The self-thinning process in mangrove Kandelia obovata stands

Abstract

The self-thinning process was monitored in crowded Kandelia obovata Sheue, Liu & Yong stands over four years. The frequency distribution of tree phytomass was an L-shape, which was kept over the experimental period. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient for phytomass decreased as the time span of the comparison became longer, a result which indicates that the rank of phytomass changes as stands grow. Death of trees resulted from one-sided competition, i.e., death occurred in lower-rank trees. Surviving trees continued to grow. Whatever the current spatial distribution of the trees, death occurred randomly and the spatial distribution gradually became close to random as stands grew. The self-thinning exponent was 1.46, which can be regarded as evidence in favor of the 3/2 power law of self-thinning. Relative growth rate, RGR, decreased in proportion to decreasing relative mortality rate, RMR, with a proportionality constant of 1.57, which was not significantly different from the slope of the self-thinning exponent. This experimental result probably justifies the assumption that the ratio of RGR to RMR in the mean phytomass-density trajectory for any self-thinning population with different densities becomes constant as the growth stage progresses.