Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 7, 2025
04:35
Development of an Individual-Tree Basal Area Increment Model using a Linear Mixed-Effects Approach
Published on: July 3, 2020
3.3K
Assessing the spatial scale of synchrony in forest tree population dynamics
Ryan A Chisholm1, Tak Fung1, Kristina J Anderson-Teixeira2,3
1Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore, 14 Science Drive 4, Singapore 117558, Singapore.
Proceedings. Biological Sciences
|November 20, 2024
Summary
Forest tree population fluctuations synchronize across vast distances, primarily driven by widespread environmental factors like climate. This spatial synchrony has significant implications for forest ecology and metapopulation dynamics.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Population Dynamics
- Forest Science
Background:
- Forest tree populations exhibit significant temporal fluctuations.
- Understanding spatial synchrony in these fluctuations is crucial for metapopulation persistence and community ecology.
- Little is known about the spatial scales, magnitude, and drivers of forest population synchrony.
Purpose of the Study:
- To measure spatial synchrony in tree population growth rates across various spatial scales.
- To investigate the relationship between spatial synchrony and geographical distance.
- To identify the primary drivers of large-scale forest population synchrony.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from permanent forest plots across local, regional, and global scales.
- Measured spatial synchrony in tree population growth rates over sub-decadal and decadal timescales.
- Analyzed the decay of synchrony with increasing geographical distance.
Main Results:
- High synchrony (Pearson correlations of 0.6-0.8) was observed at local scales (<1 km).
- Synchrony decayed with distance but remained positive up to 100 km.
- Typical seed dispersal distances (<100 m) cannot explain observed large-scale synchrony.
Conclusions:
- Spatially synchronous environmental drivers, particularly climate (Moran effect), are the primary cause of observed forest dynamics synchrony.
- Pests, pathogens, and anthropogenic factors may also contribute to synchrony for certain species.
- Findings highlight the importance of large-scale environmental factors in structuring forest populations.
Related Concept Videos
02:07Conservation of Declining Populations
9.6K
Conservation of declining population focuses on ways of detecting, diagnosing, and halting a population decline. The approach uses methods to prevent populations from going extinct.
9.6K
02:04Conservation of Small Populations
13.1K
Small population sizes put a species at extreme risk of extinction due to a lack of variation, and a consequent decrease in adaptability. This weakens the chances of survival under pressures such as climate change, competition from other species, or new diseases. Large populations are more likely to survive pressures such as these, as such populations are more likely to harbor individuals that have genetic variants that are adaptive under new stresses. Small populations are much less...
13.1K
00:54Time-Series Graph
4.3K
A time-series graph is a line graph with repeated measurements taken at successive intervals of time. It is also called a time series chart. To construct a time-series graph, one must look at both pieces of a paired data set. The horizontal axis is used to plot the time increments, and the vertical axis is used to plot the values of the variable that one is measuring. By using the axes in this way, each point on the graph will correspond to time and a measured quantity. The points on the graph...
4.3K
01:19Survival Tree
61
Survival trees are a non-parametric method used in survival analysis to model the relationship between a set of covariates and the time until an event of interest occurs, often referred to as the "time-to-event" or "survival time." This method is particularly useful when dealing with censored data, where the event has not occurred for some individuals by the end of the study period, or when the exact time of the event is unknown.
Building a Survival Tree
Constructing a...
Building a Survival Tree
Constructing a...
61
00:54Distribution and Dispersion
21.6K
To understand intra-specific interactions in populations, scientists measure the spatial arrangement of species individuals. This geographic arrangement is known as the species distribution or dispersion. Highly territorial species exhibit a uniform distribution pattern, in which individuals are spaced at relatively equal distances from one another. Species that are highly tied to particular resources, such as food or shelter, tend to concentrate around those resources, and thus exhibit a...
21.6K
01:07Speciation Rates
21.0K
Overview
21.0K