Background: Secondary forests have become the major forest type worldwide. Research on spatial patterns and associations of tree species at different developmental stages may be informative in understanding the structure and dynamic processes of secondary forests.

Methods: In this study, we used point pattern analysis to analyze the spatial patterns and associations of tree species at seedling, sapling and adult stages in a 4ha plot in the montane secondary temperate forest of northeastern China.

Results: We found that species showed similar patterns at seedling, sapling and adult stages, and aggregation was the dominant pattern. The spatial patterns of tree species were mainly affected by habitat heterogeneity. In addition, the strength of positive or negative associated pattern among tree species would decrease with developmental stages, which attributed to neighborhood competition and plant size increasing.

Conclusions: Our results indicated that the spatial patterns and associations of tree species at seedling and sapling stages partly reflected that at adult stage; habitat heterogeneity and neighborhood competition jointly contributed to species coexistence in this secondary forest.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8180193PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.11517DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

tree species
24
spatial patterns
20
patterns associations
16
associations tree
16
developmental stages
12
seedling sapling
12
species
8
species developmental
8
montane secondary
8
secondary temperate
8

Similar Publications

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!