Conspecific Leaf Litter-Mediated Effect of Conspecific Adult Neighborhood on Early-Stage Seedling Survival in A Subtropical Forest.

ABSTRACT: Conspecific adults have strong negative effect on the survival of nearby early-stage seedlings and thus can promote species coexistence by providing space for the regeneration of heterospecifics. The leaf litter fall from the conspecific adults, and it could mediate this conspecific negative adult effect. However, field evidence for such effect of conspecific leaf litter remains absent. In this study, we used generalized linear mixed models to assess the effects of conspecific leaf litter on the early-stage seedling survival of four dominant species (Machilus leptophylla, Litsea elongate, Acer pubinerve and Distylium myricoides) in early-stage seedlings in a subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest in eastern China. Our results consistently showed that the conspecific leaf litter of three

SUBMITTER: Liu H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5122888 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature