RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Main biotic drivers of tree growth in a developing Juniperus thurifera stand in central Spain
A1 Vizcaíno Palomar, Natalia
A1 Gómez-Aparicio, Lorena
A1 Pavón Garcia, Javier
A1 Bartolomé Esteban, Carmen
A1 Álvarez Jiménez, Julio
A1 Zavala Gironés, Miguel Ángel de
K1 Dioecious
K1 Intraspecific competition
K1 Land use abandonment
K1 Mediterranean forests
K1 Neighbourhood models
K1 Reproductive class
K1 Tree growth
K1 Ciencia
K1 Medio Ambiente
K1 Science
K1 Environmental science
AB Over the last few decades, abandonment of traditional management practices in Spain has led to widespread stand densification and has favoured the expansion of some forest species that previously exhibited more restricted ranges. Spanish juniper (Juniperus thurifera L.) woodlands are experiencing this phenomenon due to agricultural land abandonment and a decrease in the livestock pressure. Yet the main drivers underlying stand structure and dynamics at this novel scenario are poorly understood. In this study, we investigate the main biotic drivers of tree growth in a high-density stand of the dioecious J. thurifera at an early developmental stage (mean tree age of 32 years, 50 years after land abandonment). Tree growth was measured by coring 299 individuals of different reproductive classes (male, female and non-reproductive). Neighbourhood models were used to assess the relative importance of tree size and neighbourhood competition on tree growth of each reproductive class in the study plot. We found that tree size had the strongest effect on tree growth, whereas the effect of intraspecific competition was negligible. We observed differences in growth patterns among reproductive classes along trunk diameter sizes. Thus, at smaller sizes the three reproductive classes presented identical patterns of growth. However, at bigger sizes, females were the fastest growing individuals, followed by males and non-reproductive individuals. Overall, our results suggest that in young J. thurifera monospecific forests, where self-thinning processes may have not undergone yet, tree size and the reproductive class could play a relatively more important role than competition as drivers of tree growth. These findings constitute new information which contributes to understanding growth dynamics at early developmental stages in this dioecious species. Furthermore, our results provide guidelines for silvicultural managing; suggesting that at these young juniper stands thinning would likely not translate into enhanced growth on remnant trees.
PB Springer
SN 1612-4669
YR 2014
FD 2014
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10017/20886
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10017/20886
LA eng
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
DS MINDS@UW
RD 20-abr-2024