Competitive performance of Pinus massoniana is related to scaling relationships at the individual plant and branch levels.

ABSTRACT:

Premise

Competition is an important driver of tree mortality and thus affects forest structure and dynamics. Tree architectural traits, such as height-to-diameter (H-D) and branch length-to-diameter (L-d) relationships are thought to influence species competitiveness by affecting light capture. Unfortunately, little is known about how the H vs. D and L vs. d scaling exponents are related to tree performance (defined in the context of growth vigor) in competition.

Methods

Using data from field surveys of 1547 individuals and destructive sampling of 51 trees with 1086 first-order branches from a high-density Pinus massoniana forest, we explored whether the H vs. D and the L vs. d scaling exponents respectively differed numerically across tree performance and branch vertical po

SUBMITTER: Zou G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9540003 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature