Abstract
Forest dynamics are shaped by both abiotic and biotic factors. Trees associating with different types of mycorrhizal fungi differ in nutrient use and dominate in contrasting environments, but it remains unclear whether they exhibit differential growth responses to local abiotic and biotic gradients where they co-occur. We used 9-year tree census data in a 25-ha old-growth temperate forest in Northeast China to examine differences in tree growth response to soil nutrients and neighborhood crowding between tree species associating with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM), ectomycorrhizal (EM), and dual-mycorrhizal (AEM) fungi. In addition, we tested the role of individual-level vs species-level leaf traits in capturing differences in tree growth response to soil nutrients and neighborhood crowding across mycorrhizal types. Across 25 species, soil nutrients decreased AM tree growth, while neighborhood crowding reduced both AM and EM tree growth, and neither soil nor neighbors impacted AEM tree growth. Across mycorrhizal types, individual-level traits were stronger predictors of tree growth than species-level traits. However, most traits poorly mediated tree growth response to soil nutrients and neighborhood crowding. Our findings indicate that mycorrhizal types strongly shape differences in tree growth response to local soil and crowding gradients, and suggest that including plant-mycorrhizae associations in future work offers great potential to improve our understanding of forest dynamics.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to everyone who contributed to the CBS FDP project. We thank the many field assistants who conducted the dendrometer censuses and helped with trait measurements.
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This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (31730015, 31961133027), the Strategic Priority Research Program (XDB 31000000) and Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (ZDBS-LY-DQC019), the LiaoNing Revitalization Talents Program (XLYC1807039), Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province of China (2021-MA-028), and the Kwan Cheng Wong Education Foundation.
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JR, ZQH and CF designed the study. JR, SF, GL, FL, ZQY, JY, XGW and ZQH collected the data. JR, SF and CF performed the analysis. JR and CF wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors contributed to revisions of the manuscript, and gave final approval for publication.
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Communicated by Jonathan A. Myers.
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Ren, J., Fang, S., Lin, G. et al. Tree growth response to soil nutrients and neighborhood crowding varies between mycorrhizal types in an old-growth temperate forest. Oecologia 197, 523–535 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-05034-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-05034-2