Soil nitrogen availability intensifies negative density-dependent effects in a subtropical forest

Aims The importance of density-dependent mortality in maintaining tree species diversity is widely accepted.However,density-dependent effects may vary in magnitude and direction with different abiotic conditions in forests.Theoretical predictions surmise that density-dependent effects may vary with soil available nitrogen(AN),but this still needs to be tested.Methods We analyzed the density-dependent effects on survival of newly germinated seedlings for 18 common species based on a long-term seedling census across environmental gradients in a subtropical forest.We also conducted a root lesion detection experiment for five species to investigate the potential effects of pathogens on variation in density-dependent disease between rich and poor AN environments.Important Findings The seedling dynamics analysis revealed that the strength of density-dependent effects increased with AN,shifting from neutral or positive with low AN to negative with high AN.Three of the five tree species had stronger density-dependent effects on root lesions in rich AN environments than in poor AN environments,which is consistent with the results of a long-term seedling dynamics analysis.We also found higher species diversity in rich AN environments,which may be promoted by the stronger negative density-dependent effects.Both the seedling dynamic analysis and root lesion detection experiment revealed stronger negative density-dependent effects in higher AN environment,resulting from stronger disease pressure by soil pathogens.Our study emphasized the importance of considering context dependence when testing the density dependence hypotheses.

植物病原菌在森林动态中的作用

植物病原菌作为森林生态系统的重要组成成分及调控因子之一 ,在森林动态中扮演着重要的角色。植物病原菌通过侵染过程导致寄主植物的幼苗及成熟个体死亡、成熟个体的种子量降低或不实 ,或造成植物个体或群落中不同物种不同程度的病害 ,影响它们之间的营养竞争 ,从而导致群落结构、物种及个体数量的变化。感染散布前、后的种子和土壤种子库中的种子 ,以及由种子萌发产生的幼苗 ,它们的存活率降低 ,进而影响森林中的种子散布、幼苗更新与增补格局。在天然林中 ,先锋树种比顶极树种对病原菌更敏感 ,群落演替的早期阶段对病原菌比较敏感。植物病原菌主要通过密度依赖机制造成森林树种不同的死亡格局 。

距离和密度制约对吉林蛟河阔叶红松林幼苗生长的影响

【目的】生物多样性的形成和维持机制是生态学领域的核心问题,关于距离和密度制约对温带森林幼苗生长和生物量积累影响的报道目前较为缺乏。本研究探讨温带森林是否存在距离或密度制约现象,若存在,土壤病原菌是否是距离或密度制约现象的内在驱动机制。【方法】本研究基于温室控制试验,选取吉林蛟河阔叶红松林内3个树种,对其幼苗生长进行为期4个月的动态监测,分析不同试验处理(幼苗密度、距成年母体距离和土壤杀菌)对幼苗高生长和生物量的影响。【结果】红松、水曲柳和黄檗幼苗在低密度下的高生长显著高于高密度,都表现明显的负密度制约现象。土壤杀菌处理仅能显著提高水曲柳幼苗的高生长,虽然水曲柳和黄檗幼苗高生长在距母体不同距离间存在差异,但并未表现出随离母体距离增加有助于幼苗生长的现象,研究结果不符合距离制约现象。水曲柳和黄檗幼苗根、茎、叶以及总生物量积累仅与幼苗密度显著相关,且在低密度下的根、茎、叶以及总生物量积累显著高于高密度,同样表现出负密度制约现象。而距母体距离和土壤杀菌处理对幼苗根、茎、叶以及总生物量积累均无显著影响。【结论】该温带森林中存在明显的负密度制约现象,但不存在距离制约现象。本研究认为引起幼苗密度制约性生长的因素是种内竞争,而土壤病原菌作用非常有限,且研究结果不支持距离制约性生长;其次,距离制约证据的缺乏表明,该温带森林中的病原菌并不具有强烈的宿主专一性,对幼苗密度制约性生长起作用的可能是非特异性病原菌。未来还需深入探讨种内、种间竞争和非特异性病原菌对幼苗生长的相对作用。

Differential impacts of adult trees on offspring and non-offspring recruits in a subtropical forest

An important mechanism promoting species coexistence is conspecific negative density dependence(CNDD),which inhibits conspecific neighbors by accumulating host-specific enemies near adult trees.Natural enemies may be genotype-specific and regulate offspring dynamics more strongly than non-offspring,which is often neglected due to the difficulty in ascertaining genetic relatedness.Here,we investigated whether offspring and non-offspring of a dominant species,Castanopsis eyrei,suffered from different strength of CNDD based on parentage assignment in a subtropical forest.We found decreased recruitment efficiency(proxy of survival probability)of offspring compared with non-offspring near adult trees during the seedling-sapling transition,suggesting genotype-dependent interactions drive tree demographic dynamics.Furthermore,the genetic similarity between individuals of same cohort decreased in late life history stages,indicating genetic-relatedness-dependent tree mortality throughout ontogeny.Our results demonstrate that within-species genetic relatedness significantly affects the strength of CNDD,implying genotype-specific natural enemies may contribute to population dynamics in natural forests.

弄岗喀斯特季节性雨林15ha样地密度制约效应分析

密度制约是自然森林群落物种共存的重要机制之一.然而,密度制约效应受生境异质性影响,生境异质性强的群落密度制约效应表现得较弱.北热带喀斯特季节性雨林是位于我国桂西南地区的重要植被类型之一,其具有水平空间的高度异质性和垂直剖面的多层次性的地质地貌特征.本研究基于弄岗北热带喀斯特季节性雨林15 ha动态监测样地第一次普查数据,综合分析了样地中每个生长阶段出现个体数均≥15的物种(共计96个)的密度制约效应,以及种群分布格局与生境的关联性.结果显示:(1)仅有14个物种表现出从小树到成树聚集度降低的变化趋势,即表现出密度制约自疏效应;(2)23个物种的小树周围出现同种成树的频率低于小树周围出现同种小树的频率,表现出小树相对于成树有额外的聚集格局,也即表现出密度制约稀疏效应;(3)通过Berman-test检验发现几乎所有物种的种群分布至少与一种环境变量呈显著关联性,且种群的所有个体和不同生长阶段均对某一环境因子表现出的显著关联性具有很好的一致性.研究结果从不同角度验证了弄岗喀斯特季节性雨林样地中仅有较少物种表现出密度制约效应,这可能与喀斯特地区极其独特的地质、地貌特征有关.此外,也可能是由于未将幼苗阶段纳入分析而造成的.