摘要
Background:Oneofthemostimportantdriversofforestbiodiversityisconspecificnegativedensitydependence(CNDD),areductioninperformancewhenconspecificdensitiesarehigh.WhilethemajorityofCNDDresearchhasfocusedontropicalforests,evidenceismountingthatCNDDmayalsoplayanimportantroleintemperateforests.Tofurtherexplorethepotentialreachofthisphenomenon,weinvestigatedCNDDinAmericanbeech(Fagusgrandifolia)inamaturemid-Atlanticforest.Methods:Weusedbivariatepointpatternanalysestoexaminespatialrelationshipsbetweenlargebeechtreesandconspecificsaplings,andwealsocontrastedthesepatternswithcomparablepatternsforheterospecifics.Inaddition,toaddressthepossibilityofdispersallimitationandtheassociatedeffectsonspatialpatterns,weanalyzedseedlingdensityasafunctionofadultconspecificabundance.Results:Wefoundthatbeechsaplingsweremorerepeledfromlargeconspecificsthanlargeheterospecifics,despitethefactthatbeechseedlingdensitywaspositivelycorrelatedwithbeechbasalarea.However,saplingsofothercanopytreespecieswerealsorepeledfromadultbeechtrees,suggestingageneralsuppressiveeffect.Nonetheless,thediscrepancybetweenbeechseedlingandsaplingdensitiesbeneathadultconspecificssuggeststhatbeechseedlingsurvivalrateswerereducedinvicinityofconspecificadults.Conclusions:Regardlessoftheextenttowhichbeechinhibitsheterospecifictrees,anegativeeffectonconspecificrecruitsmaybecriticalforbiodiversitymaintenance.Withoutthisconspecificsuppression,adenselayerofshade-tolerantbeechsaplingscouldformbeneathadultbeechtrees.Ifthisweretooccur,beechwouldhaveasubstantialhead-startfolowingcanopydisturbance,andthislate-successionalspeciescouldpotentialydominateastandinperpetuity,throughrepeateddisturbancecycles.
出版日期
2017年03月13日（中国期刊网平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）
