Effects of neighbors on height growth and architecture of canopy trees

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25440231
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Ecology/Environment
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Nagashima Hisae 東北大学, 生命科学研究科, 教育研究支援者 (20323503)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 個体間相互作用 / 隣接個体 / 高さ / 森林 / アカエゾマツ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Stem elongation of herbaceous plants in crowded stands is finely controlled so that plants have similar heights to neighbors. We investigated whether canopy trees in forest have similar regulation. We made plots where neighbors were cut at the base of the trunks (all-removed plots) and at a point 2m distant from the top of the trunks (top-removed plots) in a 30 years Picea glehnii forest, and monitored the growth of target trees over two years. Height increment of target trees was decreased in the all-removed plots, showing that neighbors influenced height increment of trunks. In the top-removed plots, however, height increment of targets was not significantly different from that in control plots. It was revealed that the influence of height difference on growth was small if the difference was a degree of 2m.

Free Research Field

植物生態学