Abstract
Forest structure analysis is important for understanding the properties and development of a forest community, and its outcomes can be influenced by how trees are measured in sampled plots. Although there is a general consensus on the height at which tree diameter should be measured [1.3 m: diameter at breast height (DBH)], the minimum measured diameter (MMD) often varies in different studies. In this study, we assumed that the outcomes of forest structure analysis can be influenced by MMD and, to this end, we applied g(r) function and stand spatial structural parameters (SSSPs) to investigate how different MMDs affect forest spatial structure analysis in two pine-oak mixed forests (30 and 57 years old) in southwest China and one old-growth oak forest (>120 years old) from northwest China. Our results showed that 1) MMD was closely related to the distribution patterns of forest trees. Tree distribution patterns at each observational scale (r = 0–20 m) tended to become random as the MMD increased. The older the community, the earlier this random distribution pattern appeared. 2) As the MMD increased, neighboring trees became more regularly distributed around a reference tree. In most cases, however, nearest neighbors of a reference tree were randomly distributed. 3) Tree species mingling decreased with increasing diameter, but it decreased slowly in older forests. 4) No correlations can be found between individual tree size differentiation and MMD. We recommend that comparisons of spatial structures between communities would be more effective if using a unified MMD criterion.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Baddeley A, Turner R (2005) Spatstat: An R package for analyzing spatial point patterns. Journal of Statistical Software 12: 1–42. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v012.i06
Chiarucci A, Bonini I (2005) Quantitative floristic as a tool for the assessment of plant diversity in Tuscan forests. Forest Ecology and Management 212: 160–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2005.03.041
Fernandez C, Voiriot S, Mévy J-P, et al. (2008) Regeneration failure of Pinus halepensis Mill.: the role of autotoxicity and some abiotic environmental parameters. Forest Ecology and Management 255: 2928–2936. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2008.01.072
Franklin JF, Mitchell RJ, Palik BJ (2007) Natural disturbance and stand development principles for ecological forestry. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-19. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station.
Getzin S, Dean C, He F, et al. (2006) Spatial patterns and competition of tree species in a Douglas-fir chronosequence on Vancouver Island. Ecography 29: 671–682. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2006.0906-7590.04675.x
Getzin S, Wiegand T, Wiegand K, et al. (2008) Heterogeneity influences spatial patterns and demographics in forest stands. Journal of Ecology 96: 807–820. https://doi.org/10.2307/20143523
Graz FP (2004) The behaviour of the species mingling index Msp in relation to species dominance and dispersion. European Journal of Forest Research 123: 87–92. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-004-0016-8
Hao Z, Zhang J, Song B, et al. (2007) Vertical structure and spatial associations of dominant tree species in an old-growth temperate forest. Forest Ecology and Management 252: 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2007.06.026
Hui G, Gadow Kv (2003) Quantitative analysis of forest spatial structure. China Science and Technology Press: Beijing, p 6–62. (In Chinese)
Hui G, Pommerening A (2014) Analysing tree species and size diversity patterns in multi-species uneven-aged forests of Northern China. Forest Ecology and Management 316: 25–138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2013.07.02g
Janik D, Adam D, Hort L, et al. (2014) Tree spatial patterns of Abies alba and Fagus sylvatica in the Western Carpathians over 30 years. European Journal of Forest Research 133: 1015–1028. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-014-0819-l
Kint V (2005). Structural development in ageing temperate Scots pine stands. Forest Ecology and Management 214: 237–250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2005.04.014
Kint V, Meirvenne MV, Nachtergale L, et al. (2003) Spatial methods for quantifying forest stand structure development: A comparison between nearest-neighbor indices and variogram analysis. Forest Science 49: 36–49. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1439-0329.2003.00307.x
Li Y, Hui G, Yu S, et al. (2017) Nearest neighbour relationships in Pinus yunnanensis var. tenuifolia forests along the Nanpan River, China. iForest 10: 746–753. https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor2405-010
Li Y, Hui G, Zhao Z, et al. (2012) The bivariate distribution characteristics of spatial structure in natural Korean pine broad-leaved forest. Journal of Vegetation Science 23: 1180–1190. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1654-1103.2012.01431.x
Li Y, Hui G, Zhao Z, et al. (2014a) Spatial structural characteristics of three hardwood species in Korean pine broad-leaved forest—validating the bivariate distribution of structural parameters from the point of tree population. Forest Ecology and Management 314: 17–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2013.ll.012
Li Y, Ye S, Hui G, et al. (2014b) Spatial Structure of Timber Harvested according to Structure-Based Forest Management. Forest Ecology and Management 322: 106–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2014.02.042
Li Z, Wang X (1981) The distribution of Pinus yunanensis var. tenuifolia in relation to the environmental conditions. Acta Phytoecologica Geobotanica Sinica 5: 28–37. (In Chinese)
Lin Y, Augspurger CK (2008) Long-term spatial dynamics of Acer saccharum during a population explosion in an old-growth remnant forest in Illinois. Forest Ecology and Management 256: 922–928. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2008.05.051
Liu W, Guo X, Zhang S, et al. (2014) Diameter class and species diversity of Quercus alina var. acuteserrata virgin forest in Xiaolongshan forest area. Journal of Northwest A & F University (Nat. Sci. Ed.), 42(10): 87–94, 102. (In Chinese) https://doi.org/10.13207/Jxnki.Jnwafu.2014.042
Lv X, Yang S, Liu W, et al. (2015) Analysis of spatial structure characteristics based on diameter class of trees in primeval Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata community in the forest area of Xiaolong Mountain, Gansu Province. Journal of Beijing Forestry University 37(5): 11–18. (In Chinese) https://doi.org/10.13332/j.1000-1522.20140238
Nguyen H, Uria-Diez J, Wiegand K (2016) Spatial distribution and association patterns in a tropical evergreen broad-leaved forest of north-central Vietnam. Journal of Vegetation Science 27: 318–327. https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.12361
Nguyen H, Wiegand K, Getzin S (2014) Spatial patterns and demographics of Streblus macrophyllus trees in a tropical evergreen forest, Vietnam. Journal of Tropical Forest Science 26(3): 309–319.
