An exploration of the factors regulating the diameter growth of 3334 trees of mountain beech growing in natural single-species forests in New Zealand. Maximum-likelihood modelling was used to quantify the influences of tree size, altitude, the basal area of taller neighbours (BL) and the basal area of all neighbours (BT) on growth. Coomes, D.A.; Allen,…
Project Tag: 2000-2009
Resistance and resilience of New Zealand tree species to browsing
A prominent idea in the literature on plant–herbivore interactions is that fast-growing species have low resistance but high resilience to herbivory. Fast-growing species are selectively eaten by herbivores but recover quickly following damage. This is an analysis whether this resistance-resilience trade-off applies to New Zealand woody species, which evolved without exposure to mammalian herbivores. BEE, J.N.;…
Growth–size scaling relationships of woody plant species differ from predictions of the Metabolic Ecology Model
A report in which the Metabolic Ecology Model is shown not to accurately predict the allometric scaling of 56 woody plant species in New Zealand and that no evidence was found to support the assumptions of the model. Russo, S.E.; Wiser, S.K.; Coomes, D.A. 2007 PDF
Scaling of tree vascular transport systems along gradients of nutrient supply and altitude
Investigating whether trees growing at high altitude or on nutrient-depleted soils prioritise survival over minimising hydraulic resistance by narrowing xylem distally or of their vascular systems would be structured differently from those of trees growing under more benign conditions. Conduits were observed to narrow towards the periphery of vascular system within all members of all…
Rapid deforestation and fragmentation of Chilean Temperate Forests
Three land-cover maps were derived from satellite imagery acquired over 25 years (1975, 1990 and 2000), and were used to assess the patterns of deforestation and forest fragmentation in the coastal range of south-central Chile. Between 1975 and 2000, there was a reduction in natural forest area of 67% in the study area, which is…
Challenges to the generality of WBE theory
A critique of the use of WBE as a general tool with proposals that more complex models are necessary to accurately deal with the environmentally influential factors which effect natural forest communities. Coomes, D.A. 2006 PDF
Long-Term Effects of Wild fire on Ecosystem Properties Across an Island Area Gradient
Boreal forest soils play an important role in the global carbon cycle by functioning as a large terrestrial carbon sink or source, and the alteration of fire regime through global change phenomena may influence this role. In this study a system of forested lake islands in the boreal zone of Sweden for which fire frequency…
Seed mass and the competition /colonization trade-off: competitive interactions and spatial patterns in a guild of annual plants
Using neighbourhood modelling to estimate individual-level competition coefficients for seven annuals growing in limestone grassland over 2 years the relative strength of intra- and interspecific competition was calculated and related to differences in seed size and plant size between targets and neighbours. TURNBULL, L.A; COOMES, D.A.; HECTOR, A.; REES, M. 2004 PDF
Pair-wise competition-trials amongst seedlings of ten dipterocarp species;the role of initial height, growth rate and leaf attributes
To investigate whether seedlings of ten dipterocarp species differed significantly in terms of growth and mortality or whether species were not significantly different and could be considered ecologically similar. Tanner, E. V. J.; Teo, V.K.; Coomes, D. A.; Midgley, J.J. 2005 PDF
On the mechanisms of coexistence among annual-plant species, using neighbourhood techniques and simulation models
The consequences of competition for the coexistence of plants in annual-plant populations on coastal sand dunes. We used neighbourhood techniques to parameterize competition and dispersal functions from field data collected for two species of dune annual over three successive years. Coomes, D.A.; Rees, M.; Turnbull, L.; Ratcliffe, S. 2002 PDF
Forest Ecology and Conservation Group 