Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Spatial distributions of tropical tree species in northern Vietnam under environmentally variable site conditions

  • Orignal Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Forestry Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Ecological interactions of species and thus their spatial patterns may differ between homogeneous and heterogeneous forests. To account for this, techniques of point pattern analysis were implemented on mapped locations of tree individuals from two 1-ha tropicalforest plots in Vietnam. We analyzed the effect of environmental heterogeneity on tree distributions; spatial distribution patterns of dominant species; inter-specific associations; and conspecific associations between life stages. Our analyses showed that: environmental conditions were homogeneous at plot 1 but heterogeneous at plot 2; in both plots, all six dominant species were aggregated at various scales up to 30 m, and tree species were aggregated at larger scales in the homogeneous site than in the heterogeneous site; attraction between pairs of species was remarkably higher at the homogeneous site while negative associations were more frequent in the heterogeneous site; some species, H. kurzii, T. ilicifolia (homogeneous plot) and D. sylvatica, S. wightianum (heterogeneous plot), showed a lack of early life-stage individuals near conspecific adults. Moreover, additional clustering of young individuals was independent from conspecific adults, except D. sylvatica in both sites. These findings are consistent with the Janzen-Connell hypothesis. Overall, habitat heterogeneity influences spatial patterns and inter-specific associations of the tree species and evidences of self-thinning are shown in most species.

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

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Augspurger CK. 1984. Seedling survival of tropical tree species — Interactions of dispersal distance, Light-gaps, and Pathogens. Ecology, 65(6): 1705–1712.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barot S. 2004. Mechanisms promoting plant coexistence: can all the proposed processes be reconciled? Oikos, 106(1): 185–192.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boyden S, Binkley D, Shepperd W. 2005. Spatial and temporal patterns in structure, regeneration, and mortality of an old-growth ponderosa pine forest in the Colorado Front Range. Forest Ecology and Management 219(1): 43–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruno JF, Stachowicz JJ, Bertness MD. 2003. Inclusion of facilitation into ecological theory. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 18(3): 119–125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bunyavejchewin S, Lafrankie JV, Baker PJ, Kanzaki M, Ashton PS, Yamakura T. 2003. Spatial distribution patterns of the dominant canopy dipterocarp species in a seasonal dry evergreen forest in western Thailand. Forest Ecology and Management, 175(1–3): 87–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Callaway RM, Walker LR. 1997. Competition and facilitation: A synthetic approach to interactions in plant communities. Ecology, 78(7): 1958–1965.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Condit R, Ashton PS, Baker P, Bunyavejchewin S, Gunatilleke S, Gunatilleke N, Hubbell SP, Foster RB, Itoh A, LaFrankie JV, Lee HS, Losos E, Manokaran N, Sukumar R, Yamakura T. 2000. Spatial patterns in the distribution of tropical tree species. Science, 288(5470): 1414–1418.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Condit R, Hubbell SP, Foster RB. 1992. Recruitment near conspecific adults and the maintenance of tree and shrub diversity in a neotropical forest. American Naturalist, 140(2): 261–286.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  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: P. J. den Boer and G. Gradwell (eds), Dynamics of Populations. Pudoc, Wageningen, pp. 298–312.

    Google Scholar 

  • Debski I, Burslem D, Palmiotto PA, Lafrankie JV, Lee HS, Manokaran N. 2002. Habitat preferences of Aporosa in two Malaysian forests: Implications for abundance and coexistence. Ecology, 83(7): 2005–2018.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diggle PJ. 2003. Statistical Analysis of Spatial Point Patterns. London: Arnold (Hodder Headline Group).