North M, Chen J, Oakley B, et al. (2004) Forest stand structure and pattern of old-growth western Hemlock/Douglas Fir and mixed-conifer Forests. Forest Science 50(3): 299–311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2004.03.018
Pastorella F, Paletto A (2013) Stand structure indices as tools to support forest management: an application in Trentino forests (Italy). Journal of Forest Science 4: 159–168.
Petritan AM, Biris IA, Merce O, et al. (2012) Structure and diversity of a natural temperate sessile oak (Quercus petraea L.)-L.) aeaapetraeaem Fagus sylvatica L.) forest. Forest Ecology and Management 280: 140–149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2012.06.007
Podlaski R (2016) Highly skewed and heavy-tailed tree diameter distributions: approximation using the gamma shape mixture model. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 46(11): 1275–1283. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2016-0175
Podlaski R (2017) Forest modelling: the gamma shape mixture model and simulation of tree diameter distributions. Annals of Forest Science 74(2): 29. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13595-017-0629-y
Polyakov M, Majumdar I, Teeter L (2008) Spatial and temporal analysis of the anthropogenic effects on local diversity of forest trees. Forest Ecology and Management 25: 1379–1387. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2007.10.052
Pukkala T, Lähde E, Laiho O (2009) Growth and yield models for uneven-sized forest stands in Finland. Forest Ecology and Management 258: 207–216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2009.03.052
R Core Team (2019) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. <Web: https://doi.org/www.R-project.org>
Suzuki SN, Kachi N, Suzuki J-I (2008) Development of a local size Hierarchy causes regular spacing of trees in an even-aged abies forest: analyses using spatial autocorrelation and the mark correlation function. Annals of Botany 102: 435–441. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcm13
Szmyt J (2014) Spatial statistics in ecological analysis: from indices to functions. Silva Fennica 48(1): 1–31. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.1008
Wang H, Wan P, Wang Q, et al. (2017) Prevalence of inter-Tree competition and its role in shaping the community structure of a natural Mongolian scots pine (Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica) forest. Forests 8(84): 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3390/f8030084
Wehenkel C, Brazâo-Protâzio JM, Carrillo-Parra A, et al. (2015) Spatial Distribution Patterns in the Very Rare and Species-Rich Picea chihuahuana Tree Community (Mexico). PloS one 10(10), 60140442. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0143899
Wiegand T, Moloney KA (2014) Handbook of Spatial PointPattern Analysis in Ecology. CRC press: Boca Raton, USA.
Wiegand T, Moloney KA, 2004. Rings, circles, and null-models for point pattern analysis in ecology. Okios, 104: 209–229. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0030-1299.2004.12497.x
Youngblood A, Max T, Coe K (2004) Stand structure in eastside old-growth ponderosa pine forests of Oregon and northern California. Forest Ecology and Management 199: 191–217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2004.05.056
Zhang H, Wu J, Yang H, et al. (2009) Spatial structure of mixed larch-spruce-fir stands. Journal of Zhejiang College Forestry 26(3): 319–325. (In Chinese) https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.2095-0756.2009.03.005
Zhang J, Chen L, Guo Q, et al. (1999) Research on changes of dominant tree population distribution patterns during developmental processes of a climax forest community. Acta Phytoecologica Sinica 23: 256–268. (In Chinese)
Zhao Z, Hui G, Yuan S, et al. (2009) Spatial Structure Characteristic of Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata Natural Forest in Xiaolongshan. Scientia Silvae Sinicae 45(3): 1–6. (In Chinese) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-l-4020-9623-5_5
Acknowledgement
This paper was financially supported by the National Science Foundation of China (grant no. 31400542; 31460196), Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (grant 2016GXNSFBA380233) and Guangxi special fund project for innovation-driven development (AA 17204087-8). We thank associated professor Sufang Yu, PhD student Xianyu Yao, master students Wenyan Tang, Jiafeng Long, Ting Pan, Deyi Zhu, Yehong Luo and undergraduates Haihui Lu, Fengting Li and Huangxu Lan for providing help in data collection. We also thank Guangxi Yachang National Orchids Natural Reserve Bureau and Guangxi Yachang State-owned Forest Farm for providing comprehensive field services.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Li, Yf., Yang, Hp., Wang, Hx. et al. Assessing the influence of the minimum measured diameter on forest spatial patterns and nearest neighborhood relationships. J. Mt. Sci. 16, 2308–2319 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-019-5540-6
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-019-5540-6