Publication Details |
| Category | Text Publication |
| Reference Category | Journals |
| DOI | 10.1111/nph.70130 |
| Document | Shareable Link |
| Title (Primary) | Identifying seed families with high mixture performance in a subtropical forest biodiversity experiment |
| Author | Tang, T.; Schmid, B.; Schuman, M.C.; Bongers, F.J.; Li, S.; Liang, Y.; van Moorsel, S.J.; von Oheimb, G.; Durka, W.
; Bruelheide, H.; Ma, K.; Liu, X. |
| Source Titel | New Phytologist |
| Year | 2025 |
| Department | BZF; iDiv |
| Language | englisch |
| Topic | T5 Future Landscapes |
| Data and Software links | https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.pnvx0k6w4 |
| Supplements | https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/downloadSupplement?doi=10.1111%2Fnph.70130&file=nph70130-sup-0001-Supinfo.pdf |
| Keywords | afforestation projects, ecosystem functions, mixture plantations, seed-family identity, tree growth |
| Abstract | Summary Afforestation projects using species mixtures are expected to better support ecosystem services than monoculture plantations. While grassland studies have shown natural selection favoring high-performance genotypes in species-rich communities, this has not been explored in forests. We used seed-family identity (known maternity) to represent genetic identity and investigated how this affected the biomass accumulation (i.e. growth) of individual trees (n = 13 435) along a species richness gradient (1–16 species) and over stand age (9 yr) in a forest biodiversity experiment. We found that among the eight species tested, different seed families responded differently to species richness, some of them growing relatively better in low-diversity plots and others in high-diversity plots. Furthermore, within-species growth variation increased with species richness and stand age, while between-species variation decreased with stand age. These results indicate that seed families within species and their reaction norms along the species richness gradient vary considerably and thus can explain a substantial proportion of the overall variation in tree growth. Our findings suggest that the growth and associated ecosystem services of species-rich mixtures in afforestation projects can be optimized by artificially selecting seed families with high mixture performance in biodiversity experiments. |
| Persistent UFZ Identifier | https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=30679 |
| Tang, T., Schmid, B., Schuman, M.C., Bongers, F.J., Li, S., Liang, Y., van Moorsel, S.J., von Oheimb, G., Durka, W., Bruelheide, H., Ma, K., Liu, X. (2025): Identifying seed families with high mixture performance in a subtropical forest biodiversity experiment New Phytol. 10.1111/nph.70130 |
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