TY  - JOUR
A1  - Caron, Maria Mercedes
A1  - De Frenne, Pieter
A1  - Brunet, Jörg
A1  - Chabrerie, Olivier
A1  - Cousins, Sara A. O.
A1  - Decocq, Guillaume
A1  - Diekmann, Martin
A1  - Graae, Bente Jessen
A1  - Heinken, Thilo
A1  - Kolb, Annette
A1  - Lenoir, Jonathan
A1  - Naaf, Tobias
A1  - Plue, Jan
A1  - Selvi, Federico
A1  - Wulf, Monika
A1  - Verheyen, Kris
T1  - Divergent regeneration responses of two closely related tree species to direct abiotic and indirect biotic effects of climate change
JF  - Forest ecology and management
N2  - Changing temperature and precipitation can strongly influence plant reproduction. However, also biotic interactions might indirectly affect the reproduction and recruitment success of plants in the context of climate change. Information about the interactive effects of changes in abiotic and biotic factors is essential, but still largely lacking, to better understand the potential effects of a changing climate on plant populations. Here we analyze the regeneration from seeds of Acer platanoides and Acer pseudoplatanus, two currently secondary forest tree species from seven regions along a 2200 km-wide latitudinal gradient in Europe. We assessed the germination, seedling survival and growth during two years in a common garden experiment where temperature, precipitation and competition with the understory vegetation were manipulated. A. platanoides was more sensitive to changes in biotic conditions while A. pseudoplatanus was affected by both abiotic and biotic changes. In general, competition reduced (in A. platanoides) and warming enhanced (in A. pseudoplatanus) germination and survival, respectively. Reduced competition strongly increased the growth of A. platanoides seedlings. Seedling responses were independent of the conditions experienced by the mother tree during seed production and maturation. Our results indicate that, due to the negative effects of competition on the regeneration of A. platanoides, it is likely that under stronger competition (projected under future climatic conditions) this species will be negatively affected in terms of germination, survival and seedling biomass. Climate-change experiments including both abiotic and biotic factors constitute a key step forward to better understand the response of tree species' regeneration to climate change. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
KW  - Acer
KW  - Regeneration
KW  - Latitudinal gradient
KW  - Temperature
KW  - Precipitation
KW  - Competition
Y1  - 2015
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2015.01.003
SN  - 0378-1127
SN  - 1872-7042
VL  - 342
SP  - 21
EP  - 29
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  -