The relationship between tree species richness, canopy space exploration and productivity in a temperate broad-leaf mixed forest

By D. Seidel, Christoph Leuschner, C. Scherber, Friderike Beyer, Tobias Wommelsdorf, M. Cashman, L. Fehrmann. 2013

83 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The relationship between tree species richness and forest productivity is not well understood. We used ground-based laser scanning for analyzing the canopy structure and three-dimensional space filling by foliage and twigs in a species-rich temperate old-growth forest to test the hypotheses that (i) canopy space filling increases with tree species richness, and (ii) a higher degree of canopy space filling in diverse stands is linked to higher aboveground productivity (NPPa). Space filling was quantified in 80 plots with variable species composition (five species) and species richness (1–3 species) and related to stem wood and litter production. Neither space filling nor NPPa were higher in more diverse than monospecific plots, while species identity had a significant effect on the patterns of space occupation in the sun and shade crown. We conclude that increased complementarity in canopy space filling among the species is not an important productivity-determining factor in this temperate mixed forest.

Subfields: Environmental Engineering, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/fd1dff5c5ca7cc127886b2526db17601289663bc

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In Environmental Engineering

In Nature and Landscape Conservation

Citations in the corpus

Response of sugar maple (Acer saccharum, Marsh.) tree crown structure to competition in pure versus mixed stands (2016, background): “In other words, in our study as well as in the study of Seidel et al. (2013), the space occupancy by individual crowns within the canopy was not quantified.”
Synthesis and future research directions linking tree diversity to growth, survival, and damage in a global network of tree diversity experiments (2018, background): “, 2015, 2011a) and canopy space filling (Seidel et al., 2013).”
Competition for light and water play contrasting roles in driving diversity–productivity relationships in Iberian forests (2014, background): “At the stand level, mixing species with complementary crown architectures, leaf economics and phenological strategies results in vertically structured canopies that intercept a greater portion of incoming solar radiation (Morin et al. 2011; Seidel et al. 2013).”
Characterization of the structure, dynamics, and productivity of mixed-species stands: review and perspectives (2015, methodology): “…tree species richness/diversity and productivity in Eur J Forest Res (2016) 135:23–49 29 forests using data from regional forest inventories (e.g. Caspersen and Pacala 2001; Vilà et al. 2007; Belote et al. 2011; Paquette and Messier 2011; Gamfeldt et al. 2013; Seidel et al. 2013; Vilà et al. 2013).”