    Google Scholar 

  • Dixon PM. 2002. Ripley’s K function. In: Abdel H. El-Shaarawi and Walter W. Piegorsch (eds), Encyclopedia of Environmetrics. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, pp.1796–1803

    Google Scholar 

  • FIPI. 1996. Vietnam forest trees. Hanoi, Vietnam: Agricultural Pub. House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Getzin S, Wiegand T, Wiegand K, He F. 2008. Heterogeneity influences spatial patterns and demographics in forest stands. Journal Of Ecology, 96(4): 807–820.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goreaud F, Pelissier R. 2003. Avoiding misinterpretation of biotic interactions with the intertype K-12-function: population independence vs. random labelling hypotheses. Journal of Vegetation Science, 14(5): 681–692.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gunatilleke CVS, Gunatilleke IAUN, Esufali S, Harms KE, Ashton PMS, Burslem DFRP, Ashton PS. 2006. Species-habitat associations in a Sri Lankan dipterocarp forest. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 22: 371–384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harms KE, Condit R, Hubbell SP, Foster RB. 2001. Habitat associations of trees and shrubs in a 50-ha neotropical forest plot. Journal of Ecology 89(6): 947–959.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harms KE, Wright SJ, Calderon O, Hernandez A, Herre EA. 2000. Pervasive density-dependent recruitment enhances seedling diversity in a tropical forest. Nature, 404(6777): 493–495.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • He FL, Legendre P, LaFrankie JV. 1997. Distribution patterns of tree species in a Malaysian tropical rain forest. Journal of Vegetation Science, 8(1): 105–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hood LA, Swaine MD, Mason PA. 2004. The influence of spatial patterns of damping-off disease and arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization on tree seedling establishment in Ghanaian tropical forest soil. Journal of Ecology, 92(5): 816–823.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hubbell SP. 1979. Tree dispersion, abundance, and diversity in a tropical dry forest. Science, 203(4387): 1299–1309.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  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. Ecological Research 16(5): 859–875.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Illian J, Stoyan D, Stoyan H, Penttinen A. 2008. Statistical Analysis and Modelling of Spatial Point Patterns. Sussex: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Janzen DH. 1970. Herbivores and the number of tree species in tropical forests. American Naturalist, 104(940): 501–528

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lan G, Getzin S, Wiegand T, Hu Y, Xie G, Zhu H, Cao M. 2012. Spatial Distribution and Interspecific Associations of Tree Species in a Tropical Seasonal Rain Forest of China. Plos One, 7(9).

    Google Scholar 

  • Li H, Reynolds JF. 1995. On definition and quantification of heterogeneity. Oikos, 73(2): 280–284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luo ZR, Mi XC, Chen XR, Ye ZL, Ding BY. 2011. Density dependence is not very prevalent in a heterogeneous subtropical forest. Oikos, 121(8): 1239–1250.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martinez I, Wiegand T, Gonzalez-Taboada F, Ramon Obeso J. 2010. Spatial associations among tree species in a temperate forest community in North-western Spain. Forest Ecology and Management, 260(4): 456–465.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McDonald RI, Peet RK, Urban DL. 2003. Spatial pattern of Quercus regeneration limitation and Acer rubrum invasion in a Piedmont forest. Journal of Vegetation Science, 14(3): 441–450.

    Google Scholar 

  • North M, Chen JQ, Oakley B, Song B, Rudnicki M, Gray A, Innes J. 2004. Forest stand structure and pattern of old-growth western hemlock/Douglas-fir and mixed-conifer forests. Forest Science, 50(3): 299–311.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters HA. 2003. Neighbour-regulated mortality: the influence of positive and negative density dependence on tree populations in species-rich tropical forests. Ecology Letters, 6(8): 757–765.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pizano C, Mangan SA, Herre EA, Eom A-H, Dalling JW. 2011. Above- and belowground interactions drive habitat segregation between two cryptic species of tropical trees. Ecology, 92(1): 47–56.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rcfee. 2011. Forest ecological stratification in Vietnam. Hanoi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ripley BD. 1976. The Second-Order Analysis of Stationary Point Processes Journal of Applied Probability, 13(2): 255–266

