Spatial arrangement of branches in relation to slope and neighbourhood competition.

ABSTRACT: To gain a better understanding of the effects of spatial structure on patterns of neighbourhood competition among hardwood trees, the three-dimensional extension of primary branches was surveyed for ten community-grown Castanea crenata (Fagaceae) trees with respect to the positioning of neighbouring branches and the slope of the forest floor. There were significantly more branches extending towards the lower side of the slope than towards the upper side, but structural properties such as branch length and vertical angle were not affected by slope. When horizontal extension of a branch towards its neighbour was compared for a C. crenata branch and a neighbouring heterospecific, the former was significantly narrower than the latter when the inter-branch distance (horizontal distance between

SUBMITTER: Sumida A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4233821 | biostudies-literature | 2002 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature