Data from: The effect of conspecific density, herbivory, and bamboo on seedling dynamics of a dominant oak in a neotropical highland forest

Conspecific negative density-dependence (CNDD) is one of the main
mechanisms influencing diversity maintenance in tropical forests. Tropical
highland forests, in contrast to most lowland forests, are commonly
dominated by a few tree species, and testing the importance of density
dependence effects on seedling establishment of dominant trees may provide
insights on the mechanisms regulating population dynamics and forest
composition of tropical highlands. We tested the effect of CNDD regulation
on seedling survival and recruitment of Quercus costaricensis, a
monodominant oak in the Talamanca highland forests of Costa Rica. We used
Ripley’s K and generalized linear mixed models to test the effects of
conspecific density, distance to the nearest adult, density of Chusquea
bamboo shoots, and herbivory on the annual survival probability of 3579
seedlings between 2014 and 2017. We did not find a significant effect of
CNDD on seedling survival. However, bamboo density and herbivory both
significantly decreased oak seedling survival. All seedlings had signs of
herbivory and predator satiation may explain the lack of density dependent
regulation in seedlings of this species. We argue that the lack of
intraspecific density regulation at the seedling stage may contribute to
explain the dominance of Q. costaricensis in the highland forests of Costa
Rica. Local seedling dynamics of this endemic oak are instead regulated by
herbivory and the density of Chusquea.