Understanding 3D structural complexity of individual Scots pine trees with different management history

Tree functional traits together with processes such as forest regeneration, growth, and mortality affect forest and tree structure. Forest management inherently impacts these processes. Moreover, forest structure, biodiversity, resilience, and carbon uptake can be sustained and enhanced with forest management activities. To assess structural complexity of individual trees, comprehensive and quantitative measures are needed, and they are often lacking for current forest management practices. Here, we utilized 3D information from individual Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) trees obtained with terrestrial laser scanning to, first, assess effects of forest management on structural complexity of individual trees and, second, understand relationship between several tree attributes and structural complexity. We studied structural complexity of individual trees represented by a single scale‐independent metric called “box dimension.” This study aimed at identifying drivers affecting structural complexity of individual Scots pine trees in boreal forest conditions. The results showed that thinning increased structural complexity of individual Scots pine trees. Furthermore, we found a relationship between structural complexity and stem and crown size and shape as well as tree growth. Thus, it can be concluded that forest management affected structural complexity of individual Scots pine trees in managed boreal forests, and stem, crown, and growth attributes were identified as drivers of it.     

邻域竞争对长白山阔叶红松林关键树种生长的影响

林木间的竞争是影响树木生长、形态和死亡的主要因素.单木邻域竞争分析能够反映个体间相互作用规律及其距离范围,对于减缓林木竞争、促进林木生长具有重要意义.为弄清竞争对阔叶红松林林木生长的影响,本研究基于Hegyi单木竞争指数和邻域分析方法,探讨了长白山原始阔叶红松林中的5个关键树种——红松、紫椴、水曲柳、蒙古栎和春榆(胸高断面积合计占80%)竞争的邻域半径,并分析了竞争对关键树种生长和死亡的影响.结果表明:红松、紫椴、水曲柳和蒙古栎4个树种单木竞争的邻域半径均为11 m,春榆为13 m.关键树种单木邻域竞争强度与其生长量的对数呈显著负相关,与树木个体的大小呈显著正相关;竞争强度对树木生长影响的相对重要性随着个体的生长而降低.邻域竞争显著增加了关键树种的死亡率.本研究表明长白山阔叶红松林中邻域竞争对关键树种的生长和存活有重要影响,研究结果对阔叶红松林关键树种竞争环境的调整和生产力的提升具有指导意义.     

Edge disturbance drives liana abundance increase and alteration of liana–host tree interactions in tropical forest fragments

Closed‐canopy forests are being rapidly fragmented across much of the tropical world. Determining the impacts of fragmentation on ecological processes enables better forest management and improves species‐conservation outcomes. Lianas are an integral part of tropical forests but can have detrimental and potentially complex interactions with their host trees. These effects can include reduced tree growth and fecundity, elevated tree mortality, alterations in tree‐species composition, degradation of forest succession, and a substantial decline in forest carbon storage. We examined the individual impacts of fragmentation and edge effects (0–100‐m transect from edge to forest interior) on the liana community and liana–host tree interactions in rainforests of the Atherton Tableland in north Queensland, Australia. We compared the liana and tree community, the traits of liana‐infested trees, and determinants of the rates of tree infestation within five forest fragments (23–58 ha in area) and five nearby intact‐forest sites. Fragmented forests experienced considerable disturbance‐induced degradation at their edges, resulting in a significant increase in liana abundance. This effect penetrated to significantly greater depths in forest fragments than in intact forests. The composition of the liana community in terms of climbing guilds was significantly different between fragmented and intact forests, likely because forest edges had more small‐sized trees favoring particular liana guilds which preferentially use these for climbing trellises. Sites that had higher liana abundances also exhibited higher infestation rates of trees, as did sites with the largest lianas. However, large lianas were associated with low‐disturbance forest sites. Our study shows that edge disturbance of forest fragments significantly altered the abundance and community composition of lianas and their ecological relationships with trees, with liana impacts on trees being elevated in fragments relative to intact forests. Consequently, effective control of lianas in forest fragments requires management practices which directly focus on minimizing forest edge disturbance.     

