RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Patterns and drivers of tree mortality in Iberian forests: climatic effects are modified by competition
A1 Ruiz Benito, Paloma
A1 Lines, E.R.
A1 Gómez-Aparicio, Lorena
A1 Zavala Gironés, Miguel Ángel de
A1 Coomes, D.C.
K1 Ciencia
K1 Medio Ambiente
K1 Science
K1 Environmental science
AB Tree mortality is a key process underlying forest dynamics and community assembly. Understanding how tree mortality isdriven by simultaneous drivers is needed to evaluate potential effects of climate change on forest composition. Usingrepeat-measure information from c. 400,000 trees from the Spanish Forest Inventory, we quantified the relative importanceof tree size, competition, climate and edaphic conditions on tree mortality of 11 species, and explored the combined effectof climate and competition. Tree mortality was affected by all of these multiple drivers, especially tree size and asymmetriccompetition, and strong interactions between climate and competition were found. All species showed L-shaped mortalitypatterns (i.e. showed decreasing mortality with tree size), but pines were more sensitive to asymmetric competition thanbroadleaved species. Among climatic variables, the negative effect of temperature on tree mortality was much larger thanthe effect of precipitation. Moreover, the effect of climate (mean annual temperature and annual precipitation) on treemortality was aggravated at high competition levels for all species, but especially for broadleaved species. The significantinteraction between climate and competition on tree mortality indicated that global change in Mediterranean regions,causing hotter and drier conditions and denser stands, could lead to profound effects on forest structure and composition.Therefore, to evaluate the potential effects of climatic change on tree mortality, forest structure must be considered, sincetwo systems of similar composition but different structure could radically differ in their response to climatic conditions.
SN 1932-6203
YR 2014
FD 2014
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10017/20882
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10017/20882
LA eng
DS MINDS@UW
RD 06-dic-2023