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seidler TG, Plotkin JB. 2006. Seed dispersal and spatial pattern in tropical trees. Plos Biology, 4(11): 2132–2137.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Somanathan H, Borges RM. 2000. Influence of exploitation on population structure, spatial distribution and reproductive success of dioecious species in a fragmented cloud forest in India. Biological Conservation, 94(2): 243–256.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stoyan D, Stoyan H. 1994. Fractals, random shapes, and point fields: Methods of geometrical statistics. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Team RDC. 2010. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tilman D. 2004. Niche tradeoffs, neutrality, and community structure: A stochastic theory of resource competition, invasion, and community assembly. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 101(30): 10854–10861.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  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. Ecological Monographs, 74(4): 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? Journal of Ecology, 92(2): 348–360.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wagner HH, Fortin MJ. 2005. Spatial analysis of landscapes: Concepts and statistics. Ecology, 86(8): 1975–1987.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang XP, Jin XB, Sun CY. 1986. Burretiodendron hsienmu Chun & How: Its Ecology and Its Protection. Arnoldia, 45(4): 46–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang XG, Wiegand T, Hao ZQ, Li BH, Ye J, Lin F. 2010. Species associations in an old-growth temperate forest in north-eastern China. Journal of Ecology, 98(3): 674–686.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Webb CO, Peart DR. 2000. Habitat associations of trees and seedlings in a Bornean rain forest. Journal of Ecology, 88(3): 464–478.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiegand T, Gunatilleke S, Gunatilleke N. 2007. Species associations in a heterogeneous Sri lankan dipterocarp forest. American Naturalist, 170(4): E77–E95.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wiegand T, Huth A, Getzin S, Wang X, Hao Z, Gunatilleke CVS, Gunatilleke IAUN. 2012. Testing the independent species’ arrangement assertion made by theories of stochastic geometry of biodiversity. Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, 279(1741): 3312–3320.

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Wiegand T, Moloney KA. 2004. Rings, circles, and null-models for point pattern analysis in ecology. Oikos, 104(2): 209–229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiens JA. 2000. Ecological heterogeneity: an ontogeny of concepts and approaches. In: M. J. Hutchings, E. A. John and A. J. A. Stewart (eds), The ecological consequences of environmental heterogeneity. Oxford Blackwell Science, pp.9–32.

    Google Scholar 

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

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamada T, Tomita A, Itoh A, Yamakura T, Ohkubo T, Kanzaki M, Tan S, Ashton PS. 2006. Habitat associations of Sterculiaceae trees in a Bornean rain forest plot. Journal of Vegetation Science, 17(5): 559–566.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Z-H, Hu G, Zhu J-D, Luo D-H, Ni J. 2010. Spatial patterns and interspecific associations of dominant tree species in two old-growth karst forests, SW China. Ecological Research, 25(6): 1151–1160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang ZH, Hu G, Zhu JD, Ni J. 2013. Aggregated spatial distributions of species in a subtropical karst forest, southwestern China. Journal of Plant Ecology, 6(2): 131–140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu Y, Mi XC, Ren HB, Ma KP. 2009. Density dependence is prevalent in a heterogeneous subtropical forest. Oikos, 119(1): 109–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Stephan Getzin

    Present address: Department of Ecological Modeling, PF 500136, UFZ Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, D-04301, Leipzig, Germany

  2. Nguyen Hong Hai

    Present address: Faculty of Agricultural Techniques, Hatay Community College, Chuongmy-Hanoi, Vietnam

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecosystem Modelling, Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology, University of Goettingen, Buesgenweg 4, 37077, Goettingen, Germany

    Nguyen Hong Hai, Kerstin Wiegand & Stephan Getzin

Authors
  1. Nguyen Hong Hai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kerstin Wiegand
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Stephan Getzin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nguyen Hong Hai.

Additional information

Project funding: This study was supported with funds from the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam.

Corresponding editor: Chai Ruihai

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hai, N.H., Wiegand, K. & Getzin, S. Spatial distributions of tropical tree species in northern Vietnam under environmentally variable site conditions. Journal of Forestry Research 25, 257–268 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-014-0457-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-014-0457-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation