Growth–weather relationships of trees determine the seasonal fluctuation of carbon sequestration in forests. Even within the same local area, neighbouring trees with different functional traits can influence the growth–weather relationships of the focal trees by altering the availability and utilization efficiency of resources. Here, we measured high frequency radial growth and weather in a large-scale forest biodiversity experiment in southeast China (BEF-China) and explored the relationship between neighbourhood functional traits, weather variables, and growth rate of focal trees using general linear mixed-effects models. We found that neighbours with strong resource acquisitiveness decreased the beneficial effect of temperature on focal tree growth for deciduous trees but increased the growth–weather relationships for evergreen trees. In addition, neighbourhood functional diversity enhanced the positive growth–temperature relationship of focal trees and increased the beneficial effect of moisture on the growth of evergreen species. Our results show that contrasting ecological strategies between focal trees and their neighbours and the increase of neighbourhood functional diversity enhance tree growth by increasing their growth–weather relationships, especially for evergreen species, which offers an explanation for positive biodiversity–productivity relationships at the neighbourhood scale and provides important reference for planning in forestry.
Figure 1. The slopes of radial growth–temperature/moisture relationships for individual trees of different species and different life forms.
Figure 2. The interactive effects between neighbourhood resource acquisitiveness and weather conditions on the daily radial growth of trees.
Figure 3. The interactive effects between neighbourhood functional diversity and weather conditions on the daily radial growth of trees.
Literature:
Yun-Hao Bai, Gheyur Gheyret*, Hong-Tu Zhang, Shan Li, Bernhard Schmid, Helge Bruelheide, Keping Ma, Zhiyao Tang*. 2024. Trait-based neighbourhood effects modulate the growth-weather relationships of subtropical trees. The Innovation Life. 2(4): 100106.https://www.the-innovation.org/article/doi/10.59717/j.xinn-life.2024.100106
Chinese report: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/G3OZtfFLVo1xUg0ee7M2yQ
