Annals of Botany 89: 301-310, 2002
© 2002 Annals of Botany Company
Spatial Arrangement of Branches in Relation to Slope and Neighbourhood Competition
1Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, N19W8 Sapporo, 060–0819, Japan and 2Faculty of Agriculture, Gifu University, Yanagido, Gifu 501–1193, Japan
* For correspondence. Fax +81 11 706 5507, e-mail asumida@ lowtem.hokudai.ac.jp
Received: 18 June 2001; Returned for revision: 2 August 2001; Accepted: 19 November 2001.
To gain a better understanding of the effects of spatial structure on patterns of neighbourhood competition among hardwood trees, the three-dimensional extension of primary branches was surveyed for ten community-grown Castanea crenata (Fagaceae) trees with respect to the positioning of neighbouring branches and the slope of the forest floor. There were significantly more branches extending towards the lower side of the slope than towards the upper side, but structural properties such as branch length and vertical angle were not affected by slope. When horizontal extension of a branch towards its neighbour was compared for a C. crenata branch and a neighbouring heterospecific, the former was significantly narrower than the latter when the inter-branch distance (horizontal distance between the base positions of two neighbouring branches) was short (< approx. 5 m). Castanea crenata branches tended to extend in a direction avoiding neighbouring branches of heterospecifics when the inter-branch distance was short. Furthermore, for an inter-branch distance <3 m, the horizontal extension of a C. crenata branch was less when it was neighbouring a heterospecific branch than when neighbouring a conspecific branch. These results suggest that horizontal extension of C. crenata branches is more prone to spatial invasion by nearby neighbouring branches of heterospecifics, and that the invasion can be lessened when C. crenata trees are spatially aggregated. The reason why such an arrangement occurs is discussed in relation to the later leaf-flush of C. crenata compared with that of other species in the forest.
Key words: Castanea crenata, tree crown, neighbourhood competition, slope of forest floor, three-dimensional structure of branches, hardwood species, leaf phenology.
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