Data from: Local neighbourhood and regional climatic contexts interact to explain tree performance

Tree neighbourhood modelling has significantly contributed to our understanding of the mechanisms structuring communities. Investigations into the impact of neighbouring crowding on tree performance have generally been conducted at local scales, missing important regional-scale context such as the suitability of the climate for each species. Favourable climates may enhance tree performance, but this may come at the cost of increased neighbourhood crowding and competition negatively impacting survival and growth. Through the synthesis of continental-scale forest inventory and trait datasets from the northeast USA and Puerto Rico we present an analytical approach that elucidates the important interactions between local competitive and regional climatic contexts. Our results show strong asymmetries in competitive interactions and significant niche differences that are dependent on habitat suitability. The strong interaction between local neighbourhood and regional climate highlights the need for models that consider the interaction between these two processes that have been previously ignored.

树木邻域建模（Tree neighbourhood modelling）对我们理解群落构建机制具有重要贡献。以往针对邻体拥挤度对树木生长性能的研究多局限于局域尺度，忽略了气候适宜性这类关键的区域尺度背景信息——不同物种的气候适宜性存在显著差异。适宜的气候条件虽可提升树木生长性能，但往往伴随邻体拥挤程度加剧与竞争压力增大，进而对树木存活与生长产生负面影响。本研究整合了美国东北部与波多黎各的大陆尺度森林清查与功能性状数据集，提出了一种可阐明局域竞争与区域气候背景间关键互作关系的分析方法。研究结果显示，种间竞争作用存在显著的不对称性，且存在依赖于生境适宜性的显著生态位分化。局域邻体效应与区域气候间的强互作关系，凸显了亟需构建同时考虑这两类此前被忽视的过程的模型的必要性。