Characterizing tropical tree species growth strategies: learning from inter-individual variability and scale invariance.

ABSTRACT: Understanding how tropical tree species differ in their growth strategies is critical to predict forest dynamics and assess species coexistence. Although tree growth is highly variable in tropical forests, species maximum growth is often considered as a major axis synthesizing species strategies, with fast-growing pioneer and slow-growing shade tolerant species as emblematic representatives. We used a hierarchical linear mixed model and 21-years long tree diameter increment series in a monsoon forest of the Western Ghats, India, to characterize species growth strategies and question whether maximum growth summarizes these strategies. We quantified both species responses to biotic and abiotic factors and individual tree effects unexplained by these factors. Growth responses to competition a

SUBMITTER: Le Bec J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4355905 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature