Inter-specific competition of tree congeners induces changes in crown architecture in Mediterranean pine mixtures

Autor: Felipe Bravo, Andrés Bravo-Oviedo, Robert Schneider, Nicolas Cattaneo
Přispěvatelé: Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España)
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Zdroj: Digital.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
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ISSN: 0378-1127
DOI: 10.1016/j.foreco.2020.118471
Popis: Forest canopy has been identified as a major contributor to explaining the potential of mixed stands to provide a greater amount of ecosystem services, including superior productivity. So far, most reports of mixture effects focused on combinations of species with contrasting functional traits. Hence, little is know about the mechanism behind positive effects in mixtures of species with similar traits. Here we used 3D terrestrial laser scanning data to inspect crown architecture of mature trees in pure and mixed stands of P. pinaster L. and P. sylvestris Ait., to gain insight on the observed overyielding of mixed stands. Differences in the crown dimensions of P. pinaster trees in response to mixing with P. sylvestris were observed. Mixture promoted an upward displacement of P. pinaster tree crowns while reduced its capacity to explore the canopy space. P. pinaster relies mainly on height growth to increase crown volume, whereas P. sylvestris increases crown volume by keeping branches lower in the crowns. Overall, we found mechanisms that could promote vertical stratification of tree crowns, in addition to evidence that P. pinaster undergoes greater competition in the upper canopy of mixed stands. These findings could be related to a better canopy space filling in the mixture, but also with more efficient use of the available space, both aspects closely related to overyielding.
This work was supported by the Spanish National Project AGL2014-51964-C2-1-R.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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