title: Dynamics of two multi-stemmed understory shrubs in two temperate forests.
abstract: A multi-stemmed growth form may be an important trait enabling the persistence of individual shrubs in the forest understory. With the aim of evaluating the role of multiple stems, neighbor competition and soil nutrients in shrub performance, we study the dynamics of two temperate multi-stemmed shrub species. We modeled stem growth and survival of Corylus mandshurica and Acer barbinerve in two temperate forests with differing structure in northeastern China. One forest was an old growth broad-leaved Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis) mixed forest; the other was a secondary poplar-birch forest. Growth of the two species and survival of C. mandshurica increased with stem number in the old growth forest, but not the secondary forest, suggesting the benefits of a multi-stemmed growth form are facultative. C. mandshurica also suffered more from overstory neighbor competition in the old growth forest, which may suggest that this species is less shade-tolerant than A. barbinerve. Moreover, the performance of the two species were clearly influenced by understory neighbors and soil variables in the old growth forest relative to the secondary forest, which may be due to different forest structure. We conclude that multiple stems are not always important for the persistence of shrub species. Even within the same species, the multi-stemmed benefits might be facultative, differing among forests and neighborhood compositions.
authors.affiliation: College of Forestry, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China; State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Xuejiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: Centro Cientifico Tropical, San Jose, Costa Rica.
authors.forename: Tania
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Brenes-Arguedas
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Ji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Xugao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Zuoqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Shuai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Dingliang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China.
authors.forename: Zhanqing
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hao
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D065928:Forests; D008954:Models, Biological; D018547:Plant Stems / Q000254:growth & development*; D010944:Plants / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012987:Soil
chemical_list: D012987:Soil