The Role of Plant-Plant Interactions in Forest Response to Climate Change: Sessile Oak and Beech in the Western Pyrenees
This study quantified how interactions between sessile oak and beech seedlings and adult trees vary along an altitudinal gradient in the western Pyrenees, showing that high-elevation competition limits oak survival but future warming will reduce this competition and promote oak’s uphill migration relative to beech.
or
Detail description
Many models of forest response to climate change ignore biotic interactions. We conducted an in situ experiment along a 600 m elevation gradient in the western Pyrenees to measure interactions between sessile oak (Quercus petraea) and common beech (Fagus sylvatica) seedlings under adult canopies. Seedling survival data revealed that competition from beech increased sharply with elevation for oak, due to cooler, shaded microclimates limiting growing season length. Beech seedlings showed less sensitivity. Under projected warming, oak’s greater phenological response to heat should reduce this competitive pressure, accelerating its altitudinal migration and amplifying species-range shifts.
1/1
or
Contribution detail info
- Project
- Location
- France
- Authors
- Richard MICHALLET, Yannick VITASSE et Sylvain DELZON
- Purpose
- Adopt innovative practices
- File type
- document
- Created on
- 01 Samh 2015
- Origin language
- French
- Official project website
- Innovations agronomiques
- License
- CC BY