Abstract
We analyzed basal area (BA) growth using growth data obtained from permanent plots over 4 years for five major tree species in Anhui Province, eastern China. The studied species were dominant conifers (Pinus massoniana and Cunninghamia lanceolata) and co-dominant broad-leaved species (Castanopsis eyrei, Castanopsis sclerophylla, and Loropetalum chinense). A hierarchical Bayesian approach was used to estimate species-specific parameters and to quantify a spatially autocorrelated random effect. We selected a model that included only the following relevant predictor variables: initial size, asymmetric competition, spatially autocorrelated random effect, and random effect associated with plots. For all species analyzed, the model accounted for significant proportions of the variation (R 2 = 70–98 %) in BA growth rates. The initial slope of the relationship between BA growth rate and the initial BA tended to be steeper for P. massoniana than for C. lanceolata. The BA growth rate increased from an initial low value and then leveled off, with a lower maximum BA growth rate for C. lanceolata than for P. massoniana. The BA growth rate of P. massoniana was significantly affected by asymmetric competition with neighbors. The results of our analyses were used to predict to what extent thinning neighboring trees at different intensities would reduce competition impacts on BA growth of P. massoniana and C. lanceolata. Our results also helped to clarify the ecological characteristics of the species analyzed, as well as the spatial distribution of unknown factors influencing tree growth.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Beale CM, Lennon JJ, Yearsley JM, Brewer MJ, Elston DA (2010) Regression analysis of spatial data. Ecol Lett 13:246–264
Besag J (1974) Spatial interaction and the statistical analysis of lattice systems. J R Stat Soc B Met 36:192–236
Besag J, York J, Mollié A (1991) Bayesian image restoration with two applications in spatial statistics (with discussion). Ann Inst Statist Math 43:1–59
Cheng XP, Umeki K, Honjo T (2010) Size structure, spatial patterns, and tree height-diameter relationship of the dominant species in a natural Pinus–Cunninghamia forest in Anhui, China. Environ Inform Sci 24:49–54
Cheng XP, Umeki K, Honjo T, Shao PY (2011) Height growth, diameter-height relationships and branching architecture of Pinus massoniana and Cunninghamia lanceolata in early regeneration stages in Anhui Province, eastern China: effects of light intensity and regeneration mode. For Stud China 13:1–12
Dong M (1987) Population structure and dynamics of Pinus massoniana Lamb. on mount Jinyun, Sichuan. China Veg 72:35–44
Dormann CF, McPherson JM, Araujo MB, Bivand R, Bolliger J, Carl G, Davies RG, Hirzel A, Jetz W, Kissling WD, Kuhn I, Ohlemuller R, Peres-Neto PR, Reineking B, Schroder B, Schurr FM, Wilson R (2007) Methods to account for spatial autocorrelation in the analysis of species distributional data: a review. Ecography 30:609–628
Falinska K (1991) Plant demography in vegetation succession. Kluwer, Dordrecht
Fox JC, Ades PK, Bi HQ (2001) Stochastic structure and individual-tree growth models. For Ecol Manag 154:261–276
Gelman A, Carlin JB, Stern HS, Rubin DB (2004) Bayesian data analysis, 2nd edn. Champan and Hall, Boca Raton
Hamilton DAJ (1986) A logistic model of mortality in thinned and unthinned mixed conifer stands of northern Idaho. For Sci 32:989–1000
Han YL (1981) Vegetation of Anhui province. Anhui, Hefei (in Chinese)
Ishihama F, Takeda T, Oguma H, Takenaka A (2010) Comparison of effects of spatial autocorrelation on distribution predictions of four rare plant species in the Watarase wetland. Ecol Res 25:1057–1069
Kelty MJ, Larson BC, Oliver CD (1992) Preface. In: Kelty MJ, Larson BC, Oliver CD (eds) The ecology and silviculture of mixed-species forests. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 9–11
Kobe RK, Coates KD (1997) Models of sapling mortality as a function of growth to characterize interspecific variation in shade tolerance of eight tree species of northwestern British Columbia. Can J For Res 27:227–236
Kubota Y, Hara T (1995) Tree competition and species coexistence in a sub-boreal forest, northern Japan. Ann Bot 76:503–512
Li M, Ritchie GA (1999) Eight hundred years of clonal forestry in China: I. traditional afforestation with Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook.). New For 18:131–142
