Changes in density and breeding of the house mouse (Mus musculus) in a New Zealand forest dominated by hard beech (Nothofagus truncata) were monitored for 2.5 years. Mice bred during winter and increased dramatically in density only during a beech mast year. Mice readily ate the endosperm and embryo of hard beech seed in the laboratory and chemical analysis showed it to be a very nutritious foo...

Pathogens change forest composition and structure by selectively eliminating susceptible individuals and species. Caused by a complex between an exotic scale insect and fungi, beech bark disease has infected mature American beech (Fagus grandifolia) trees through most of the species range. Before succumbing to the disease, infected trees generate root sprouts, transforming beech from a dominant...

To investigate the impact of organic N compounds for inorganic nitrogen uptake in the rhizosphere, we fed ammonium nitrate with or without amino acids (i.e., glutamine or arginine) to the roots of non-mycorrhizal beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) seedlings under controlled conditions at different levels of N availability. Uptake of individual N sources was determined from ¹⁵N (inorganic N) and ¹⁵N ¹³C...

The Paringa district is almost completely forested below timberline, with conifer /hardwood forests pre;-ailing in the northeast, and silver beech widely dominant in the southwest, especially at the higher altitudes. In a transitional zone, silver beech grows as scattered stands, isolated by distances up to 6 km. During heavy glaciation of the mountainous part of the district, silver beech may ...

1. The functional response of post-dispersal seed predators (house mouse, Mus musculus ) to absolute densities of southern beech seed ( Nothofagus solandri var. cliffortioides ) was studied in laboratory and field trials. House mice showed a Type II (hyperbolic) functional response to seed availability and this was not modified by the presence of an alternative food source. 2. Maximum daily int...

Methods In total, 292 lower/southern limit and 310 upper/northern limit sites with available climatic data for all 11 extant beech species were collected by reviewing the literature, and 13 climatic variables were estimated for each site from climate normals at nearby stations. We used principal components analysis (PCA) to detect climatic variables most strongly associated with the distributio...

Litter decomposition is an important process for cycling of nutrients in terrestrial ecosystems. The objective of this study was to evaluate direct and indirect effects of climate on litter decomposition along an altitudinal gradient in a temperate Alpine region. Foliar litter of European beech (Fagus sylvatica) and Black pine (Pinus nigra) was incubated in litterbags during two years in the Ho...

In view of evident changes in the reaction of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) to environmental changes, five plots with young trees of the same age were established and studied on natural beech sites. Beech trees were equally distributed along the light gradient and were divided according to light conditions. The parameter used for evaluation of light conditions was the indirect site factor...

Competition for nitrogen (N), particularly in resource-limited habitats, might be avoided by different N acquisition strategies of plants. In our study, we investigated whether slow-growing European beech and fast-growing sycamore maple seedlings avoid competition for growth-limiting N by different N uptake patterns and the potential alteration by soil N availability in a microcosm experiment. ...