Topographic Effects on the Spatial Species Associations in Diverse Heterogeneous Tropical Evergreen Forests

Nguyen Hong Hai, Yousef Erfanifard, Bui Van Bac, Trinh Hien Mai, Any Mary Petritan and Ion Catalin Petritan
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Nguyen Hong Hai: Faculty of Silviculture, Vietnam National University of Forestry, Hanoi 08424, Vietnam
Yousef Erfanifard: Department of Remote Sensing and GIS, College of Geography, University of Tehran, Tehran 1417466191, Iran
Bui Van Bac: Faculty of Forest Resources & Environmental Management, Vietnam National University of Forestry, 08424 Hanoi, Vietnam
Trinh Hien Mai: College of Wood Industry and Interior Design, Vietnam National University of Forestry, Hanoi 08424, Vietnam
Any Mary Petritan: National Institute for Research-Development in Forestry ‘Marin Dracea’, 077190 Voluntari, Romania
Ion Catalin Petritan: Faculty of Silviculture and Forest Engineering, Transilvania University, ROU-500123 Brasov, Romania

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-14

Abstract: Studying spatial patterns and habitat association of plant communities may provide understanding of the ecological mechanisms and processes that maintain species coexistence. To conduct assessments of correlation between community compositions and habitat association, we used data from two topographically different plots with 2 ha area in tropical evergreen forests with the variables recorded via grid systems of 10 × 10 m subplots in Northern-Central Vietnam. First, we tested the relationship between community composition and species diversity indices considering the topographical variables. We then assessed the interspecific interactions of 20 dominant plant species using the nearest-neighbor distribution function, D ij ( r ), and Ripley’s K -function, K ij ( r ). Based on the significant spatial association of species pairs, indices of interspecific interaction were calculated by the quantitative amounts of the summary statistics. The results showed that (i) community compositions were significantly influenced by the topographic variables and (ii) almost 50% significant pairs of species interactions were increased with increasing spatial scales up to 10–15 m, then declined and disappeared at scales of 30–40 m. Segregation and partial overlap were the dominant association types and disappeared at larger spatial scales. Spatial segregation, mixing, and partial overlap revealed the important species interactions in maintaining species coexistence under habitat heterogeneity in diverse forest communities.

Keywords: coexistence; habitat heterogeneity; spatial pattern analysis; plant species association; tropical evergreen forest (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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