Effects of disturbance frequency, species traits and resprouting on directional succession in an individual-based model of forest dynamics
Authored by Madhur Anand, Paul Caplat
Date Published: 2009
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2009.01541.x
Sponsors:
National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
Canadian Foundation for Innovation
Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research
Platforms:
No platforms listed
Model Documentation:
Other Narrative
Mathematical description
Model Code URLs:
Model code not found
Abstract
P> Succession theory focuses on the position of species along the shade
tolerance gradient and their ability to colonize recently disturbed
patches and has for decades overlooked resprouting as a key trait in
community patterns.
We study how different species traits interact with disturbance
frequency to change species dominance in the canopy, focusing on the
effects of resprouting ability.
We develop an individual-based model that simulates the dynamics of
three species paper birch Betula papyrifera Marsh, white pine Pinus
strobus L. and sugar maple Acer saccharum Marsh., characterized by
different successional strategies, as observed in northern Minnesota
forests. We tested (i) how different disturbance frequencies, (ii) sugar
maple resprouting and (iii) paper birch resprouting change successional
patterns.
We show that three disturbance frequency classes produce three different
outcomes, each dominated by a different species, with lower disturbance
frequency favouring later successional species.
The importance of resprouting ability for success in the canopy depends
on the species' other life-history traits. Sugar maple is able to
dominate the community at all disturbance frequency classes with
resprouting, whereas the inclusion of resprouting for paper birch does
not change the successional patterns.
White pine is indirectly favoured by sugar maple's resprouting ability, excluding paper birch from the community at disturbance frequency
classes that would see paper birch dominance in the absence of
resprouting.
Synthesis. We model tree life histories in a disturbed environment and
test how the inclusion of resprouting changes succession patterns. Our
results confirm the recent interest of taking into account resprouting, as it can bend succession directionality, and thus change community
composition in response to disturbance. This has wide consequences for
predicting forest diversity patterns as well as invasion phenomena in a
changing world.
Tags
Life-history
Colonization trade-off
Plant competition
Boreal forest
Pinus-sylvestris
Competitive coexistence
Limiting
similarity
Fagus-grandifolia
Shade tolerance
Acer-saccharum