(1) Background: Forest gaps play an important role in promoting forest regeneration and facilitating the forest growth cycle. Since the 1980s, forest gaps have been widely studied by forestry scientists. The purpose of this study was to review the global literature from 1980 to 2021, based on the scientific database Web of Science Core Collection, and to summarize the research hotspots and the trends of the forest gaps. (2) Method: A bibliometric analysis was performed using the visual analytic software CiteSpace to quantify the description of annual publications, collaboration analysis of authors, institutions and countries, co-citation analysis of cited journals, cited authors, and cited references. The keyword co-occurrence, burst, and time zone were also analyzed by the software. (3) Results: The results show that the volume of annual publications is increasing. Dr. Harald Bugmann is the author with the most published works. The most active institution is the American Forest Service. The United States, Canada, and China are the three most productive countries. “Ecology” is the most cited journal. The results indicate that the hotspot in the forest gap research has shifted, and the effects of forest environmental changes caused by forest gaps under climate change have received more attention from scientists. In the future, more attention may be paid to the role of forest gaps on near-natural forest management patterns, the effect of forest gaps on forest sustainable development, and the way to study forest gaps using lidar technology. (4) Conclusion: Our results can help to understand emerging trends in forest gap research to inform forest ecology and management.
Understanding the underlying mechanisms of diversity maintenance in tropics remains a challenge for ecologists. To reveal the underlying mechanism from a plant‐eye‐view perspective, we examined the patterns of local species richness which was defined as the number of species around individuals of a target species within circles of different radii and their correlations with major plant functional traits in a tropical montane rainforest. In 2012, we established a 60‐ha forest dynamics plot (FDP) in tropical montane rainforest on Hainan Island, China. In 2013, we measured eight functional traits (specific leaf area [SLA], leaf dry matter content [LDMC], wood density, potential maximum height, leaf carbon content [LCC], leaf nitrogen content [LNC], leaf phosphorus content [LPC], and leaf potassium content) of all the species in the FDP. Based on all the mapped individuals that had a diameter at breast height ≥10 cm, we utilized individual species–area relationships function (ISARs(r)) combined with the heterogeneous Poisson null model to quantify the patterns of local species richness at scales from 1 to 50 m. Regression analysis was used to determine which functional traits could influence the local diversity pattern. Results showed that the 123 ISARs(r) curves were relatively similar and no species seemed to be extremely higher or lower than the average of all the ISARs(r) curves. The percentage of species that behaved predominantly as accumulators or repellers or neutrally was 42.23%, 13.82%, and 43.9% at scale of <30 m, respectively. But at scales ≥30 m, more than 70% of all species behaved neutrally suggesting that facilitative interactions probably occurred when neighborhoods were <30 m apart. Among the eight measured traits, the SLA, LNC, and LPC were negatively associated with local species richness. Our results indicated that (1) the spatial community structure was not controlled by key species; (2) facilitative interactions played an important role in local diversity maintenance; (3) species with conservative functional trait syndromes were more likely to have relatively high local species richness in the tropical montane rainforest on Hainan Island, China.
Conspecific negative density dependence (CNDD) is an important mechanism facilitating species coexistence in plant communities. Yet, which factors influence CNDD is still not clear. Here, we examined the factors influencing CNDD in tree species within a 60-ha tropical rainforest dynamics plot. Point pattern analysis was used to test the existence and strength of CNDD. The relationships between strength of CNDD and plant functional traits, as well as abiotic factors, were assessed by stepwise regression analysis. Results showed that 89% of the examined species exhibited CNDD, and the strength of CNDD decreased with increasing spatial scales and species abundance. The maximum strength of CNDD (d max) was negatively related to leaf dry matter content and positively related to potential maximum height. Soil water content, available nitrogen, and total potassium were the major abiotic factors determining d max. Our study suggests that CNDD is prevalent in most tree species and that both abiotic (soil) and biotic (species abundance, plant functional traits) factors constrain the strength of CNDD in our tropical montane rainforest.
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