Skip to main content
Download PDF
  • Original Article
  • Published:

Neighbor identity and competition influence tree growth in Scots pine, Siberian larch, and silver birch

Annals of Forest Science volume 67, page 604 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

  • • Previous studies on competitive interactions among silver birch, Scots pine, and Siberian larch have not addressed the direct importance of the species identity of nearby competitors.

  • • We examined the joint importance of competition and species identity, using subject trees with a high local abundance of a single dominant neighboring species. Interspecific neighbors influenced annual height increment, shoot length, and branch number per unit crown length, especially in Scots pine. Silver birch and Siberian larch were predominantly affected by the level of competition alone, as estimated with competition indices.

  • • In Scots pine, the effects may have been a direct consequence of the species identity of neighbors or they may have acted as a substitute for the effect of some non-measured variable associated with species-specific characteristics. These functionally equivalent alternatives suggest that simple indices are not adequate measures of the neighbor effect for Scots pine.

  • • A simple extrapolation of individual tree growth to the stand level suggested that Scots pine and silver birch may grow faster in mixed than in pure stands. Siberian larch showed negative growth responses to interspecific neighbors, but the effects may be counterbalanced at the stand level by a corresponding increase in pine or birch growth.

References

  • Akaike H., 1973. Information theory and extension of the maximum likelihood principle. In: 2nd International Symposium in Information Theory, Budapest, Hungary, Akademiai Kiado, pp. 267–281.

  • Anonymous, 2001. Hyvän metsänhoidon suositukset. Publications of Forestry Development Centre Tapio, Libris Oy, Helsinki, Finland (in Finnish).

