Understanding drivers of eucalypt spatial patterns in temperate forests using point process modelling

Abstract

The spatial patterning of trees in forests reflects past ecological processes. Mechanisms such as seed dispersal, competition, niche segregation, and facilitation operate across a range of scales, depending on the identity and attributes of the tree and its neighbours. Understanding how these processes contribute to the spatial patterns of trees is a major challenge for forest ecology. In particular, the spatial structure of temperate mixed-eucalypt forests, notable for their high congeneric canopy diversity of the genus Eucalyptus , is poorly understood. In this study, we aim to understand the drivers of fine-scale Eucalyptus spatial pattern in temperate forests. We used data from a 16-ha f..