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Canopy structure of tropical and sub-tropical rain forests in relation to conifer dominance analysed with a portable LIDAR system

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Globally, conifer dominance is restricted to nutient-poor habitats in colder, drier or waterlogged environments, probably due to competition with angiosperms. Analysis of canopy structure is important for understanding the mechanism of plant coexistence in relation to competitio...

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Autores principales: Aiba, Shin-ichiro, Akutsu, Kosuke, Onoda, Yusuke
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3838564/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24197751
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aob/mct242
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author Aiba, Shin-ichiro
Akutsu, Kosuke
Onoda, Yusuke
author_facet Aiba, Shin-ichiro
Akutsu, Kosuke
Onoda, Yusuke
author_sort Aiba, Shin-ichiro
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Globally, conifer dominance is restricted to nutient-poor habitats in colder, drier or waterlogged environments, probably due to competition with angiosperms. Analysis of canopy structure is important for understanding the mechanism of plant coexistence in relation to competition for light. Most conifers are shade intolerant, and often have narrow, deep, conical crowns. In this study it is predicted that conifer-admixed forests have less distinct upper canopies and more undulating canopy surfaces than angiosperm-dominated forests. METHODS: By using a ground-based, portable light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system, canopy structure was quantified for old-growth evergreen rainforests with varying dominance of conifers along altitudinal gradients (200–3100 m a.s.l.) on tropical and sub-tropical mountains (Mount Kinabalu, Malaysian Borneo and Yakushima Island, Japan) that have different conifer floras. KEY RESULTS: Conifers dominated at higher elevations on both mountains (Podocarpaceae and Araucariaceae on Kinabalu and Cupressaceae and Pinaceae on Yakushima), but conifer dominance also varied with soil/substrate conditions on Kinabalu. Conifer dominance was associated with the existence of large-diameter conifers. Forests with higher conifer dominance showed a canopy height profile (CHP) more skewed towards the understorey on both Kinabalu and Yakushima. In contrast, angiosperm-dominated forests had a CHP skewed towards upper canopy, except for lowland dipterocarp forests and a sub-alpine scrub dominated by small-leaved Leptospermum recurvum (Myrtaceae) on Kinabalu. Forests with a less dense upper canopy had more undulating outer canopy surfaces. Mixed conifer–angiosperm forests on Yakushima and dipterocarp forests on Kinabalu showed similar canopy structures. CONCLUSIONS: The results generally supported the prediction, suggesting that lower growth of angiosperm trees (except L. recurvum on Kinabalu) in cold and nutrient-poor environments results in a sparser upper canopy, which allows shade-intolerant conifers to co-occur with angiosperm trees either as emergents or as codominants in the open canopy.
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spelling pubmed-38385642013-11-23 Canopy structure of tropical and sub-tropical rain forests in relation to conifer dominance analysed with a portable LIDAR system Aiba, Shin-ichiro Akutsu, Kosuke Onoda, Yusuke Ann Bot Original Article BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Globally, conifer dominance is restricted to nutient-poor habitats in colder, drier or waterlogged environments, probably due to competition with angiosperms. Analysis of canopy structure is important for understanding the mechanism of plant coexistence in relation to competition for light. Most conifers are shade intolerant, and often have narrow, deep, conical crowns. In this study it is predicted that conifer-admixed forests have less distinct upper canopies and more undulating canopy surfaces than angiosperm-dominated forests. METHODS: By using a ground-based, portable light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system, canopy structure was quantified for old-growth evergreen rainforests with varying dominance of conifers along altitudinal gradients (200–3100 m a.s.l.) on tropical and sub-tropical mountains (Mount Kinabalu, Malaysian Borneo and Yakushima Island, Japan) that have different conifer floras. KEY RESULTS: Conifers dominated at higher elevations on both mountains (Podocarpaceae and Araucariaceae on Kinabalu and Cupressaceae and Pinaceae on Yakushima), but conifer dominance also varied with soil/substrate conditions on Kinabalu. Conifer dominance was associated with the existence of large-diameter conifers. Forests with higher conifer dominance showed a canopy height profile (CHP) more skewed towards the understorey on both Kinabalu and Yakushima. In contrast, angiosperm-dominated forests had a CHP skewed towards upper canopy, except for lowland dipterocarp forests and a sub-alpine scrub dominated by small-leaved Leptospermum recurvum (Myrtaceae) on Kinabalu. Forests with a less dense upper canopy had more undulating outer canopy surfaces. Mixed conifer–angiosperm forests on Yakushima and dipterocarp forests on Kinabalu showed similar canopy structures. CONCLUSIONS: The results generally supported the prediction, suggesting that lower growth of angiosperm trees (except L. recurvum on Kinabalu) in cold and nutrient-poor environments results in a sparser upper canopy, which allows shade-intolerant conifers to co-occur with angiosperm trees either as emergents or as codominants in the open canopy. Oxford University Press 2013-12 2013-11-05 /pmc/articles/PMC3838564/ /pubmed/24197751 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aob/mct242 Text en © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Article
Aiba, Shin-ichiro
Akutsu, Kosuke
Onoda, Yusuke
Canopy structure of tropical and sub-tropical rain forests in relation to conifer dominance analysed with a portable LIDAR system
title Canopy structure of tropical and sub-tropical rain forests in relation to conifer dominance analysed with a portable LIDAR system
title_full Canopy structure of tropical and sub-tropical rain forests in relation to conifer dominance analysed with a portable LIDAR system
title_fullStr Canopy structure of tropical and sub-tropical rain forests in relation to conifer dominance analysed with a portable LIDAR system
title_full_unstemmed Canopy structure of tropical and sub-tropical rain forests in relation to conifer dominance analysed with a portable LIDAR system
title_short Canopy structure of tropical and sub-tropical rain forests in relation to conifer dominance analysed with a portable LIDAR system
title_sort canopy structure of tropical and sub-tropical rain forests in relation to conifer dominance analysed with a portable lidar system
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3838564/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24197751
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aob/mct242
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