Local neighbourhood and regional climatic contexts interact to explain tree performance.

ABSTRACT: Tree neighbourhood modelling has significantly contributed to our understanding of the mechanisms structuring communities. Investigations into the impact of neighbouring crowding on tree performance have generally been conducted at local scales, missing important regional-scale context such as the suitability of the climate for each species. Favourable climates may enhance tree performance, but this may come at the cost of increased neighbourhood crowding and competition negatively impacting survival and growth. Through the synthesis of continental-scale forest inventory and trait datasets from the northeast USA and Puerto Rico we present an analytical approach that elucidates the important interactions between local competitive and regional climatic contexts. Our results show strong asymm

SUBMITTER: Zambrano J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5454270 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature