Love Thy Neighbour? Tropical Tree Growth and Its Response to Climate Anomalies Is Mediated by Neighbourhood Hierarchy and Dissimilarity in Carbon- and Water-Related Traits

Daniela Nemetschek; Claire Fortunel; Eric Marcon; Johanna Auer; Vincyane Badouard; Christopher Baraloto; Marion Boisseaux; Damien Bonal; Sabrina Coste; Elia Dardevet; Patrick Heuret; Peter Hietz; Sébastien Levionnois; Isabelle Maréchaux; Clément Stahl; Jason Vleminckx; Wolfgang Wanek; Camille Ziegler; Géraldine Derroire

doi:10.1111/ele.70028

Love Thy Neighbour? Tropical Tree Growth and Its Response to Climate Anomalies Is Mediated by Neighbourhood Hierarchy and Dissimilarity in Carbon- and Water-Related Traits

Daniela Nemetschek (Corresponding author), Claire Fortunel, Eric Marcon, Johanna Auer, Vincyane Badouard, Christopher Baraloto, Marion Boisseaux, Damien Bonal, Sabrina Coste, Elia Dardevet, Patrick Heuret, Peter Hietz, Sébastien Levionnois, Isabelle Maréchaux, Clément Stahl, Jason Vleminckx, Wolfgang Wanek, Camille Ziegler, Géraldine Derroire

Publications: Contribution to journal › Short communication › Peer Reviewed

Abstract

Taxonomic diversity effects on forest productivity and response to climate extremes range from positive to negative, suggesting a key role for complex interactions among neighbouring trees. To elucidate how neutral interactions, hierarchical competition and resource partitioning between neighbours' shape tree growth and climate response in a highly diverse Amazonian forest, we combined 30 years of tree censuses with measurements of water- and carbon-related traits. We modelled individual tree growth response to climate and neighbourhood to disentangle the relative effect of neighbourhood densities, trait hierarchies and dissimilarities. While neighbourhood densities consistently decreased growth, trait dissimilarity increased it, and both had the potential to influence climate response. Greater water conservatism provided a competitive advantage to focal trees in normal years, but water-spender neighbours reduced this effect in dry years. By underlining the importance of density and trait-mediated neighbourhood interactions, our study offers a way towards improving predictions of forest dynamics.

Original language	English
Article number	e70028
Number of pages	14
Journal	Ecology Letters
Volume	28
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70028
Publication status	Published - 8 Apr 2025

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

106026 Ecosystem research
106030 Plant ecology
106022 Microbiology

Keywords

Trees/growth & development
Carbon/metabolism
Forests
Tropical Climate
Water/metabolism
Climate Change
Brazil
Models, Biological
plant–water relations
neighbourhood interactions
climate response
functional traits
tropical forests
tree growth

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1111/ele.70028Licence: CC BY 4.0

Cite this

Nemetschek, D., Fortunel, C., Marcon, E., Auer, J., Badouard, V., Baraloto, C., Boisseaux, M., Bonal, D., Coste, S., Dardevet, E., Heuret, P., Hietz, P., Levionnois, S., Maréchaux, I., Stahl, C., Vleminckx, J., Wanek, W., Ziegler, C., & Derroire, G. (2025). Love Thy Neighbour? Tropical Tree Growth and Its Response to Climate Anomalies Is Mediated by Neighbourhood Hierarchy and Dissimilarity in Carbon- and Water-Related Traits. Ecology Letters, 28(4), Article e70028. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70028

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title = "Love Thy Neighbour? Tropical Tree Growth and Its Response to Climate Anomalies Is Mediated by Neighbourhood Hierarchy and Dissimilarity in Carbon- and Water-Related Traits",

abstract = "Taxonomic diversity effects on forest productivity and response to climate extremes range from positive to negative, suggesting a key role for complex interactions among neighbouring trees. To elucidate how neutral interactions, hierarchical competition and resource partitioning between neighbours' shape tree growth and climate response in a highly diverse Amazonian forest, we combined 30 years of tree censuses with measurements of water- and carbon-related traits. We modelled individual tree growth response to climate and neighbourhood to disentangle the relative effect of neighbourhood densities, trait hierarchies and dissimilarities. While neighbourhood densities consistently decreased growth, trait dissimilarity increased it, and both had the potential to influence climate response. Greater water conservatism provided a competitive advantage to focal trees in normal years, but water-spender neighbours reduced this effect in dry years. By underlining the importance of density and trait-mediated neighbourhood interactions, our study offers a way towards improving predictions of forest dynamics.",