基于树冠重叠面积的天然混交林林木竞争指数

构建基于树冠重叠面积和林木混交关系的竞争指数,探究天然混交林林分及主要树种竞争的表达方法,并以甘肃省小陇山林区锐齿槲栎天然混交林为研究对象,采用胸径、树高、冠幅、距离等信息的2期调查数据,对新构建的基于树冠重叠面积的天然混交林林木竞争(CIM)指数进行验证,并选取Spearman系数,对CIM竞争指数和传统竞争指数进行相关性分析。结果表明,采用树冠投影重叠和考虑树高关系确定竞争木的方法能有效避免竞争木多选或漏选; CIM1、CIM2、CIM3能够表达出混交林竞争压力变化,表现出竞争压力越大林木蓄积生长量越小的趋势,将树种混交因子引入竞争指数能够提高蓄积生长量与竞争指数的相关性,更加客观的描述林分中竞争状况。竞争指数与蓄积生长量相关性由大到小排序为CIM2>CIM3>CIM1>Bella竞争指数(CIO)>简单竞争指数(CI)>CIO2>CIO1,表明竞争指数 CIM2对混交林竞争表达更具参考意义。林分中主要树种锐齿槲栎由于相邻木中同树种相邻木增加,导致竞争压力增大。天然混交林中树种组成复杂多样,林木分布不均匀,在竞争指数中引入树种混交因子能够较为真实的反映林木竞争状况。     

长白山阔叶红松林不同强度择伐后关键树种的竞争关系

天然林择伐改变了林分的树种组成和结构,导致林木竞争关系发生变化,进而影响树木的生长和种群的动态.关键树种在维持群落结构和生态系统功能方面具有至关重要的作用.为了弄清长白山区阔叶红松林典型林型关键树种竞争关系的特点,本研究以红松、紫椴和水曲柳为研究对象,运用Hegyi竞争指数分析了受不同程度采伐干扰后形成的原始林(未受干扰)、轻度择伐林、中度择伐林和重度择伐林的林分结构和竞争关系.结果表明: 与原始林相比,轻度择伐林中关键树种的种群结构没有显著变化;中度择伐林和重度择伐林中3个关键树种大树(胸径DBH≥20 cm)的密度和平均胸径均显著减少,但幼树(2 cm≤DBH<10 cm)的数量增加.所有样地中关键树种的竞争指数均随径级的增加而减小,且二者服从幂函数分布,而林木胸径生长到20 cm后,竞争指数进入稳定状态.在原始林、轻度和中度择伐林中,3个树种的幼树的竞争指数受到非冠层树种的影响最大,而红松小树(10 cm≤DBH<20 cm)和大树主要受红松种内和非冠层树种的影响;水曲柳主要受红松和非冠层树种的影响,紫椴主要受种内和红松的影响.重度择伐林中,白桦是3个树种的主要竞争来源,贡献率均超过50%.根据以上关键树种竞争关系的特点,抚育非冠层树种有利于3个关键种幼树的更新和生长;对于小树来说,还需要根据树种类型来采取相应措施,而大树不需要采用抚育措施.本研究对关键树种培育和天然林择伐后快速恢复具有指导意义.     

Effects of size,neighbors, and site condition on tree growth in a subtropical evergreen and deciduous broad‐leaved mixed forest,China

Successful growth of a tree is the result of combined effects of biotic and abiotic factors. It is important to understand how biotic and abiotic factors affect changes in forest structure and dynamics under environmental fluctuations. In this study, we explored the effects of initial size [diameter at breast height (DBH)], neighborhood competition, and site condition on tree growth, based on a 3‐year monitoring of tree growth rate in a permanent plot (120 × 80 m) of montane Fagus engleriana–Cyclobalanopsis multiervis mixed forest on Mt. Shennongjia, China. We measured DBH increments every 6 months from October 2011 to October 2014 by field‐made dendrometers and calculated the mean annual growth rate over the 3 years for each individual tree. We also measured and calculated twelve soil properties and five topographic variables for 384 grids of 5 × 5 m. We defined two distance‐dependent neighborhood competition indices with and without considerations of phylogenetic relatedness between trees and tested for significant differences in growth rates among functional groups. On average, trees in this mixed montane forest grew 0.07 cm year^?1 in DBH. Deciduous, canopy, and early‐successional species grew faster than evergreen, small‐statured, and late‐successional species, respectively. Growth rates increased with initial DBH, but were not significantly related to neighborhood competition and site condition for overall trees. Phylogenetic relatedness between trees did not influence the neighborhood competition. Different factors were found to influence tree growth rates of different functional groups: Initial DBH was the dominant factor for all tree groups; neighborhood competition within 5 m radius decreased growth rates of evergreen trees; and site condition tended to be more related to growth rates of fast‐growing trees (deciduous, canopy, pioneer, and early‐successional species) than the slow‐growing trees (evergreen, understory, and late‐successional species).     

