Changes in the effects of neighboring trees on tree growth and mortality in a temperate mixed forest for 30 years

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  • Enoki Tsutomu
    Division of Forest Environmental Sciences, Department of Agro-environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University
  • Hishi Takuo
    Division of Forest Environmental Sciences, Department of Agro-environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University
  • Tashiro Naoaki
    Division of Forest Environmental Sciences, Department of Agro-environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University

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Other Title
  • 温帯混交林における樹木の成長と死亡に隣接固体が及ぼす影響の30年間の変化

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Abstract

We compared the effects of tree size and the basal area of neighboring trees on the growth rate and mortality of individual trees over the past 30 years (1984-2014), before and after the increase of a sika deer population in a mixed conifer-broadleaf forest in the Shiiba Research Forest of Kyushu University in Japan. In the study site, sika deer (Cervus nippon) have reduced understory vegetation since the 1990s, denuding it since the 2000s. Most of the recruitment in the second half of the study period (1996–2014) consisted of tree species that sika deer cannot consume, such as Illicium anisatum and Pieris japonica subsp. japonica. Smaller trees had higher mortality throughout the study period. Neighboring trees affected the tree mortality significantly in the first half of the study period (1984–1996), while they did not significantly affect it in the second half. However, neighboring trees significantly affected the growth rate of trees throughout study period. Based on our findings, we speculate that an increase in sika deer population may have affected the competition between individual trees in the mixed forest. The effects of tree size and neighboring trees on mortality and growth varied depending on the growth form groups and the species.

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