Media release
Strict embargo till 0400 am AEST Thursday 24 Dec 2015
Consistent competition
New research released today in Nature has used growth data from more than three million
trees and 140,000 forest plots and 2500 plant species across the world. The international
collaboration was coordinated from the Genes to Geoscience Research Centre at Macquarie
University in Sydney.
The most extensive study yet on how growth of a given tree is influenced by competing
neighbours has revealed that the traits of wood density, leaf construction cost and maximum
height affect competition in predictable ways across all forests worldwide.
Traits that confer good tolerance of competition also render species slow growing in the
absence of competition. This result was consistent across very different forests. The tradeoff between traits that favour growth with and without competition is thought to allow
coexistence of a spread of ecological strategies.
Lead author Dr Georges Kunstler from IRSTEA, the French research institute for
environment and agriculture, commented “Ecologists have long sought an approach that
might allow competition to be predicted in a general way across the tens of thousands of
different tree species worldwide. This new research shows that functional traits can provide
such an approach.”
Forests are crucial elements of the earth system and cover large areas from boreal to
tropics. They host a diversity of tree species encompassing many forms and strategies.
Interactions among neighbouring species strongly influence the dynamics of forests and
their functioning as ecosystems.
Professor Mark Westoby, one of the authors, commented “For me there were two really
satisfying things about this synthesis. First there was the spirit of collaboration to bring data
together from so many countries. Second was the consistency – traits having similar
influence across very different forests and species. It’s good for ecological science to grow
simpler and clearer and stronger, instead of always more complex.”
Kunstler, G; Falster, D; Coomes, DA; Hui, F; Kooyman, RM; Laughlin, DC; Poorter, L;
Vanderwel, M; Vieilledent, G; Wright, SJ; Aiba, M; Baraloto, C; Caspersen, J; Cornelissen,
JHC; Gourlet-Fleury, S; Hanewinkel, M; Herault, B; Kattge, J; Kurokawa, H; Onoda, Y;
Penuelas, J; Poorter, H; Uriarte, M; Richardson, S; Ruiz-Benito, P; Sun, I-F; Stalh, G;
Swenson, NG; Thompson, J; Westerlund, B; Wirth, C; Zavala, MA; Zeng, H; Zimmerman,
JK; Zimmermann, NE; Westoby, M. Plant functional traits have globally consistent effects on
competition. Nature. December 2015.
CONTACT IN AUSTRALIA
Mark Westoby is Distinguished Prof and ARC Laureate Fellow in the Dept of Biological
Sciences at Macquarie University, Sydney, and leader of the Genes to Geoscience
Research Centre (mark.westoby@mq.edu.au, +61 (0)406 094 674)