

3.1

10.5

4.7

5.3

24.9

0.50

0.9

Cornus controversa

t

39

2.5

6.9

2.1

5.0

16.8

0.16

0.3

Viburnum furcatum

s

36

2.3

5.6

0.5

5.1

7.0

0.09

0.2

Clethra barbinervis

t

28

1.8

5.9

0.7

5.0

7.6

0.08

0.1

Sorbus alnifolia

t

21

1.4

12.9

8.0

5.3

39.5

0.37

0.7

Betula maximowicziana

t

18

1.2

19.6

14.2

5.7

70.4

0.81

1.5

Euonymus oxyphyllus

s

18

1.2

5.8

0.8

5.0

7.4

0.05

0.1

Magnolia obovata

t

16

1.0

11.9

6.2

5.5

31.1

0.22

0.4

Tilia japonica

t

15

1.0

19.5

18.2

5.2

64.4

0.81

1.5

Pterocarya rhoifolia

t

12

0.8

18.3

5.7

7.9

31.2

0.34

0.6

Prunus grayana

t

12

0.8

6.6

1.3

5.2

9.5

0.04

0.1

Rhus trichocarpa

t

5

0.3

6.5

1.6

5.2

9.2

0.02

0.0

Phellodendron amurense

t

3

0.2

46.9

14.2

31.3

59.0

0.55

1.0

Alnus hirsuta

t

3

0.2

24.5

7.3

19.9

33.0

0.15

0.3

Aesculus turbinata

t

3

0.2

15.4

15.3

6.1

33.1

0.09

0.2

Salix sachalinensis

t

1

0.1

23.2

–

–

23.2

0.04

0.1

Kalopanax pictus

t

1

0.1

13.5

–

–

13.5

0.01

<0.1

Hydrangea paniculata

s

1

0.1

6.0

–

–

6.0

<0.01

<0.1

  1. aLife form classification follows Ohwi and Kitagawa (1992). The code indicates potential height: t, tree; st, small tree; s, shrub

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Torimaru, T., Akada, S., Ishida, K. et al. Spatial associations among major tree species in a cool-temperate forest community under heterogeneous topography and canopy conditions. Popul Ecol 55, 261–275 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10144-013-0363-8

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