Question: Does the proximity of shrubs affect seasonal water stress of young Austrocedrus chilensis trees (a native conifer of the Austral Temperate Forest of South America) in xeric sites? Location: A. chilensis xeric forest in northwest Patagonia, Argentina. Methods: We examined the dependence of predawn twig water potential on tree development (seedling to adult) and proximity to nurse shrub...

There is less published research on ecosystems of forested rangeland in Iran. This research was conducted to investigate the forested rangeland area based on legal definition via comparison of indices species richness, diversity, and morphology of the trees and shrubs in Sabzkouh watershed, Chaharmahal Bakhtiari province, Iran. Quantitative characteristics of trees and shrubs were measured by 5...

In forests, the vulnerable seedling stage is largely influenced by the canopy, which modifies the surrounding environment. Consequently, any alteration in the characteristics of the canopy, such as those promoted by forest dieback, might impact regeneration dynamics. Our work analyzes the interaction between canopy neighbors and seedlings in Mediterranean forests affected by the decline of thei...

An understorey model is created for an area of broadleaf, deciduous woodland in eastern England using airborne LiDAR data from winter 2003 (leaf-off conditions) and summer 2005 (leaf-on). The woodland is ancient, semi-natural broadleaf and has a heterogeneous structure, with a mostly closed canopy overstorey and a patchy understorey layer beneath. In places, particularly in the centre of the st...

Question: Is the facilitative effect of nurse shrubs on early recruitment of trees mediated by a ‘canopy effect’ (microclimate amelioration and protection from herbivores), a ‘soil effect’ (modification of soil properties), or both? Location: Two successional montane shrublands at the Sierra Nevada Protected Area, SE Spain. Method: Seedlings of Quercus and Pinus species were planted in four exp...

The Orongorongo Valley is located 18 km east of Wellington (4121’S, 17458’E). The study area of 4.4 ha is located at about 100 m a.s.l., and comprises forest with scattered emergent Metrosideros robusta and Dacrydium cupressinum over a canopy of Elaeocarpus dentatus, Laurelia novae-zelandiae, Melicytus ramiflorus, Hedycarya arborea, Knightia excelsa, Weinmannia racemosa, Schefflera digitata and...

Vegetation provides important functions and services in urban areas, and vegetation heights divided into vertical and horizontal units can be used as indicators for its assessment. Conversely, detailed area-wide and updated height information is frequently missing for most urban areas. This study sought to assess three vegetation height classes from a globally available TanDEM-X digital elevati...

Shrubs are multi-stemmed short woody plants, more widespread than trees, important in many ecosystems, neglected in ecology compared to herbs and trees, but currently in focus due to their global expansion. We present a novel model based on scaling relationships and four hypotheses to explain the adaptive significance of shrubs, including a review of the literature with a test of one hypothesis...

1 Tree diversity in forests may be maintained by variability in seedling recruitment. Although forest ecologists have emphasized the importance of canopy gaps in generating spatial variability that might promote tree regeneration, the effects of canopy gaps on seedling recruitment may be offset by dense forest understories. 2 Large annual fluctuations in recruitment processes, coupled with the ...