Including time on the study of plant-plant interactions through dendroecology

Abstract

Garía-Cervigón, A.I. 2016. Including time on the study of plant-plant interactions through dendroecology. Ecosistemas 25(1): 74-82. Doi.: 10.7818/ECOS.2016.25-1.11

As a general rule, facilitation prevails over competition in stressful environments, but stress levels shift over time. Ideally, time should be included in plant-plant interactions studies by monitoring plants throughout their entire life-cycles, but this would require long study periods prior to reach any conclusive result. In this paper I present different ways to include time on the study of plant-plant interactions using dendrochronological techniques. By introducing different study cases I show how to include the information provided by plant age –related to ontogeny and age structure of the population– and ring width –related to secondary growth– in studies at the community, population and individual level. I highlight the potential for ecological studies to include the analysis of growth rings existing in shrubs and perennial herbs. To conclude, I introduce several variables registered in growth rings such as carbon stable isotope content or variables related to quantitative wood anatomy, which could be included as a complement in studies on plant-plant interactions.