基于结构方程模型分析林分空间结构对草本物种多样性的影响

林分空间结构的改变直接影响林下草本物种的多样性。以针叶纯林、针阔混交林和常绿阔叶林为研究对象,采用结构方程模型研究了林分空间结构对林下草本物种多样性的影响,并探讨了林分水平空间结构,垂直空间结构以及林木竞争态势对林下草本物种多样性的影响的相对重要性。结果表明,林分水平空间结构对林下草本的物种多样性指数和物种均匀性指数均存在极显著的影响（P < 0.001）,影响系数高达0.96和0.89,对林下草本物种丰富度存在显著影响（P < 0.01）,影响系数为0.22;林分垂直空间结对林下草本丰富度和物种均匀性指数均存在极显著的影响（P < 0.001）,影响系数分别为0.86和0.43,对林下草本物种多样性指数存在显著影响（P < 0.01）,影响系数为0.16;林木竞争指数与林下草本丰富度和物种多样性指数也均存在极显著的影响（P < 0.001）,但影响系数较小,分别为-0.47和-0.30,而对林下草本物种均匀性指数未达到显著影响作用（P > 0.05）,影响系数仅为-0.04。整体上看,林分水平空间结构、垂直空间结构和林木竞争态势均对林下草本物种多样性有较强的影响作用,但从影响系数看,林分水平空间结构的影响作用最大,垂直空间结构次之,林木竞争态势的影响作用最小。因此,欲维持或改善林下草本物种多样性,应采取调整林分水平空间结构为主,垂直空间结构调整为辅,并适当降低林木竞争程度的综合经营措施。     

Tree growth indicates resource quality for foliage-feeding insects: Pattern and structure of herbivore diversity in response to productivity

In forests, local site conditions can affect both trees and herbivores and hence site-related factors act indirectly on herbivores mediated by tree growth rates. Here, tree foliage represents a fundamental prerequisite for insect herbivore development providing energy in the form of plant tissue quality. Resource-based theories, on the other hand, assume that the synthesis of defensive compounds is a trade-off with growth and peaks at low resource availability. However, the extent to which plant tissue quality in response to site productivity is relevant in the species-energy relationship is unknown. Therefore, we aimed at a better understanding of the form and structure of the species-energy relationship in forest insects. We used census data of foliage-feeding insects along a productivity gradient of Scots pine forests defined by relative growth rates of trees (RGR). As a result, diversity monotonically increases with decreasing RGR (as a proxy for energy) during almost two decades of sampling. Herbivore assemblages become more similar with available energy as species turnover linearly decreases and proportions of sites occupied by individual species rise. The results suggest that tree growth rate influences herbivore dynamics in this system by altering the chemical composition of needles, without necessarily affecting the form in the relationship. The site-specific resource availability requires trees to adjust their allocation to synthesis of carbon-based secondary metabolites or growth, which then results in fundamental differences in herbivore dynamics at low vs. lowest RGR (regular cycles (dominance) vs. dampened cycles (evenness)). However, these differences inevitably demonstrate that species richness is not necessarily a result of more individuals and implicate that different mechanisms are involved (facilitation vs. competition/temporal heterogeneity). The resulting pattern and structure of foliage-feeding insects advance our understanding of herbivore dynamics in response to site quality and tree growth, which may ultimately improve our knowledge of plant-insect interactions in the face of environmental change.     

Comparing forest structure and biodiversity on private and public land: secondary tropical dry forests in Costa Rica

