TY - JOUR

T1 - Tree-species interactions increase light absorption and growth in Chinese subtropical mixed-species plantations

AU - Forrester, David I.

AU - Rodenfels, Peter

AU - Haase, Josephine

AU - Härdtle, Werner

AU - Leppert, Katrin N.

AU - Niklaus, Pascal A.

AU - Oheimb, Goddert

AU - Scherer-Lorenzen, Michael

AU - Bauhus, Jürgen

PY - 2019/10/1

Y1 - 2019/10/1

N2 - Light-related interactions can increase productivity in tree-species mixtures compared with monocultures due to higher stand-level absorption of photosynthetically active radiation (APAR) or light-use efficiency (LUE). However, the effects of different light-related interactions, and their relative importance, have rarely been quantified. Here, measurements of vertical leaf-area distributions, tree sizes, and stand density were combined with a tree-level light model (Maestra) to examine how crown architecture and vertical or horizontal canopy structure influence the APAR of 16 monocultures and eight different two-species mixtures with 16 different species in a Chinese subtropical tree diversity experiment. A higher proportion of crown leaf area occurred in the upper crowns of species with higher specific leaf areas. Tree-level APAR depended largely on tree leaf area and also, but to a lesser extent, on relative height (i.e., tree dominance) and leaf-area index (LAI). Stand-level APAR depended on LAI and canopy volume, but not on the vertical stratification or canopy leaf-area density. The mixing effects, in terms of relative differences between mixtures and monocultures, on stand-level APAR were correlated with the mixing effects on basal area growth, indicating that light-related interactions may have been responsible for part of the mixing effects on basal area growth. While species identity influences the vertical distributions of leaf area within tree crowns, this can have a relatively small effect on tree and stand APAR compared with the size and vertical positioning of the crowns, or the LAI and canopy volume.

AB - Light-related interactions can increase productivity in tree-species mixtures compared with monocultures due to higher stand-level absorption of photosynthetically active radiation (APAR) or light-use efficiency (LUE). However, the effects of different light-related interactions, and their relative importance, have rarely been quantified. Here, measurements of vertical leaf-area distributions, tree sizes, and stand density were combined with a tree-level light model (Maestra) to examine how crown architecture and vertical or horizontal canopy structure influence the APAR of 16 monocultures and eight different two-species mixtures with 16 different species in a Chinese subtropical tree diversity experiment. A higher proportion of crown leaf area occurred in the upper crowns of species with higher specific leaf areas. Tree-level APAR depended largely on tree leaf area and also, but to a lesser extent, on relative height (i.e., tree dominance) and leaf-area index (LAI). Stand-level APAR depended on LAI and canopy volume, but not on the vertical stratification or canopy leaf-area density. The mixing effects, in terms of relative differences between mixtures and monocultures, on stand-level APAR were correlated with the mixing effects on basal area growth, indicating that light-related interactions may have been responsible for part of the mixing effects on basal area growth. While species identity influences the vertical distributions of leaf area within tree crowns, this can have a relatively small effect on tree and stand APAR compared with the size and vertical positioning of the crowns, or the LAI and canopy volume.

KW - Ecosystems Research

KW - BEF-China

KW - Complementarity

KW - Crown architecture

KW - Maestra model

KW - Stand structure

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85071857402&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s00442-019-04495-w

DO - 10.1007/s00442-019-04495-w

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 31463782

VL - 191

SP - 421

EP - 432

JO - Oecologia

JF - Oecologia

SN - 0029-8549

IS - 2

ER -