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Distance- and density-dependent seedling mortality caused by several diseases in eight tree species co-occurring in a temperate forest

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Forest Ecology

Abstract

To examine whether the Janzen–Connell mechanism applies to temperate forests, seedling survival and causes of mortality were investigated at two distances (beneath, far) from conspecific adults and at two densities (high, low) at each distance for seedlings (n = 7935) of eight tree species co-occurring in a hardwood forest. Six of the eight species showed distance- and/or density-dependent seedling mortality mainly caused by diseases and rodents. In four of the five species primarily killed by disease (i.e. damping-off, blight, rot, powdery mildew), the infectivity (probability of infection by the disease) and/or the virulence (proportion of seedlings killed to those infected by the disease) were higher beneath than far from conspecific adults. These findings suggest that host specificity and/or spatially heterogeneous activity of natural enemies play an important role in the reciprocal replacement of tree species, maintaining species diversity in temperate forests.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Forest Ecology, Field Science Center, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, 989 6711, Osaki, Miyagi, Japan

    Miki Yamazaki & Kenji Seiwa

  2. Innovative Drug Research Laboratories, Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd., 194-8533, Machida, Tokyo, Japan

    Susumu Iwamoto

Authors
  1. Miki Yamazaki
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  2. Susumu Iwamoto
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  3. Kenji Seiwa
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Correspondence to Miki Yamazaki .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, 141 Bessey Hall, 50011-1020, Ames, IA, USA

    A. G. Van der Valk

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Yamazaki, M., Iwamoto, S., Seiwa, K. (2008). Distance- and density-dependent seedling mortality caused by several diseases in eight tree species co-occurring in a temperate forest. In: Van der Valk, A.G. (eds) Forest Ecology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2795-5_14

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