Search

Past failures of monocultures, caused by wind-throw or insect damages, and ongoing climate change currently strongly stimulate research into mixed-species stands. So far, the focus has mainly been on combinations of species with obvious complementary functional traits. However, for any generalization, a broad overview of the mixing reactions of functionally different tree species in different mixing proportions, patterns and under different site conditions is needed, including assemblages of species with rather similar demands on resources such as light. Here, we studied the growth of Scots pine and oak in mixed versus monospecific stands on 36 triplets located along a productivity gradient across Europe, reaching from Sweden to Spain and from France to Georgia. The set-up represents a wide variation in precipitation (456–1250 mm year−1), mean annual temperature (6.7–11.5 °C) and drought index by de Martonne (21–63 mm °C−1). Stand inventories and increment cores of trees stemming from 40- to 132-year-old, fully stocked stands on 0.04–0.94-ha-sized plots provided insight into how species mixing modifies stand growth and structure compared with neighbouring monospecific stands. On average, the standing stem volume was 436 and 360 m3 ha−1 in the monocultures of Scots pine and oak, respectively, and 418 m3 ha−1 in the mixed stands. The corresponding periodical annual volume increment amounted to 10.5 and 9.1 m3 ha−1 year−1 in the monocultures and 10.5 m3 ha−1 year−1 in the mixed stands. Scots pine showed a 10% larger quadratic mean diameter (p < 0.05), a 7% larger dominant diameter (p < 0.01) and a 9% higher growth of basal area and volume in mixed stands compared with neighbouring monocultures. For Scots pine, the productivity advantages of growing in mixture increased with site index (p < 0.01) and water supply (p < 0.01), while for oak they decreased with site index (p < 0.01). In total, the superior productivity of mixed stands compared to monocultures increased wit

Dilute nitrides based on GaAs constitute a family of compounds whose main characteristic is the band-gap tunability, depending on the nitrogen content. In this work we have focussed our attention on the indium free dilute nitrides, i.e. GaNAsSb with a bandgap around 1.1 eV, to study the effects that has doping on the crystalline structure, electrical and optical properties of the material. For such purpose, p-doped and n-doped GaNAsSb layers were grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy and characterized using X-ray diffraction, spectroscopic ellipsometry and photoreflectance among other techniques. The GaNAsSb optical properties match the double Band-Anticrossing model which is the proposed one to explain the dilute nitride band structure. However, the determined optical bandgap value does not follow any trend with doping, neither with concentration nor type. This is related with doping effects on the crystalline quality and layer composition, thus inducing a Sb gradient along layer thickness together with variations in N and Sb concentrations for different doping levels. Besides these structural variations, the complex refraction index, Hall mobility and carrier concentration as a function of temperature have been determined for these GaNAsSb layers.

When tree‐species mixtures are more productive than monocultures, higher light absorption is often suggested as a cause. However, few studies have quantified this effect and even fewer have examined which light‐related interactions are most important, such as the effects of species interactions on tree allometric relationships and crown architecture, differences in vertical or horizontal canopy structure, phenology of deciduous species or the mixing effects on tree size and stand density. In this study, measurements of tree sizes and stand structures were combined with a detailed tree‐level light model (Maestra) to examine the contribution of each light‐related interaction on tree‐ and stand‐level light absorption at 21 sites, each of which contained a triplet of plots including a mixture and monocultures ofFagus sylvaticaandPinus sylvestris(63 plots). These sites were distributed across the current distribution of these species within Europe. Averaged across all sites, the light absorption of mixtures was 14% higher than the mean of the monocultures. At the whole community level, this positive effect of mixing on light absorption increased as canopy volume or site productivity increased, but was unrelated to climate. At the species population or individual tree levels, the mixing effect on light absorption resulted from light‐related interactions involving vertical canopy structure, stand density, the presence of a deciduous species (F. sylvatica), as well as the effects of mixing on tree size and allometric relationships between diameter and height, crown diameter and crown length. The mixing effects on light absorption were only correlated with the mixing effects on growth forP. sylvestris, suggesting that the mixing effects on this species were driven by the light‐related interactions, whereas mixing effects onF. sylvaticaor whole community growth were probably driven by non‐light‐related interactions. Synthesis. The overall positive effect of mixing on

This work presents the results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies on the bonding N configuration in InGaAsN epilayers grown by atmospheric pressure metal organic vapour phase epitaxy. Growth temperature has been tuned in order to obtain both, relaxed and strained layers. The studies were concentrated on analysing the influence of the growth temperature, post growth thermal annealing process and surface quality on the formation of Ga-N and In-N bonds as well as N-related defects. The contamination of InGaAsN films by growth precursor residues and oxides has also been addressed. The growth temperature stands out as a decisive factor boosting In-N bonds ormation, while the thermal annealing seems to affect the N-related defects density in the layers.

An increasing amount of research is focusing on comparing productivity in monospecific versus mixed stands, although it is difficult to reach a general consensus as mixing effects differ both in sign (over-yielding or under-yielding) and magnitude depending on species composition as well as on site and stand conditions. While long-term experimental plots provide the best option for disentangling the mixing effects, these datasets are not available for all the existing mixtures nor do they cover large gradients of site factors. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects and uncertainties of tree species mixing on the productivity of Scots pine–European beech stands along the gradient of site conditions in Europe, using models developed from National and Regional Forest Inventory data. We found a positive effect of pine on beech basal area growth, which was slightly greater for the more humid sites. In contrast, beech negatively affected pine basal area growth, although the effects switched to positive in the more humid sites. However, the uncertainty analysis revealed that the effect on pine at mid- and more humid sites was not-significant. Our results agree with studies developed from a European transect of temporal triplets in the same pine–beech mixtures, confirming the suitability of these datasets and methodology for evaluating mixing effects at large scale.

Summary There is increasing evidence that species diversity enhances the temporal stability (TS) of community productivity in different ecosystems, although its effect at the population and tree levels seems to be negative or neutral. Asynchrony in species responses to environmental conditions was found to be one of the main drivers of this stabilizing process. However, the effect of species mixing on the stability of productivity, and the relative importance of the associated mechanisms, remain poorly understood in forest communities. We investigated the way mixing species influenced the TS of productivity in Pinus sylvestris L. and Fagus sylvatica L. forests, and attempted to determine the main drivers among overyielding, asynchrony between species annual growth responses to environmental conditions, and temporal shifts in species interactions. We used a network of 93 experimental plots distributed across Europe to compare the TS of basal area growth over a 15‐year period (1999–2013) in mixed and monospecific forest stands at different organizational levels, namely the community, population and individual tree levels. Mixed stands showed a higher TS of basal area growth than monospecific stands at the community level, but not at the population or individual tree levels. The TS at the community level was related to asynchrony between species growth in mixtures, but not to overyielding nor to asynchrony between species growth in monospecific stands. Temporal shifts in species interactions were also related to asynchrony and to the mixing effect on the TS. Synthesis. Our findings confirm that species mixing can stabilize productivity at the community level, whereas there is a neutral or negative effect on stability at the population and individual tree levels. The contrasting findings regarding the relationships between the temporal stability and asynchrony in species growth in mixed and monospecific stands suggest that the main driver in the stabilizing process may

The mixing of tree species with complementary ecological traits may modify forest functioning regarding productivity, stability, or resilience against disturbances. This may be achieved by a higher heterogeneity in stand structure which is often addressed but rarely quantified. Here, we use 32 triplets of mature and fully stocked monocultures and mixed stands of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) located along a productivity and water availability gradient through Europe to examine how mixing modifies the stand structure in terms of stand density, horizontal tree distribution pattern, vertical stand structure, size distribution pattern, and variation in tree morphology. We further analyze how site conditions modify these aspects of stand structure. For this typical mixture of a light demanding and shade tolerant species we show that (i) mixing significantly increases many aspects of structural heterogeneity compared with monocultures, (ii) mixing effects such as an increase of stand density and diversification of vertical structure and tree morphology are caused by species identity (additive effects) but also by species interactions (multiplicative effects), and (iii) superior heterogeneity of mixed stands over monocultures can increase from dry to moist sites. We discuss the implications for analyzing the productivity, for modelling and for the management of mixed species stands

Mixing of complementary tree species may increase stand productivity, mitigate the effects of drought and other risks, and pave the way to forest production systems which may be more resource-use efficient and stable in the face of climate change. However, systematic empirical studies on mixing effects are still missing for many commercially important and widespread species combinations. Here we studied the growth of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) in mixed versus pure stands on 32 triplets located along a productivity gradient through Europe, reaching from Sweden to Bulgaria and from Spain to the Ukraine. Stand inventory and taking increment cores on the mainly 60–80 year-old trees and 0.02–1.55 ha sized, fully stocked plots provided insight how species mixing modifies the structure, dynamics and productivity compared with neighbouring pure stands. In mixture standing volume (+12 %), stand density (+20 %), basal area growth (+12 %), and stand volume growth (+8 %) were higher than the weighted mean of the neighbouring pure stands. Scots pine and European beech contributed rather equally to the overyielding and overdensity. In mixed stands mean diameter (+20 %) and height (+6 %) of Scots pine was ahead, while both diameter and height growth of European beech were behind (−8 %). The overyielding and overdensity were independent of the site index, the stand growth and yield, and climatic variables despite the wide variation in precipitation (520–1175 mm year−1), mean annual temperature (6–10.5 °C), and the drought index by de Martonne (28–61 mm °C−1) on the sites. Therefore, this species combination is potentially useful for increasing productivity across a wide range of site and climatic conditions. Given the significant overyielding of stand basal area growth but the absence of any relationship with site index and climatic variables, we hypothesize that the overyielding and overdensity results from several different types of i

The paper reviews theoretical considerations and empirical facts on the productivity of mixed species forest stands versus pure stands. The theoretical part first draws attention on the combined effect of facilitation and competition and the net result for both individual and mean tree growth in pure and mixed forest stands (Figs. 1-3). By species mixing, competition as well as facilitation may be changed. Mixing effects can modify the productivity of individual trees and the productivity of the mean tree in a stand, and they can also modify the carrying capacity, i.e., the stand density of mixed versus pure stands (Figs. 4). The combination of mean tree productivity and density results in the overall stand productivity. Stand productivity of mixed versus pure stands can be quantified by ratios of relative productivity (LER, RYT, RPR) and illustrated by cross-diagrams (Fig. 5). How mixed stands come off in terms of over-or underyielding on different sites is conceptualized by the stress-gradient-hypothesis. Latter predicts that positive effects dominate on poor sites due to increased facilitation, while neutral or negative mixing effects in terms of productivity are predicted for rich sites where competition dominates (Fig. 6). In the second part of the paper these theoretical concepts are scrutinized on the basis of long-term experimental plot data from mixed stands experiments in Norway spruce/European beech, Sessile and Common oak/European beech, Scots pine/European beech, and Norway spruce/Silver fir. The included mixed stand trials consist of triplets of plots with pure stands of both species as well as one or more mixed species stands differing in mixing portion, mixing structure or stand density. The oldest of these plots are under survey since about 100 years. The experiments are located along an ecological gradient from Denmark through Poland and Germany to Switzerland; with a concentration in Bavaria and Lower Saxony in Germany. Evaluation of above experim