RT Journal Article
T1 Do adult trees increase conspecific juvenile resilience to recurrent droughts? Implications for forest regeneration
A1 Andivia Muñoz, Enrique
A1 Madrigal González, Jaime
A1 Villar Salvador, Pedro
A1 Zavala, Miguel A.
AB Recruitment is a bottleneck for forest regeneration especially in semi-arid Mediterranean environments. Ensuring natural forest regeneration is vital for preserving ecosystem function under climate warming and increased frequency and intensity of extreme droughts. Interspecific positive interactions are of paramount importance in these ecosystems. The net outcome of conspecific plant interactions in semi-arid forests, however, has been less explored, particularly the range of environmental conditions for which juveniles benefit from nursing effects. We evaluated the direction and magnitude of intraspecific relationships between adults and juveniles of Pinus pinaster in a dry continental Mediterranean forest in the Iberian Peninsula. We measured the longitudinal shoot elongation of the last 15 yr and foliar functional traits in pine saplings growing under the canopy of adult pines and in open habitats. We examined the growth response to precipitation and the resilience and resistance of growth to two extreme drought events in 2005 and 2012. Our results show likely facilitation of saplings by adult conspecifics. Nursed saplings had a greater size relative to age, longer needles, and faster shoot elongation than saplings in open habitats. In addition, saplings under the canopy were more resistant and resilient to the first severe drought event. However, saplings grown in open habitats were more resilient to the second drought event, which might suggest a shift in the net balance of conspecific interactions with increased drought frequency and with tree ontogeny. These results have a direct application for the adaptation and restoration of semi-arid forest ecosystems under climate change. Currently, adults are used as nurse plants to enhance survival and growth of juveniles. However, this positive effect on sapling performance might shift to negative under scenarios of increasing frequency and intensity of drought events.
PB Wiley
YR 2018
FD 2018-06
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/128487
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/128487
LA eng
NO Andivia, E., J. Madrigal-González, P. Villar-Salvador, and M. A. Zavala. 2018. Do adult trees increase conspecific juvenile resilience to recurrent droughts? Implications for forest regeneration. Ecosphere 9(6):e02282. 10.1002/ecs2.2282
NO AcknowledgmentsThis work was supported by the project FUNDIVER (Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competiveness, MINECO, Spain; CGL2015-69186-C2-2-R) and the network Remedinal-3 (S2013/MAE-2719) of the Community of Madrid. EA was supported by the postdoctoral grants “Ayudas para contratos para la formación postdoctoral” (FPDI-2013-15573) from the Ministry of Economy of the Spanish Government.
NO Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España)
NO Comunidad de Madrid
DS Docta Complutense
RD 27 mar 2026