Trees species’ dispersal mode and habitat heterogeneity shape negative density dependence in a temperate forest

Conspecific negative density dependence(CNDD)is a potentially important mechanism in maintaining species diversity.While previous evidence showed habitat heterogeneity and species’dispersal modes affect the strength of CNDD at early life stages of trees(e.g.,seedlings),it remains unclear how they affect the strength of CNDD at later life stages.We examined the degree of spatial aggregation between saplings and trees for species dispersed by wind and gravity in four topographic habitats within a 25-ha temperate forest dynamic plot in the Qinling Mountains of central China.We used the replicated spatial point pattern(RSPP)analysis and bivariate paircorrelation function(PCF)to detect the spatial distribution of saplings around trees at two scales,15 and 50 m,respectively.Although the signal was not apparent across the whole study region(or 25-ha),it is distinct on isolated areas with specific characteristics,suggesting that these characteristics could be important factors in CNDD.Further,we found that the gravity-dispersed tree species experienced CNDD across habitats,while for wind-dispersed species CNDD was found in gully,terrace and low-ridge habitats.Our study suggests that neglecting the habitat heterogeneity and dispersal mode can distort the signal of CNDD and community assembly in temperate forests.

Soil water content and nitrogen differentially correlate with multidimensional leaf traits of two temperate broadleaf species

The variation and correlation of leaf economics and vein traits are crucial for predicting plant ecological strategies under different environmental changes.However,correlations between these two suites of traits and abiotic factors such as soil water and nitrogen content remain ambiguous.We measured leaf economics and vein traits as well as soil water and nitrogen content for two different shade-tolerant species(Betula platyphylla and Acer mono)in four mixed broadleaved-Korean pine(Pinus koraiensis)forests along a latitudinal gradient in Northeast China.We found that leaf economics traits and vein traits were decoupled in shade-intolerant species,Betula platphylla,but significantly coupled in a shadetolerant species,A.mono.We found stronger correlations among leaf traits in the shade tolerant species than in the shade intolerant species.Furthermore,leaf economic traits were positively correlated with the soil water gradient for both species,whereas vein traits were positively correlated with soil water gradient for the shade intolerant species but negatively correlated in the shade tolerant species.Although economic traits were positively correlated with soil nitrogen gradient in shade intolerant species but not correlated in shade tolerant species,vein traits were negatively correlated with soil nitrogen gradient in shade tolerant species but not correlated in shade intolerant species.Our study provides evidence for distinct correlations between leaf economics and vein traits and local abiotic factors of species differing in light demands.We recommend that the ecological significance of shade tolerance be considered for species when evaluating ecosystem functions and predicting plant responses to environmental changes.

Density dependence and habitat preference shape seedling survival in a subtropical forest in central China

Aims seedlings are vulnerable to many kinds of fatal abiotic and biotic agents,and examining the causes of seedling dynamics can help understand mechanisms of species coexistence.To disentangle the relative importance of neighborhood densities,habitat factors and phylogenetic relatedness on focal seedling survival,we monitored the survival of 5306 seedlings of 104 species>15 months.We address the following questions:(i)How do neighborhood densities,habitat variables and phylogenetic relatedness affect seedling survival?What is the relative importance of conspecific densities,habitat variables and phylogenetic relatedness to seedling survival?(ii)Does the importance of the neighborhood densities,habitat variables and phylogenetic relatedness vary among growth forms,leaf habits or dispersal modes?specially,does the conspecific negative density dependence inhibit tree and decidu-ous seedlings more compared with shrub and evergreen species?Does density dependence affect the wind and animal-dispersed species equally?Methods We established 135 census stations to monitor seedling dynamics in a 25-ha subtropical forest plot in central China.Conspecific and heterospecific seedling density in the 1-m2 seedling plot and adult basal area within a 20-m radius provided neighborhood density var-iables.mean elevation,convexity and aspect of every 5-×5-m grid with seedling plots were used to quantify habitat characteristics.We calculated the relative average phylodiversity between focal seed-ling and heterospecific neighbors to quantify the species related-ness in the neighborhood.Eight candidate generalized linear mixed models with binominal error distribution were used to compare the relative importance of these variables to seedling survival.akaike’s information criteria were used to identify the most parsimonious models.Important Findingsat the community level,both the neighborhood densities and phylogenetic relatedness were important to seedling survival.We found negative effects of increasing conspecific seedlings,which suggested the existence of species-specific density-dependent mortality.Phylodiversity of heterospecific neighbors was negatively related to survival of focal seedlings,indicating similar habitat preference shared among phylogenetically closely related species may drive seedling survival.The relative importance of neighborhood densities,habitat variables and phylogenetic relatedness varied among ecological guilds.Conspecific densities had significant negative effect for deciduous and wind-dispersed species,and marginally significant for tree seedlings>10 cm tall and animal-dispersed species.Habitat variables had limited effects on seedling survival,and only elevation was related to the sur-vival of evergreen species in the best-fit model.We conclude that both negative density-dependent mortality and habitat preference reflected by the phylogenetic relatedness shape the species coex-istence at seedling stage in this forest.