Effects of root competition and canopy openness on survival and growth of tree seedlings in a tropical seasonal dry forest

Gerhardt, Karin

doi:10.1016/0378-1127(95)03700-4

Cited by 150 publications

(167 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…High intercession among the roots of neighboring trees, and the shade provided by a dense canopy, result in plants investing more energy in competition than in growth, as demonstrated by Gerhardt (1996). This suggests that given the lower tree density in AGP, C. oncocalyx plants may transfer more energy to increase their basal area and produce leaf and fruit biomass.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecophysiology of deciduous plants grown at different densities in the semiarid region of Brazil

Mendes¹,

Lacerda²,

Fernandes³

et al. 2013

Theor. Exp. Plant Physiol.

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Physiological differences in the Cordia oncocalyx tree growing at different densities in two distinct areas were investigated.An agrosilvopastoral system (AGP) and a secondary forest (SF) were studied. Under both types of land-use, C. oncocalyx presented a relative frequency of approximately 50%, and absolute densities of 670 and 80 individuals per hectare, respectively. Net photosynthesis (A), stomatal conductance (g s ), and transpiration (E) were measured, and the SPAD index was recorded in sun leaves from the canopy and shade leaves from the lower canopy, in both the wet and dry seasons. We quantified the dry biomass of leaves and fruit on a per-tree basis at the end of the wet season. Net photosynthesis was higher in shaded leaves in the AGP in the wet season, reaching an average of 4.8 µmol m -2 s -1 against 3.2 µmol m -2 s -1 under SF. As trees began to shed their leaves at the beginning of the dry season and more radiation reached the shaded leaves, there was an increase in SF for A, depending on the intensity of light reaching the leaves. In the sun leaves, gas exchange was similar for the land-use systems during the wet season, but stronger in AGP than under SF during the dry season. This happened when the leaves in AGP retained more relative water content during a period of low gravimetric levels of the soil water. The lower tree density in AGP promoted a higher SPAD index and dry biomass in both the sun and shaded leaves, and allowed greater A, E and g s rates in the sun leaves at the beginning of the dry period.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecophysiology of deciduous plants grown at different densities in the semiarid region of Brazil

Mendes¹,

Lacerda²,

Fernandes³

et al. 2013

Theor. Exp. Plant Physiol.

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“…In gaps and borders of forest the relative growth of this species is higher than that one under the canopy. C. odorata, was considered as a species dependent on light in rain forests, and the gaps positively influenced its growth only during the wet season (Gerhardt, 1996). The stem elongation of 30-days-old seedlings (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphological and physiological responses of Cedrela Fissilis Vellozo (Meliaceae) seedlings to light

Santos

Rakocevic

Takaki

et al. 2006

Braz. arch. biol. technol.

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“…von Lüpke 1987; Comeau et al 1993;Pacala et al 1996;Collet et al 1997;van Hees 1997;Gardiner and Hodges 1998;Welander and Ottosson 1998;Coates and Burton 1999;Williams et al 1999;Kaelke et al 2001;Aranda et al 2002;Ammer 2003). In contrast to light, knowledge about the importance of belowground resources for seedling vitality and growth has been increased much less although some progress is achieved (Havranek and Benecke 1978;Reed et al 1983;Flaig and Mohr 1990;Tognetti et al 1994;Madsen 1995;Gerhardt 1996;Khan et al 1996;van Hees 1997;Ammer 2002;Machado et al 2003). In order to overcome the problem of how to get sound data of the belowground resource availability for individual seedlings, research on belowground resources has often been carried out under laboratory conditions but only rarely in the field.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The concept behind this approach is deduced from the ''ecological field theory'' which was developed by Wu et al (1985). It takes the finding into account, that the amount of overstorey tree fine root biomass is related to soil moisture (Gerhardt 1996;Ammer 2002). In fact Ammer and Wagner (2002) and Lee et al (2004) have shown that it is possible to predict the fine root biomass of mature trees by the application of tree root distribution models.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of different approaches for modelling individual tree seedling height growth

Wagner¹,

Madsen

Ammer

2009

Trees

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We compared different approaches for modelling height growth of individual beech seedlings in a controlled factorial experiment as well as in field data from naturally regenerated beech seedlings under the canopy of overstorey mature beech trees. Several competition indices, a model of overstorey fine root density, relative photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) values, and soil water values were used in these approaches. In the factorial experiment relative PAR and soil water content were measured and used for the prediction of seedlings height growth. In the field experiment this was done by using relative PAR and estimated fine root biomass as a surrogate for below ground resource availability. The latter approach was compared with a model where we used various competition indices representing the impact of overstorey trees on beech seedlings. Our results suggested that (1) models which combine resource based growth functions are suitable for the prediction of individual height growth of beech seedlings. Resource based models offer the opportunity to investigate on the independent multiplicative effect of irradiance and water supply and their interactions on tree seedlings. It was (2) shown that a combined model could be used not only to predict individual height growth of beech seedlings in a controlled experiment but also in the field. The model parameters of a pure light response function for the controlled factorial experiment are comparable to those obtained in the field study. The results showed (3) that the precision of predicting beech seedlings height growth is comparable between the model types tested within this study. Approximately half of the observed variation in seedlings relative height growth rate could be explained. However, the simple competition index approach provides no information on the environmental factors constraining tree seedlings growth; whereas the multiplicative combined models can be used to get a better understanding of growth dynamics in the field.

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Effects of root competition and canopy openness on survival and growth of tree seedlings in a tropical seasonal dry forest

Cited by 150 publications

References 28 publications

Ecophysiology of deciduous plants grown at different densities in the semiarid region of Brazil

Ecophysiology of deciduous plants grown at different densities in the semiarid region of Brazil

Morphological and physiological responses of Cedrela Fissilis Vellozo (Meliaceae) seedlings to light

Evaluation of different approaches for modelling individual tree seedling height growth

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