Secondary forests constitute a substantial proportion of tropical forestlands. These forests occur on both public and private lands and different underlying environmental variables and management regimes may affect post‐abandonment successional processes and resultant forest structure and biodiversity. We examined whether differences in ownership led to differences in forest structure, tree diversity, and tree species composition across a gradient of soil fertility and forest age. We collected soil samples and surveyed all trees in 82 public and 66 private 0.1‐ha forest plots arrayed across forest age and soil gradients in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. We found that soil fertility appeared to drive the spatial structure of public vs. private ownership; public conservation lands appeared to be non‐randomly located on areas of lower soil fertility. On private lands, areas of crops/pasture appeared to be non‐randomly located on higher soil fertility areas while forests occupied areas of lower soil fertility. We found that forest structure and tree species diversity did not differ significantly between public and private ownership. However, public and private forests differed in tree species composition: 11 percent were more prevalent in public forest and 7 percent were more prevalent in private forest. Swietenia macrophylla, Cedrela odorata, and Astronium graveolens were more prevalent in public forests likely because public forests provide stronger protection for these highly prized timber species. Guazuma ulmifolia was the most abundant tree in private forests likely because this species is widely consumed and dispersed by cattle. Furthermore, some compositional differences appear to result from soil fertility differences due to non‐random placement of public and private land holdings with respect to soil fertility. Land ownership creates a distinctive species composition signature that is likely the result of differences in soil fertility and management between the ownership types. Both biophysical and social variables should be considered to advance understanding of tropical secondary forest structure and biodiversity.     

Species and structural diversity affect growth of oak,but not pine,in uneven-aged mature forests

The effects of mixing tree species on tree growth and stand production have been abundantly studied, mostly looking at tree species diversity effects while controlling for stand density and structure. Regarding the shift towards managing forests as complex adaptive systems, we also need insight into the effects of structural diversity. Strict forest reserves, left for spontaneous development, offer unique opportunities for studying the effects of diversity in tree species and stand structure. We used data from repeated inventories in ten forest reserves in the Netherlands and northern Belgium to study the growth of pine and oak. We investigated whether the diversity of a tree's local neighbourhood (i.e., species and structural diversity) is important in explaining its basal area growth. For the subcanopy oak trees, we found a negative effect of the tree species richness of the local neighbours, which – in the studied forests – was closely related to the share of shade-casting tree species in the neighbourhood. The growth of the taller oak trees was positively affected by the height diversity of the neighbour trees. Pine tree growth showed no relation with neighbourhood diversity. Tree growth decreased with neighbourhood density for both species (although no significant relationship was found for the small pines). We found no overall diversity-growth relationship in the studied uneven-aged mature forests; the relationship depended on tree species identity and the aspect of diversity considered (species vs. structural diversity).     

临安区不同森林类型竞争指数比较研究

竞争对树木生长有重要影响,通常用竞争指数定量描述树木之间的竞争关系。以浙江省杭州市临安区的乔木林为对象,利用2004年临安区森林资源监测数据,基于Voronoi图的Hegyi竞争指数,在区域尺度上对临安区多种森林类型的竞争关系进行分析。结果表明：在单木水平上,不同森林类型单木的总竞争指数、种内竞争指数、种间竞争指数在胸径5-10 cm最大;单木平均竞争指数随着胸径的增大而降低,胸径 > 30 cm的竞争压力得以缓解;临安区林木的竞争主要来源于种内竞争,天然林的种内竞争占总竞争指数的比例 > 50%,人工林的种内竞争占总竞争指数的比例 > 60%。径级平均总竞争指数、种内竞争指数、种间竞争指数与胸径的关系均服从对数函数关系。在林分水平上,不同森林类型的林分总竞争指数、种内竞争指数、种间竞争指数存在显著差异。平均总竞争顺序为：天然阔叶林 > 天然针阔混交林 > 人工针叶林 > 天然针叶林 > 人工针阔混交林 > 人工阔叶林。种内平均竞争顺序为：人工针叶林 > 天然阔叶林 > 天然针叶林 > 天然针阔混交林 > 人工针阔混交林 > 人工阔叶林。种间平均竞争顺序为：天然针阔混交林 > 人工针阔混交林 > 天然阔叶林 > 天然针叶林 > 人工针叶林 > 人工阔叶林。人工阔叶林的平均总竞争指数、种内竞争指数和种间竞争指数均为最小,该森林类型以山核桃经济树种为优势树种,说明为提高山核桃产量,人为控制低种植密度的经营措施有效降低了林分竞争强度。     

The Effect of Spatial Structure of Pasture Tree Cover on Avian Frugivores in Eastern Amazonia

