Overcrowding increases tree mortality, perhaps explaining higher biodiversity in tropical forests
2024-02-29
A team of 52 scientists from around the world, led by Lisa Hülsmann, Professor of Ecosystem Analysis and Simulation at UBT, and Prof. Florian Hartig (University of Regensburg), analyzed patterns of tree mortality across a global network of large-scale forest plots. The study was just published in the Nature journal.
They found out that trees experience higher mortality when surrounded by neighbors of the same species, probably caused by specialized pathogens or herbivores. The effect is present in forests all over the world, but it is more pronounced among rare tropical tree species, perhaps contributing to the astounding biological diversity of tropical forests compared to forests in temperate areas.
https://www.uni-bayreuth.de/en/press-releases/overcrowding-increases-tree-mortality