Li Yuanzhi, Mayfield Margaret M, Wang Bin, Xiao Junli, Kral Kamil, Janik David, Holik Jan, Chu Chengjin
Department of Ecology, State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.
Natl Sci Rev. 2020 Sep 23;8(5):nwaa244. doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwaa244. eCollection 2021 May.
It is known that biotic interactions are the key to species coexistence and maintenance of species diversity. Traditional studies focus overwhelmingly on pairwise interactions between organisms, ignoring complex higher-order interactions (HOIs). In this study, we present a novel method of calculating individual-level HOIs for trees, and use this method to test the importance of size- and distance-dependent individual-level HOIs to tree performance in a 25-ha temperate forest dynamic plot. We found that full HOI-inclusive models improved our ability to model and predict the survival and growth of trees, providing empirical evidence that HOIs strongly influence tree performance in this temperate forest. Specifically, assessed HOIs mitigate the competitive direct effects of neighbours on survival and growth of focal trees. Our study lays a foundation for future investigations of the prevalence and relative importance of HOIs in global forests and their impact on species diversity.
众所周知，生物相互作用是物种共存和维持物种多样性的关键。传统研究绝大多数集中在生物体之间的成对相互作用上，而忽略了复杂的高阶相互作用（HOIs）。在本研究中，我们提出了一种计算树木个体水平高阶相互作用的新方法，并使用该方法在一个25公顷的温带森林动态样地中测试大小和距离依赖性个体水平高阶相互作用对树木表现的重要性。我们发现，包含完整高阶相互作用的模型提高了我们对树木生存和生长进行建模和预测的能力，提供了经验证据表明高阶相互作用强烈影响这片温带森林中的树木表现。具体而言，评估的高阶相互作用减轻了邻居对目标树木生存和生长的竞争性直接影响。我们的研究为未来调查高阶相互作用在全球森林中的普遍性和相对重要性及其对物种多样性的影响奠定了基础。
