Facilitation of Balsam Fir by Trembling Aspen in the Boreal Forest: Do Ectomycorrhizal Communities Matter?

ABSTRACT: Succession is generally well described above-ground in the boreal forest, and several studies have demonstrated the role of interspecific facilitation in tree species establishment. However, the role of mycorrhizal communities for tree establishment and interspecific facilitation, has been little explored. At the ecotone between the mixed boreal forest, dominated by balsam fir and hardwood species, and the boreal forest, dominated by black spruce, several stands of trembling aspen can be found, surrounded by black spruce forest. Regeneration of balsam fir seems to have increased in the recent decades within the boreal forest, and it seems better adapted to grow in trembling aspen stands than in black spruce stands, even when located in similar abiotic conditions. As black spruce stands are

SUBMITTER: Nagati M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6657621 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature