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Abstract:
European beech forest with a variable admixture is one of the most important forest types in Central Europe.
Growing evidence has demonstrated the positive effect of increased biodiversity on vital forest ecosystem
functions and services such as productivity and nutrient cycling. Both complementarity in
resource use and species identity are known to influence tree productivity but they have received relatively
little attention in observational studies. Using a large dataset of repeat inventory trees in a nearnatural
deciduous forest in Central Germany we test whether tree diversity enhances tree productivity
at the tree and the stand level, whilst accounting for tree size, tree vitality, local topography and the
potentially confounding effects of spatial autocorrelation and negative growth estimates. Beech and
hornbeam individual tree growth was sensitive to their neighbourhood diversity and composition whilst
ash trees were only sensitive to the neighbourhood tree density. Neighbourhood complementarity effects
were driven by differences in species’ competitive strengths, whilst at the stand level productivity gains
were primarily attributable to the density of ash and diversity effects were less prominent. We conclude
that small-scale admixture with patches of different species promotes tree growth in European beech forest; congruent with current management plans for beech and hardwood forests.