Lichstein JW, Simons TR, Shriner SA, Franzreb KE (2002) Spatial autocorrelation and autoregressive models in ecology. Ecol Monogr 72:445–463
Masaki T, Mori S, Kajimoto T, Hitsuma G, Sawata S, Mori M, Osumi K, Sakurai S, Seki T (2006) Long-term growth analyses of Japanese cedar trees in a plantation: neighborhood competition and persistence of initial growth deviations. J For Res 11:217–225
Nishimura N, Hara T, Kawatani M, Hoshino D, Yamamoto S-I (2005) Promotion of species co-existence in old-growth coniferous forest through interplay of life-history strategy and tree competition. J Veg Sci 16:549–558
Ogle K, Uriarte M, Thompson J, Johnstone J, Jones A, Lin Y, McIntire EJB, Zimmerman JK (2006) Implications of vulnerability to hurricane damage for long-term survival of tropical tree species: a Bayesian hierarchical analysis. In: Clark J, Gelfand AE (eds) Hierarchical modelling for the environmental sciences: statistical methods and applications. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 98–117
Ohno Y, Umeki K, Watanabe I, Takiya M, Terazawa K, Yasaka M, Matsuki S (2009) Basal area growth and mortality of Betula maximowicziana affected by crown dieback in a secondary forest in Hokkaido, northern Japan. J For Res 14:37–43
Pacala SW, Canham CD, Silander JA Jr (1993) Forest models defined by field measurements: I. The design of a northeastern forest simulator. Can J For Res 23:1980–1988
Smith SH, Bell JF (1983) Using competitive stress index to estimate diameter growth for thinned Douglas-fir stands. For Sci 29:491–499
Smith DM, Larson BC, Kelty MJ, Ashton PMS (1997) The practice of silviculture: applied forest ecology. Wiley, New York, pp 99–130
Spiegelhalter DJ, Best NG, Carlin BR, van der Linde A (2002) Bayesian measures of model complexity and fit. J R Stat Soc B Met 64:583–616
Spiegelhalter DJ, Thomas A, Best NG, Lunn D (2003) WinBUGS Version 1.4 UserManual. MRC Biostatistics Unit, Cambridge
Umeki K (2001) Growth characteristics of six tree species on Hokkaido Island, northern Japan. Ecol Res 16:435–450
Umeki K (2002) Tree mortality of five major species on Hokkaido Island, northern Japan. Ecol Res 17:575–589
Umeki K, Lim E-M, Honjo T (2008) A GIS-based simulation program to predict multi-species size-structure dynamics for natural forests in Hokkaido, northern Japan. Ecol Inform 3:218–227
Waller L, Zhu L, Gotway C, Gorman D, Gruenewald P (2007) Quantifying geographic variations in associations between alcohol distribution and violence: a comparison of geographically weighted regression and spatially varying coefficient models. Stoch Env Res Risk A 21:573–588
Wu ZL (1984) Chinese-fir. China Forestry, Beijing (in Chinese)
Wu X, Sun Z, Gao L (2006) Forestry in Qimen county. Forestry Bureau of Qimen County, Anhui. Forestry Bureau of Qimen County, Huangshan (in Chinese)
Zhang TL (2004) 1200 Tree species in landscape gardens. China Architecture & Building, Beijing (in Chinese)
Zhang LJ, Shi HJ (2004) Local modeling of tree growth by geographically weighted regression. For Sci 50:225–244
Zhang P, Shao G, Zhao G, Le Master DC, Parker GR, Dunning JB Jr, Li Q (2000) China’s forest policy for the 21st century. Science 288:2135–2136
Zhou ZX (2000) Masson pine in China. China Forestry, Beijing (in Chinese with English summary)
Acknowledgments
We thank the members of the Environmental Information Laboratory, the Graduate School of Horticulture, Chiba University, Japan, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful discussions and valuable suggestions. We also thank the staff of the Forestry Bureau of Qimen County in China for help with field measurements. The first author is grateful for a research grant provided by the Kambayashi Scholarship Foundation, Japan. This study was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (no. 23380079, 23380085).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
About this article
Cite this article
Cheng, X., Umeki, K., Honjo, T. et al. Basal area growth rates of five major species in a Pinus–Cunninghamia forest in eastern China affected by asymmetric competition and spatial autocorrelation. J For Res 19, 86–96 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10310-012-0377-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10310-012-0377-7