Neighborhood size effects on mortality, growth and crown morphology of paper birch

Tree morphology responds to neighbourhood competition and slope in species-rich forests of subtropical China

“…The more competitive power the target tree had, the larger its dbh in comparison to the mean dbh of its neighbours, the more extended was its crown. This is in agreement with Simard and Zimonick (2005) and Getzin et al (2008), who found that crown area is very sensitive to competition.…”

Individual Tree Diameter and Height Growth Models for 30 Tree Species in Mixed-Species and Uneven-Aged Forests of Mexico

“…This appears to indicate that competition is a more important key driving factor for individual dbh growth in the study area than site factor (i.e., H 0 ), while the latter appears to be more appropriate for predicting height growth, as it significantly contributes to describing this variable. This higher sensitivity of diameter growth to competitive stress is probably explained because of a higher dependence of this process on light interception, whereas height growth is less affected (e.g., [62][63][64]).…”

Individual-tree radial growth in a subtropical broad-leaved forest: The role of local neighbourhood competition

“…The dbh was only weakly (C. fargesii) or not at all (Q. fabri) related to age, because the older trees experienced one or more periods of severe growth suppression. Competition is generally known to affect height growth of trees only when it is extremely low or high (Ammer et al, 2005;Simard and Zimonick, 2005;Inoue et al, 2008). The lack of a relationship between height and radial growth supports the view that height growth is less sensitive to competition than diameter growth because it is a higher priority for carbon allocation (Simard and Zimonick, 2005;Pretzsch, 2009), and suggests that the intensity of local neighbourhood competition is currently at a level that closely regulates radial growth, but does not suppress height growth.…”

“…Crown dimensions strongly determine the individual's ability to intercept light and to shade other trees, and crown responses are more rapid and more plastic than stem increment or height growth responses following changes in resource availability. Crown area is, therefore, known to be a very sensitive growth response variable to competition (Biging and Dobbertin, 1992;Simard and Zimonick, 2005;Getzin et al, 2008). However, to properly determine the crown area is more difficult and more time consuming than measuring dbh or height.…”