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• Spruce sapling architecture and growth responses to light and elevation were studied. • Light was a better predictor of sapling growth compared with architecture properties. • Ability of spruce to shape its crown morphology and growth decreased with altitude. • Diameter growth improved under better light conditions regardless of altitude. • Saplings showed negative crown length but not crown width growth in the shade. In their natural environments, trees are able to act adaptively by changing their morphology, functional traits and growth while facing different factors and stimuli. Yet, there is insufficient information on how intraspecific growth and architectural properties vary along elevation gradients, especially for young saplings of tree species regarded as highly important in forestry. We measured the height, diameter, crown growth and several architectural properties of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) saplings along the light gradient in three elevational transects encompassing natural distributions of subalpine spruce forest in two different locations over a 3-year span. We employed generalized linear and mixed models to determine intraspecific differences in spruce architecture and growth responses to light at different elevations. Light was a better predictor of sapling growth compared to architecture properties. At higher altitudes, we observed limited abilities in the spruce saplings to change their crown architecture and enhance their height, crown length and crown width growth with the improvement in light conditions. However, the response of diameter growth to light was well pronounced in all elevational transects. Our results suggested that spruce sapling plasticity in shaping their crown morphology and growth decreased with altitude. Yet, we reported a similar improvement in diameter growth with an improvement in light conditions regardless of altitude. These results raised the question, to what extent do current climatic conditions at upper elevations inhibit Norway spruce diameter growth. We recommend that forest managers increase their efforts to obtain a desirable stem quality and crown shape by regulating light conditions mainly in the middle and lower parts of subalpine forests rather than at the elevational limit of this species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] We evaluated the performance of 24 tree species in the wet tropics in Mexico. [•] We relate performance to 13 functional leaf, reproductive and architectural traits. [•] Screening after 1y may suffice to select the best performing species after 3.5y. [•] Species with small seeds and large crowns are good candidates for pasture plantings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Competition for canopy space is a fundamental structuring feature of forest ecosystems and remains an enduring focus of research attention. We used a spatial neighborhood approach to quantify the influence of local competition on the size of individual tree crowns in north-central British Columbia, where forests are dominated by subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa), lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) and interior spruce (Picea glauca × engelmanii). Using maximum likelihood methods, we quantified crown radius and length as functions of tree size and competition, estimated by the species identity and spatial arrangement of neighboring trees. Tree crown size depended on tree bole size in all species. Given low levels of competition, pine displayed the widest, shortest tree crowns compared to the relatively long and narrow crowns found in spruce and fir. Sensitivity to crowding by neighbors declined with increasing tree height in all but the pine crown radius model. Five of the six selected best models included separate competition coefficients for each neighboring tree species, evidence that species generally differ in their competitive effects on neighboring tree crowns. The selected crown radius model for lodgepole pine, a shade-intolerant species, treated all neighbors as equivalent competitors. In all species, competition from neighbors exerted an important influence on crown size. Per-capita effects of competition across different sizes and species of neighbors and target trees varied, but subalpine fir generally displayed the strongest competitive effects on neighbors. Results from this study provide evidence that species differ both in their response to competition and in their competitive influence on neighbors, factors that may contribute to maintaining coexistence. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

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Abstract: A crown profile model was developed for radiata pine (Pinus radiata D. Don) in Galicia (northwestern Spain). Data from 443 trees located in 56 permanent plots, established by the Unidade de Xestión Forestal Sostible (UXFS) of the University of Santiago de Compostela in plantations of this species in the region, were used. The crowns of the trees were measured by a visual method based on similar triangles. Both simple geometric shapes and mathematical equations were used to describe the crown profiles. As crown profile models usually require variables that are expensive to measure, equations to estimate the maximum crown radius and the height to the maximum crown radius were also developed, using other easily measured tree and stand variables. Several models were fitted using a system of equations approach and accounting for an autocorrelated, heteroscedastic error structure. The selected crown profile model consists of a system of two allometric equations for the crown below (primarily shade needles) and above (primarily sun needles) maximum crown radius. The model explained 88% of the variability in crown radius with a mean error of 0.24m. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Crown dimensions are important for the quantification of tree interactions in some growth models. This study investigates the potential for structural indices and other spatial measures to improve the prediction of crown radius and crown length for birch (Betula spp.) and Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.) in forests in Wales. Crown dimensions were measured for 125 birch and 154 spruce in six fully stem-mapped research plots. These data were used to test the performance of a crown radius model and a crown length model which estimated crown dimensions on the basis of allometric relationships with stem dimensions. Spatial data from the six plots were used to calculate the structural indices mean directional index, diameter correlation index, species mingling, dbh and height dominance, and dbh differentiation, as well as the Hegyi competition index, and basal area of neighbours and larger neighbours, for each crown measurement sample tree, using various numbers of nearest neighbours. Two non-spatial indices, BAL and BALMOD, were also calculated for all sample trees for comparison. These spatial and non-spatial variables were then incorporated into modified crown dimension models. Model performances, in terms of efficiency and relative bias, were compared to determine whether the inclusion of spatial or non-spatial variables resulted in any improvements over models using tree dimensions alone. Crown length and radius were found to be correlated with most of the spatial measures studied. Models incorporating spatial variables gave improvements in performance over allometric models for every data set, and performed more consistently than models containing non-spatial variables. The greatest improvements were achieved for suppressed birch in unthinned forests which had irregularly shaped and strongly displaced crowns. The spatial variable contributing to the most efficient model for each data set varied widely. This points to the complexity of tree spatial interactions and indicates that there is a great deal of scope for investigating other structural indices and crown dimension model forms. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) from 14 aspen stands ranging in age from 5 to 142 years were destructively sampled to provide branch, crown and bole growth information. Analysis of crown development processes such as branch angle, branch extensional growth, branch crookedness and annual height growth suggested a significant increase in relative branch growth with height and age which was linked to the temporal decline of height growth. Crown class dependent crown length (%) and crown area relationships were observed indicating crown size followed the sequence: open grown trees>dominants>suppressed trees. A significant shift in crown development from vertical to lateral crown expansion was observed as aspen mature. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]