Shao Xiaona, Lin Luxiang, Yao Zhiliang, Chatterjee Madhuparna, Ge Xuejun, Jin Lu, Deng Yun, Yang Xiaodong, Xia Shangwen, Liu Feng, Cao Guanghong, Swenson Nathan G
CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650201, People's Republic of China.
Mountain Tai Forest Ecosystem Research Station of State Forestry Administration, Key Laboratory of State Forestry Administration for Silviculture of the Lower Yellow River, Key Laboratory of Ecological Protection and Security Control of the Lower Yellow River of Shandong Higher Education Institutions, Forestry College of Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong 271018, People's Republic of China.
Proc Biol Sci. 2025 Feb;292(2041):20242373. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2024.2373. Epub 2025 Feb 19.
Abiotic environments and biotic neighbourhoods interact to influence plant growth and community assembly. However, the nature of this interaction depends very much on how biotic neighbourhoods are measured, including their relatedness to focal plants. In a tropical seasonal rainforest, we examine the growth of a dominant canopy species in response to environmental factors, the densities and relatedness of conspecific and heterospecific neighbours, and their interactions. We find significant environmental effects and conspecific negative density dependence on growth. Furthermore, conspecific neighbour density has stronger negative effects on growth under high light and soil water resource levels, but weaker negative effects under low light and soil water resource levels. In addition, more closely related heterospecifics in the neighbourhood have negative effects on growth under high soil phosphorus availability, but positive effects under low soil phosphorus availability. In contrast, more closely related conspecifics in the neighbourhood have negative effects on growth under low soil potassium availability, but positive effects under high soil potassium availability. Our study emphasizes the importance of both intra- and interspecific neighbourhood composition and their interactions with resource levels for understanding tree growth. This enhances our understanding of the complex processes in community assembly and species coexistence within forest communities.
非生物环境与生物邻域相互作用，影响植物生长和群落构建。然而，这种相互作用的性质很大程度上取决于生物邻域的测量方式，包括它们与目标植物的亲缘关系。在热带季节性雨林中，我们研究了一种优势冠层物种对环境因素、同种和异种邻体的密度及亲缘关系以及它们之间相互作用的生长响应。我们发现环境因素和同种负密度依赖对生长有显著影响。此外，同种邻体密度在高光和土壤水资源水平下对生长的负面影响更强，而在低光和土壤水资源水平下负面影响较弱。另外，邻域中亲缘关系更近的异种在高土壤磷有效性下对生长有负面影响，但在低土壤磷有效性下有正面影响。相反，邻域中亲缘关系更近的同种在低土壤钾有效性下对生长有负面影响，但在高土壤钾有效性下有正面影响。我们的研究强调了种内和种间邻域组成及其与资源水平的相互作用对于理解树木生长的重要性。这增进了我们对森林群落中群落构建和物种共存复杂过程的理解。