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doi = "10.1111/ele.70028",

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Nemetschek, D, Fortunel, C, Marcon, E, Auer, J, Badouard, V, Baraloto, C, Boisseaux, M, Bonal, D, Coste, S, Dardevet, E, Heuret, P, Hietz, P, Levionnois, S, Maréchaux, I, Stahl, C, Vleminckx, J, Wanek, W, Ziegler, C & Derroire, G 2025, 'Love Thy Neighbour? Tropical Tree Growth and Its Response to Climate Anomalies Is Mediated by Neighbourhood Hierarchy and Dissimilarity in Carbon- and Water-Related Traits', Ecology Letters, vol. 28, no. 4, e70028. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70028

Love Thy Neighbour? Tropical Tree Growth and Its Response to Climate Anomalies Is Mediated by Neighbourhood Hierarchy and Dissimilarity in Carbon- and Water-Related Traits. / Nemetschek, Daniela (Corresponding author); Fortunel, Claire; Marcon, Eric et al.
In: Ecology Letters, Vol. 28, No. 4, e70028, 08.04.2025.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Short communication › Peer Reviewed

TY - JOUR

T1 - Love Thy Neighbour? Tropical Tree Growth and Its Response to Climate Anomalies Is Mediated by Neighbourhood Hierarchy and Dissimilarity in Carbon- and Water-Related Traits

AU - Nemetschek, Daniela

AU - Fortunel, Claire

AU - Marcon, Eric

AU - Auer, Johanna

AU - Badouard, Vincyane

AU - Baraloto, Christopher

AU - Boisseaux, Marion

AU - Bonal, Damien

AU - Coste, Sabrina

AU - Dardevet, Elia

AU - Heuret, Patrick

AU - Hietz, Peter

AU - Levionnois, Sébastien

AU - Maréchaux, Isabelle

AU - Stahl, Clément

AU - Vleminckx, Jason

AU - Wanek, Wolfgang

AU - Ziegler, Camille

AU - Derroire, Géraldine

PY - 2025/4/8

Y1 - 2025/4/8

N2 - Taxonomic diversity effects on forest productivity and response to climate extremes range from positive to negative, suggesting a key role for complex interactions among neighbouring trees. To elucidate how neutral interactions, hierarchical competition and resource partitioning between neighbours' shape tree growth and climate response in a highly diverse Amazonian forest, we combined 30 years of tree censuses with measurements of water- and carbon-related traits. We modelled individual tree growth response to climate and neighbourhood to disentangle the relative effect of neighbourhood densities, trait hierarchies and dissimilarities. While neighbourhood densities consistently decreased growth, trait dissimilarity increased it, and both had the potential to influence climate response. Greater water conservatism provided a competitive advantage to focal trees in normal years, but water-spender neighbours reduced this effect in dry years. By underlining the importance of density and trait-mediated neighbourhood interactions, our study offers a way towards improving predictions of forest dynamics.

AB - Taxonomic diversity effects on forest productivity and response to climate extremes range from positive to negative, suggesting a key role for complex interactions among neighbouring trees. To elucidate how neutral interactions, hierarchical competition and resource partitioning between neighbours' shape tree growth and climate response in a highly diverse Amazonian forest, we combined 30 years of tree censuses with measurements of water- and carbon-related traits. We modelled individual tree growth response to climate and neighbourhood to disentangle the relative effect of neighbourhood densities, trait hierarchies and dissimilarities. While neighbourhood densities consistently decreased growth, trait dissimilarity increased it, and both had the potential to influence climate response. Greater water conservatism provided a competitive advantage to focal trees in normal years, but water-spender neighbours reduced this effect in dry years. By underlining the importance of density and trait-mediated neighbourhood interactions, our study offers a way towards improving predictions of forest dynamics.

KW - Trees/growth & development

KW - Carbon/metabolism

KW - Forests

KW - Tropical Climate

KW - Water/metabolism

KW - Climate Change

KW - Brazil

KW - Models, Biological

KW - plant–water relations

KW - neighbourhood interactions

KW - climate response

KW - functional traits

KW - tropical forests

KW - tree growth

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105002149916&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/ele.70028

DO - 10.1111/ele.70028

M3 - Short communication

C2 - 40197814

SN - 1461-023X

VL - 28

JO - Ecology Letters

JF - Ecology Letters

IS - 4

M1 - e70028

ER -

Love Thy Neighbour? Tropical Tree Growth and Its Response to Climate Anomalies Is Mediated by Neighbourhood Hierarchy and Dissimilarity in Carbon- and Water-Related Traits

Abstract

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

Keywords

UN SDGs

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