  • Canham C.D., LePage P.T., and Coates K.D., 2004. A neighborhood analysis of canopy tree competition: effects of shading versus crowding. Can. J. For. Res. 34: 778–787.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Casper B.B. and Jackson R.B., 1997. Plant competition underground. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 28: 545–570.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cournède P.H., Mathieu A., Houllier F., Barthélémy D., and de Reffye P., 2008. Computing competition for light in the GREENLAB model of plant growth: a contribution to the study of the effects of density on resource acquisition and architectural development. Ann. Bot. 101: 1207–1219.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • De Luis M., Raventós J., Cortina J., Moro M.J., and Bellot J., 1998. Assessing components of a competition index to predict growth in an even-aged Pinus nigra stand. New For. 15: 223–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frivold L.H. and Frank J., 2002. Growth of mixed birch-coniferous stands in relation to pure coniferous stands at similar sites in south-eastern Norway. Scand. J. For. Res. 17: 139–149.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg D.E. and Barton A.M., 1992. Patterns and consequences of interspecific competition in natural communities — a review of field experiments with plants. Am. Nat. 139: 771–801.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kalliokoski T., Pennanen T., Nygren P., Sievänen R., and Helmisaari H.-S., 2010. Belowground interspecific competition in mixed boreal forests: fine root and ectomycorrhiza characteristics along stand developmental stage and soil fertility gradients. Plant Soil, 330: 73–89.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kellomäki S., Ikonen V.P., Peltola H., and Kolström T., 1999. Modelling the structural growth of Scots pine with implications for wood quality. Ecol. Model. 122: 117–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelty M.J., 2006. The role of species mixtures in plantation forestry. For. Ecol. Manage. 233: 195–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knoke T., Ammer C., Stimm B., and Mosandl R., 2008. Admixing broadleaved to coniferous tree species: a review on yield, ecological stability and economics. Eur. J. For. Res. 127: 89–101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lappi-Seppälä M., 1930. Untersuchungen über die Entwicklung gleichaltriger Mischbestände aus Kiefer und Birke, basiert auf Material der Südhälfte von Suomi (Finland). Commun. Inst. For. Fenn. 15: 1–243.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lintunen A. and Kaitaniemi P., 2010. Responses of crown architecture in Betula pendula to competition are dependent on the species of neighbouring trees. Trees 24: 411–424.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Littell R.C., Milliken G.A., Stroup W.W., and Wolfinger R.D., 1996. SAS system for mixed models. SAS Institute Cary, NC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meng S.X., Rudnicki M., Lieffers V.J., Reid D.E.B., and Silins U., 2006. Preventing crown collisions increases the crown cover and leaf area of maturing lodgepole pine. J. Ecol. 94: 681–686.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mielikäinen K., 1980. Structure and development of mixed pine and birch stands. Commun. Inst. For. Fenn. 99: 1–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nichols J.D., Bristow M., and Vanclay J.K., 2006. Mixed-species plantations: prospects and challenges. For. Ecol. Manage. 233: 383–390.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Niinemets U. and Lukjanova A., 2003. Needle longevity, shoot growth and branching frequency in relation to site fertility and within-canopy light conditions in Pinus sylvestris. Ann. For. Sci. 60: 195–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olano J.M., Laskurain N.A., Escudero A., and De La Cruz M., 2009. Why and where do adult trees die in a young secondary temperate forest? The role of neighbourhood. Ann. For. Sci. 66: 105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quail P.H., 2002. Photosensory perception and signalling in plant cells: new paradigms? Curr. Opin. Cell Biol. 14: 180–188.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rivas J.J.C., González J.G.Á., Aguirre O., and Hernández F.J., 2005. The effect of competition on individual tree basal area growth in mature stands of Pinus cooperi Blanco in Durango (Mexico). Eur. J. For. Res. 124: 133–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rouvinen S. and Kuuluvainen T., 1997. Structure and asymmetry of tree crowns in relation to local competition in a natural mature Scots pine forest. Can. J. For. Res. 27: 890–902.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shorohova E., Kuuluvainen T., Kangur A., and Jõgiste K., 2009. Natural stand structures, disturbance regimes and successional dynamics in the Eurasian boreal forests: a review with special reference to Russian studies. Ann. For. Sci. 66: 201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sievänen R., Perttunen J., Nikinmaa E., and Kaitaniemi P., 2008. Toward extension of a single tree functional-structural model of Scots pine to stand level — effect of the canopy of randomly distributed, identical trees on development of tree structure. Funct. Plant Biol. 35: 964–975.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singer J.D., 1998. Using SAS PROC MIXED to fit multilevel models, hierarchical models, and individual growth models. J. Educ. Behav. Stat. 23: 323–356.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sinoquet H. and Rivet P., 1997. Measurement and visualization of the architecture of an adult tree based on a three-dimensional digitising device. Trees 11: 265–270.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spilke J., Piepho H.P., and Hu X., 2005. Analysis of unbalanced data by mixed linear models using the MIXED procedure of the SAS system. J. Agron. Crop. Sci. 191: 47–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stadt K.J., Huston C., Coates K.D., Feng Z.L., Dale M.R.T., and Lieffers V.J., 2007. Evaluation of competition and light estimation indices for predicting diameter growth in mature boreal mixed forests. Ann. For. Sci. 64: 477–490.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strand M., Lofvenius M.O., Bergsten U., Lundmark T., and Rosvall O., 2006. Height growth of planted conifer seedlings in relation to solar radiation and position in Scots pine shelterwood. For. Ecol. Manage. 224: 258–265.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tchebakova N.M., Rehfeldt G.E., and Parfenova E.I., 2003. Redistribution of vegetation zones and populations of Larix sibirica Ledeb. and Pinus sylvestris L. in Central Siberia in a warming climate. Siberian Ecol. J. 10: 677–686.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomé M. and Burkhart B.E., 1989. Distance-dependent competition measures for predicting growth of individual trees. For. Sci. 35: 816–831.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valkonen S. and Ruuska J., 2003. Effect of Betula pendula admixture on tree growth and branch diameter in young Pinus sylvestris stands in southern Finland. Scand. J. For. Res. 18: 416–426.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hyytiälä Forestry Field Station, University of Helsinki, Hyytiäläntie 124, 35500, Korkeakoski, Finland

    Pekka Kaitaniemi

  2. Department of Forest Ecology, University of Helsinki, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 27, 00014, Finland

    Anna Lintunen

Authors
  1. Pekka Kaitaniemi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Anna Lintunen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pekka Kaitaniemi.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kaitaniemi, P., Lintunen, A. Neighbor identity and competition influence tree growth in Scots pine, Siberian larch, and silver birch. Ann. For. Sci. 67, 604 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1051/forest/2010017

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/forest/2010017

Keywords

Annals of Forest Science

ISSN: 1297-966X