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 signi...,
survival_seedlings

This file contains the data used for the survival model of Quercus costaricensis seedlings.

 

 

recruitment_seedlings

 

This file contains the data used for the recruitment model.

 

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同种负密度制约效应（Conspecific negative density-dependence，CNDD）是影响热带森林多样性维持的核心机制之一。与多数低地森林不同，热带山地森林通常以少数树种为优势类群，验证密度制约效应对优势树种幼苗建成的重要性，或可为揭示热带山地种群动态与森林群落组成的调控机制提供新视角。本研究以哥斯达黎加塔拉曼卡山地森林中的单优栎树——哥斯达黎加栎（Quercus costaricensis）为研究对象，探究CNDD调控对其幼苗存活与种群补充的影响。我们采用里普利K函数（Ripley’s K）与广义线性混合模型，分析2014至2017年间3579株幼苗的年存活概率，评估同种密度、与最近成年个体的距离、丘斯奎阿竹（Chusquea）笋密度以及植食作用的影响。研究未发现CNDD对幼苗存活存在显著效应，但竹丛密度与植食作用均对幼苗存活存在显著……

survival_seedlings
该文件包含用于构建哥斯达黎加栎幼苗存活模型的数据集。

recruitment_seedlings
该文件包含用于构建幼苗种群补充模型的数据集。