Response of Araucaria angustifolia seedlings to root competition in three different plant communities of southern Brazil.

Zandavalli, RB; Dillenburg, LR

The mixed rainforests in southern Brazil are characterised by the presence of a canopy-emergent conifer,Araucaria angustifolia. Experiments were conducted to test the hypotheses that root competition reduces establishment and growth ofA. angustifoliain a grassland,Pinusplantation and native forest, and that root competition is more pronounced in the two former communities than in the latter. Seedlings were grown in grassland under three neighbourhood conditions: no neighbours; neighbour roots; and neighbour shoots and roots. In the native forest andPinussites, soil trenching was used to alleviate root competition. Plant survival was little affected by treatments and was higher in thePinussite (77%) than in the others, where ant herbivory (grassland) and pathogens (native forest) caused low survival (46% and 43%, respectively). Plant growth was increased by relief from shoot competition in the grassland and by trenching in thePinussite.

SOUTH Brazil; PLANT communities; SEEDLINGS; BRAZILIAN pine; PLANT canopies; RAIN forests

New Zealand Journal of Botany, 2015, Vol 53, Issue 3, p139

0028-825X

Academic Journal

10.1080/0028825X.2015.1043922