Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Johnson, Daniel J.
• Beaulieu, Wesley T.
• Bever, James D.
• Clay, Keith

Titel

Conspecific Negative Density Dependence and Forest Diversity

Ist Teil von

• Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science), 2012-05, Vol.336 (6083), p.904-907

Ort / Verlag

Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science

Erscheinungsjahr

2012

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Conspecific negative density-dependent establishment, in which local abundance negatively affects establishment of conspecific seedlings through host-specific enemies, can influence species diversity of plant communities, but the generality of this process is not well understood. We tested the strength of density dependence using the United States Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis database containing 151 species from more than 200,000 forest plots spanning 4,000,000 square kilometers. We found that most species experienced conspecific negative density dependence (CNDD), but there was little effect of heterospecific density. Additionally, abundant species exhibited weaker CNDD than rarer species, and species-rich regions exhibited stronger CNDD than species-poor regions. Collectively, our results provide evidence that CNDD is a pervasive mechanism driving diversity across a gradient from boreal to subtropical forests.