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Spatial Distribution and Interspecific Associations of Tree Species in a Tropical Seasonal Rain Forest of China

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  • Guoyu Lan
  • Stephan Getzin
  • Thorsten Wiegand
  • Yuehua Hu
  • Guishui Xie
  • Hua Zhu
  • Min Cao

Abstract

Studying the spatial pattern and interspecific associations of plant species may provide valuable insights into processes and mechanisms that maintain species coexistence. Point pattern analysis was used to analyze the spatial distribution patterns of twenty dominant tree species, their interspecific spatial associations and changes across life stages in a 20-ha permanent plot of seasonal tropical rainforest in Xishuangbanna, China, to test mechanisms maintaining species coexistence. Torus-translation tests were used to quantify positive or negative associations of the species to topographic habitats. The results showed: (1) fourteen of the twenty tree species were negatively (or positively) associated with one or two of the topographic variables, which evidences that the niche contributes to the spatial pattern of these species. (2) Most saplings of the study species showed a significantly clumped distribution at small scales (0–10 m) which was lost at larger scales (10–30 m). (3) The degree of spatial clumping deceases from saplings, to poles, to adults indicates that density-dependent mortality of the offspring is ubiquitous in species. (4) It is notable that a high number of positive small-scale interactions were found among the twenty species. For saplings, 42.6% of all combinations of species pairs showed positive associations at neighborhood scales up to five meters, but only 38.4% were negative. For poles and adults, positive associations at these distances still made up 45.5% and 29.5%, respectively. In conclusion, there is considerable evidence for the presence of positive interactions among the tree species, which suggests that species herd protection may occur in our plot. In addition, niche assembly and limited dispersal (likely) contribute to the spatial patterns of tree species in the tropical seasonal rain forest in Xishuangbanna, China.

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  • Guoyu Lan & Stephan Getzin & Thorsten Wiegand & Yuehua Hu & Guishui Xie & Hua Zhu & Min Cao, 2012. "Spatial Distribution and Interspecific Associations of Tree Species in a Tropical Seasonal Rain Forest of China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(9), pages 1-9, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0046074
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0046074
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kyle E. Harms & S. Joseph Wright & Osvaldo Calderón & Andrés Hernández & Edward Allen Herre, 2000. "Pervasive density-dependent recruitment enhances seedling diversity in a tropical forest," Nature, Nature, vol. 404(6777), pages 493-495, March.
    2. Igor Volkov & Jayanth R. Banavar & Fangliang He & Stephen P. Hubbell & Amos Maritan, 2005. "Density dependence explains tree species abundance and diversity in tropical forests," Nature, Nature, vol. 438(7068), pages 658-661, December.
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    1. Qinggang Wang & Dachuan Bao & Yili Guo & Junmeng Lu & Zhijun Lu & Yaozhan Xu & Kuihan Zhang & Haibo Liu & Hongjie Meng & Mingxi Jiang & Xiujuan Qiao & Handong Huang, 2014. "Species Associations in a Species-Rich Subtropical Forest Were Not Well-Explained by Stochastic Geometry of Biodiversity," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(5), pages 1-8, May.
    2. Yizhen Shao & Zhao Wang & Wenjun Liu & Xintong Zhang & Jing Wang & Peng Guo, 2023. "Effects of Variations in Soil Moisture and Phosphorus Concentrations on the Diversity of the Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Community in an Agricultural Ecosystem," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-11, June.
    3. Nguyen Hong Hai & Yousef Erfanifard & Van Bac Bui & Trinh Hien Mai & Any Mary Petritan & Ion Catalin Petritan, 2021. "Topographic Effects on the Spatial Species Associations in Diverse Heterogeneous Tropical Evergreen Forests," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-14, February.
    4. Khalid Awadh Al-Mutairi, 2022. "Do Spatially Structured Soil Variables Influence the Plant Diversity in Tabuk Arid Region, Saudi Arabia?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-11, February.
    5. Maryam KAZEMPOUR LARSARY & Kambiz TAHERI ABKENAR & Hassan POURBABAEI & David POTHIER & Beitollah AMANZADEH, 2018. "Spatial patterns of trees from different development stages in mixed temperate forest in the Hyrcanian region of Iran," Journal of Forest Science, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 64(6), pages 260-270.

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