The movement of frugivores between remnant forests and successional areas is vital for tropical forest tree species to colonize successional habitats. The response of these species to the spatial structure of pasture tree cover is largely unknown. We studied avian frugivores that were found in primary forest edges and large pastures in eastern Amazonia, Brazil. We determined how the small‐scale spatial structure of pasture trees at forest edges affects five response variables: bird presence, visitation rate, duration of visit, species richness, and an index accounting for species’ level of frugivory and abundance in forests. We used hierarchical linear models to estimate the effect of four predictor variables on response variables: (1) clustering of pasture trees; (2) percent canopy cover of pasture trees; (3) distance of pasture tree to forest edge; and (4) tree crown area. The study species, many of which are widely distributed in the Neotropics, were generally insensitive to percent cover and clustering of trees. Frugivore visitation to individual trees remained constant as cover increased. Visitation was positively correlated with focal tree distance to forest edge and crown area. The positive relationship between distance and visitation rates may be due to the increased abundance of some resource further from forests. If pastures were abandoned the distance from forest edges would not likely limit frugivore visitation and seed deposition under large pasture trees in our study (i.e., up to 200 m distant).     

Growth trends and dynamics in sub‐alpine forest stands in the Varaita Valley (Piedmont,Italy) and their relationships with human activities and global change

Abstract. A study of the forest lines, tree lines and the structures of the sub‐alpine forest was performed in Vallone Vallanta and in Alevé forest in the Varaita Valley (Cottian Alps, Piedmont, Italy). Forest‐ and tree lines were analysed over 1728 ha while forest structures were studied on six 3000‐m² plots located at the tree line (2), at the forest line (2) and inside the sub‐alpine forest (2). Dendro‐ecological analysis of living plants and stumps showed that Larix decidua was more abundant in the past than today and that Pinus cembra has expanded, both upwards and within sub‐alpine forests. Age structure analysis revealed that the current sub‐alpine forest stands were established 200–220 yr ago, probably following a clearcut. At the forest lines the tree density decreases, and some trees are more than 500 yr old, whereas at the tree lines most of the trees (almost exclusively Pinus cembra) are younger than 100 yr. Growth dynamics were investigated both by observing Basal Area Increment (BAI) in the old and dominant trees, and by comparing the BAIs of classes of trees with a given cambial age range in different time periods. The results showed that the growth rates of mature Pinus cembra and Larix decidua had increased. These increments are more substantial for Pinus than for Larix. The growth rate of young trees (< 100 yr) of both species has decreased over recent decades. This could be due to competition caused by increased tree densities that have resulted from a decrease in grazing.     

Monitoring individual tree‐based change with airborne lidar

Understanding the carbon flux of forests is critical for constraining the global carbon cycle and managing forests to mitigate climate change. Monitoring forest growth and mortality rates is critical to this effort, but has been limited in the past, with estimates relying primarily on field surveys. Advances in remote sensing enable the potential to monitor tree growth and mortality across landscapes. This work presents an approach to measure tree growth and loss using multidate lidar campaigns in a high‐biomass forest in California, USA. Individual tree crowns were delineated in 2008 and again in 2013 using a 3D crown segmentation algorithm, with derived heights and crown radii extracted and used to estimate individual tree aboveground biomass. Tree growth, loss, and aboveground biomass were analyzed with respect to tree height and crown radius. Both tree growth and loss rates decrease with increasing tree height, following the expectation that trees slow in growth rate as they age. Additionally, our aboveground biomass analysis suggests that, while the system is a net source of aboveground carbon, these carbon dynamics are governed by size class with the largest sources coming from the loss of a relatively small number of large individuals. This study demonstrates that monitoring individual tree‐based growth and loss can be conducted with multidate airborne lidar, but these methods remain relatively immature. Disparities between lidar acquisitions were particularly difficult to overcome and decreased the sample of trees analyzed for growth rate in this study to 21% of the full number of delineated crowns. However, this study illuminates the potential of airborne remote sensing for ecologically meaningful forest monitoring at an individual tree level. As methods continue to improve, airborne multidate lidar will enable a richer understanding of the drivers of tree growth, loss, and aboveground carbon flux.     

