Resistance of tropical seedlings to drought is mediated by neighbourhood diversity

O’Brien, Michael J.; Reynolds, Glen; Ong, Robert C.; Héctor, Andy

doi:10.1038/s41559-017-0326-0

Cited by 54 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…However, how drought affects interactions among trees has rarely been investigated (but see Newbery and Stoll , O'Brien et al. ). Understanding indirect responses to drought mediated by changing interactions among species is crucial for forecasting ecosystem responses to climate change (Suttle et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of neighborhood trait composition on tree survival differ between drought and postdrought periods

Chen

Uriarte

Wright

et al. 2019

Ecology

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Although direct tree demographic responses to drought are widely recognized, studies of drought‐mediated changes in tree interactions are rare. We hypothesize that drought exacerbates soil‐water limitation and intensifies competition for water, but reduces light limitation and competition for light. We predict that competition would be stronger for trees (1) consuming more water or more susceptible to water deficits during drought and (2) intercepting more light or more susceptible to shade during postdrought periods. We tested these predictions in a 50‐ha tropical forest plot by quantifying the effects of neighborhood mean trait values on tree survival during versus after a severe drought. We used wood density (WD) and leaf mass per area (LMA) as proxies for water and light use strategies, respectively. Tree survival was lower, canopy loss was greater, and sapling recruitment was greater during the drought relative to postdrought census intervals. This suggests that drought pushed water deficits to lethal extremes and increased understory light availability. Relationships between survival and neighborhood WD were independent of drought, which is inconsistent with our first prediction. In contrast, relationships between survival and neighborhood LMA differed strongly with drought. Survival time was unaffected by neighborhood LMA during drought, but was longer for trees of all sizes in low‐LMA neighborhoods in the postdrought census interval, consistent with the prediction of reduced competition for light during drought. Our results suggest that severe drought might increase light availability and reduce competition for light in moist tropical forests.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…High soil‐water deficits may intensify competition for water (O'Brien et al. ). The magnitude of this effect may vary among ontogenetic classes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of neighborhood trait composition on tree survival differ between drought and postdrought periods

Chen

Uriarte

Wright

et al. 2019

Ecology

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“…For example, we know that to a greater degree than most planted forests, many natural forests maintain low understorey temperatures during the day and generate a local atmospheric inversion at night maintaining a moist understorey that will influence how and when water vapour is released (Szarzynski and Anhuf 2001). Tree diversity may stabilise climate feedbacks by reducing vulnerability to changing conditions and to disturbance (e.g., Schurr et al 2006;Hisano et al 2017;O'Brien et al 2017). In any case, younger vegetation has distinct properties when compared to more mature vegetation and we must acknowledge that the impacts of restoration and forest recovery are dynamic (Bruijnzeel 2004;Filoso et al 2017).…”

Section: Water Security and The Imperative Of Improved Understandingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forests, atmospheric water and an uncertain future: the new biology of the global water cycle

Sheil

2018

For. Ecosyst.

139

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Theory and evidence indicate that trees and other vegetation influence the atmospheric water-cycle in various ways. These influences are more important, more complex, and more poorly characterised than is widely realised. While there is little doubt that changes in tree cover will impact the water-cycle, the wider consequences remain difficult to predict as the underlying relationships and processes remain poorly characterised. Nonetheless, as forests are vulnerable to human activities, these linked aspects of the water-cycle are also at risk and the potential consequences of large scale forest loss are severe. Here, for non-specialist readers, I review our knowledge of the links between vegetation-cover and climate with a focus on forests and rain (precipitation). I highlight advances, uncertainties and research opportunities. There are significant shortcomings in our understanding of the atmospheric hydrological cycle and of its representation in climate models. A better understanding of the role of vegetation and tree-cover will reduce some of these shortcomings. I outline and illustrate various research themes where these advances may be found. These themes include the biology of evaporation, aerosols and atmospheric motion, as well as the processes that determine monsoons and diurnal precipitation cycles. A novel theory-the 'biotic pump'-suggests that evaporation and condensation can exert a major influence over atmospheric dynamics. This theory explains how high rainfall can be maintained within those continental land-masses that are sufficiently forested. Feedbacks within many of these processes can result in non-linear behaviours and the potential for dramatic changes as a result of forest loss (or gain): for example, switching from a wet to a dry local climate (or visa-versa). Much remains unknown and multiple research disciplines are needed to address this: forest scientists and other biologists have a major role to play. New ideas, methods and data offer opportunities to improve understanding. Expect surprises.

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“…Second, altered species' competitive environments could also contribute to asynchronous seedling survival. A recent experimental study, which looked at monocultures vs. mixed seedlings exposed to drought, suggested that competition for water in drought environment was reduced in more diverse neighborhoods (O'Brien et al 2017). However, this probably cannot be used to explain the patterns we found as competition for limiting resources has been considered to be weak to nonexistent in diverse forests (Paine et al 2008, Forrister et al 2019.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neighborhood effects explain increasing asynchronous seedling survival in a subtropical forest

Chen

Wang

et al. 2019

Ecology

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Biotic interactions play a critical role in mediating community responses to temporal environmental variation, but the importance of these effects relative to the direct effects of environmental change remains poorly understood, particularly in diverse forest communities. Here we combine a neighborhood modeling approach with insights from coexistence theory to assess the effects of temporal variation in species interactions and environmental conditions (e.g., precipitation, temperature, and understory light availability) on seedling survival over nine census years in a subtropical forest. We find significant temporal shifts in the magnitude of neighborhood effects on both community‐wide and species‐level seedling survival (statistically significant random effects of neighborhood × year and neighborhood × species × year interactions). These results are consistent with the idea that environmental change will play a fundamental role on forest regeneration dynamics by altering biotic interactions at the neighborhood scale. Moreover, differences among species in response to neighbors over time contribute to a pattern of temporal decoupling of seedling survival between species, which can help to promote diversity in certain contexts. In separate analyses of multiple regression on distance matrices (MRM), altered interactions with neighbors are much stronger predictors of asynchronous seedling survival among species than the pure effects of climate and plant functional traits, explaining twice as much variation (43.9% vs. 22.2%). In sum, these results reveal that divergent species responses to interannual environmental variability detected are driven primarily by indirect effects mediated by changing biotic environments. This highlights the importance of including indirect effects from local biotic (neighborhood) interactions in forecasts of forest community responses to global change.

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Resistance of tropical seedlings to drought is mediated by neighbourhood diversity

Cited by 54 publications

References 41 publications

Effects of neighborhood trait composition on tree survival differ between drought and postdrought periods

Effects of neighborhood trait composition on tree survival differ between drought and postdrought periods

Forests, atmospheric water and an uncertain future: the new biology of the global water cycle

Neighborhood effects explain increasing asynchronous seedling survival in a subtropical forest

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