长白山云冷杉林优势树种的竞争

优势种是植物群落各层次中占优势的植物种,混交林优势树种竞争关系的研究对合理经营混交林具有重要意义.本研究在吉林省汪清县金沟岭林场内,选择立地条件一致的云冷杉天然林,设置大小100 m×100 m样地.首先,用优势度分析法确定群落优势树种;其次,以优势树种为对象木,采用可描述单株林木侧方上方、种内种间竞争强度的林木竞争指数分析优势树种的竞争关系.结果表明: 该云冷杉天然林有3个优势树种:臭冷杉、红皮云杉、红松.样地中,小径级林木较多,群落林木趋于小龄化,3个优势树种的竞争树种主要有臭冷杉、红皮云杉、红松、枫桦、紫椴、青楷槭和白桦.3个优势树种受到的竞争最激烈的是臭冷杉(1412.48),其次是红皮云杉(439.17)、红松(245.28),都主要承受侧方挤占,臭冷杉、红皮云杉、红松的侧方挤占分别占各优势树种竞争强度的64.9%、65.2%、66.0%;3个优势树种侧方上方平均竞争强度大致随个体胸径的增大而减少,小径级林木的侧方上方平均竞争强度几乎相等,对象木径级越大,所承受的侧方挤占比例越大,大径级林木几乎不承受上方遮盖;3个优势树种的侧方上方竞争主要来源于臭冷杉、红皮云杉、红松、紫椴、枫桦、青楷槭和白桦.3个优势树种种间竞争均比种内竞争激烈,臭冷杉、红皮云杉、红松的种间竞争分别占各优势树种竞争强度的58.4%、87.1%、83.7%,且竞争强度大致随个体胸径的增大而减少.     

Predicting tree biomass growth in the temperate–boreal ecotone: Is tree size,age, competition,or climate response most important?

As global temperatures rise, variation in annual climate is also changing, with unknown consequences for forest biomes. Growing forests have the ability to capture atmospheric CO₂ and thereby slow rising CO₂ concentrations. Forests’ ongoing ability to sequester C depends on how tree communities respond to changes in climate variation. Much of what we know about tree and forest response to climate variation comes from tree‐ring records. Yet typical tree‐ring datasets and models do not capture the diversity of climate responses that exist within and among trees and species. We address this issue using a model that estimates individual tree response to climate variables while accounting for variation in individuals’ size, age, competitive status, and spatially structured latent covariates. Our model allows for inference about variance within and among species. We quantify how variables influence aboveground biomass growth of individual trees from a representative sample of 15 northern or southern tree species growing in a transition zone between boreal and temperate biomes. Individual trees varied in their growth response to fluctuating mean annual temperature and summer moisture stress. The variation among individuals within a species was wider than mean differences among species. The effects of mean temperature and summer moisture stress interacted, such that warm years produced positive responses to summer moisture availability and cool years produced negative responses. As climate models project significant increases in annual temperatures, growth of species like Acer saccharum, Quercus rubra, and Picea glauca will vary more in response to summer moisture stress than in the past. The magnitude of biomass growth variation in response to annual climate was 92–95% smaller than responses to tree size and age. This means that measuring or predicting the physical structure of current and future forests could tell us more about future C dynamics than growth responses related to climate change alone.     

The negative effect of lianas on tree growth varies with tree species and season

Lianas reduce tree growth, reproduction, and survival in tropical forests. Liana competition can be particularly intense in isolated forest fragments, where liana densities are high, and thus, host tree infestation is common. Furthermore, lianas appear to grow particularly well during seasonal drought, when they may compete particularly intensely with trees. Few studies, however, have experimentally quantified the seasonal effects of liana competition on multiple tree species in tropical forests. We used a liana removal experiment in a forest fragment in southeastern Brazil to test whether the effects of lianas on tree growth vary with season and tree species identity. We conducted monthly diameter measurements using dendrometer bands on 88 individuals of five tree species for 24 months. We found that lianas had a stronger negative effect on some tree species during the wet season compared to the dry season. Furthermore, lianas significantly reduced the diameter growth of two tree species but had no effect on the other three tree species. The strong negative effect of lianas on some trees, particularly during the wet season, indicates that the effect of lianas on trees varies both seasonally and with tree species identity. Abstract in Portuguese is available with online material.     

Stability in the patterns of long‐term development and growth of the Canadian spruce–moss forest

Aim The spruce–moss forest is the main forest ecosystem of the North American boreal forest. We used stand structure and fire data to examine the long‐term development and growth of the spruce–moss ecosystem. We evaluate the stability of the forest with time and the conditions needed for the continuing regeneration, growth and re‐establishment of black spruce (Picea mariana) trees. Location The study area occurs in Québec, Canada, and extends from 70°00′ to 72°00′ W and 47°30′ to 56°00′ N. Methods A spatial inventory of spruce–moss forest stands was performed along 34 transects. Nineteen spruce–moss forests were selected. A 500 m² quadrat at each site was used for radiocarbon and tree‐ring dating of time since last fire (TSLF). Size structure and tree regeneration in each stand were described based on diameter distribution of the dominant and co‐dominant tree species [black spruce and balsam fir (Abies balsamea)]. Results The TSLF of the studied forests ranges from 118 to 4870 cal. yr bp . Forests < 325 cal. yr bp are dominated by trees of the first post‐fire cohort and are not yet at equilibrium, whereas older forests show a reverse‐J diameter distribution typical of mature, old‐growth stands. The younger forests display faster height and radial growth‐rate patterns than the older forests, due to factors associated with long‐term forest development. Each of the stands examined established after severe fires that consumed all the soil organic material. Main conclusions Spruce–moss forests are able to self‐regenerate after fires that consume the organic layer, thus allowing seed regeneration at the soil surface. In the absence of fire the forests can remain in an equilibrium state. Once the forests mature, tree productivity eventually levels off and becomes stable. Further proof of the enduring stability of these forests, in between fire periods, lies in the ages of the stands. Stands with a TSLF of 325–4870 cal. yr bp all exhibited the same stand structure, tree growth rates and species characteristics. In the absence of fire, the spruce–moss forests are able to maintain themselves for thousands of years with no apparent degradation or change in forest type.     

Effect of climate and competition on radial growth of Pinus massoniana and Schima superba in China’s subtropical monsoon mixed forest

Tree growth is affected by many exogenous and endogenous factors, especially climate and competition. To address the issue of how these factors influence tree growth under global warming, dendroclimatology combined with competition analysis was used to examine the radial growth response of two major species – Pinus massoniana and Schima superba in subtropical monsoon mixed forests in southern China. For growth-climate relationship analysis, residual and ARSTAN chronologies of these two species were compared for the response function analysis over the past several decades. In terms of competition analysis, annual basal area increment (BAI) over several time intervals was calculated and linear mixed model techniques were employed. Several distance-independent competition indices were measured, including density (N), basal area (BA), and sum of diameter at breast height (SDBH). For competition trees with greater diameter (GR) than the subject tree, NGR, BAGR, SDBHGR were also calculated. Growth-climate relationship analysis suggested that tree growth varied in response to climate and was mostly correlated with minimum, mean and maximum air temperature as indicated by the adjusted R² value. Summer and winter temperatures had a negative effect on tree growth, while early spring temperature showed positive effects. Competition analysis suggested that subtropical trees had been affected by competition in varying degrees. Trees in the oldest forest had the most competition stress, while trees in younger forests were less affected by competition according to the adjusted R² value. Given that subtropical forests in China have been found to have more smaller trees with recent warming, it is expected that these forests will experience a decreasing effect of competition in near future. This can have profound effects on forest productivity and carbon sequestration potentials in Chinese subtropical forests.     

Microhabitat associations of terrestrial insectivorous birds in Amazonian rainforest and second‐growth forests

ABSTRACT Across the Neotropics, small‐bodied terrestrial insectivores are sensitive to forest fragmentation and are largely absent from second‐growth forests. Despite their sensitivity to forest structure, the microhabitat relationships of these birds have not been quantified. From July 1994 to January 1995 in central Amazonia, we characterized habitat at sites where nine species of terrestrial insectivores were observed foraging, as well as at randomly selected sites in continuous forest and two types of 10–15‐yr‐old second‐growth forest common in Amazonia (Vismia‐ and Cecropia‐dominated). We used factor analysis to find suites of correlated variables. From each factor, we selected a representative variable that was relatively easy to measure. We used Bayesian analysis to estimate means and standard deviations of these variables for each species and for each type of habitat. All nine focal species were associated with ranges of microhabitat variables, such as leaf litter depth and tree densities, often absent in second‐growth forests. At least in the early stages of regeneration, neither type of second‐growth forest provides suitable structure for the terrestrial insectivores in our study. The large leaves of Cecropia trees that make up the thick leaf litter may preclude the use of Cecropia‐dominated second growth by our focal species, many of which manipulate leaves when foraging. The leaf litter in Vismia‐dominated second growth was also thicker than sites used for foraging by our focal species. In addition, Vismia‐dominated growth had more small trees and small nonwoody vegetation, perhaps impeding movement by terrestrial birds. In continuous forest, our focal species foraged in microhabitats with characteristics that generally overlapped those of randomly selected sites. Thus, our results are consistent with the hypothesis that microhabitat differences make second‐growth forests unsuitable for our focal species.