Thursday, April 9, 2026
No menu items!
HomeNatureThe importance of competition and facilitation for global tree diversity

The importance of competition and facilitation for global tree diversity

  • Michalet, R. et al. Competition, facilitation and environmental severity shape the relationship between local and regional species richness in plant communities. Ecography 38, 335–345 (2015).

    Article 
    ADS 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Bertness, M. D. & Callaway, R. Positive interactions in communities. Trends Ecol. Evol. 9, 191–193 (1994).

    Article 
    CAS 
    PubMed 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Callaway, R. M. et al. Positive interactions among alpine plants increase with stress. Nature 417, 844–848 (2002).

    Article 
    ADS 
    CAS 
    PubMed 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Kalyuzhny, M., Lake, J. K., Wright, S. J. & Ostling, A. M. Pervasive within-species spatial repulsion among adult tropical trees. Science 381, 563–568 (2023).

    Article 
    ADS 
    CAS 
    PubMed 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Michalet, R., Le Bagousse-Pinguet, Y., Maalouf, J. P. & Lortie, C. J. Two alternatives to the stress-gradient hypothesis at the edge of life: the collapse of facilitation and the switch from facilitation to competition. J. Veg. Sci. 25, 609–613 (2014).

    Article 

    Google Scholar
     

  • von Humboldt, A. & Bonpland, A. Essai sur la Géographie des Plantes: Accompagneé d’un Tableau Physique des Régions Équinoxiales, Fondé sur des Mesures Exécutées, Depuis le Dixième Degré de Latitude Boréale Jusqu’au Dixième Degré de Latitude Australe, Pendant les Années (Levrault, 1805).

  • Willig, M. R., Kaufman, D. M. & Stevens, R. D. Latitudinal gradients of biodiversity: pattern, process, scale, and synthesis. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst. 34, 273–309 (2003).

    Article 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Sabatini, F. M. et al. Global patterns of vascular plant alpha diversity. Nat. Commun. 13, 4683 (2022).

    Article 
    ADS 
    CAS 
    PubMed 
    PubMed Central 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Sutherland, W. J. et al. Identification of 100 fundamental ecological questions. J. Ecol. 101, 58–67 (2013).

    Article 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Pianka, E. R. Latitudinal gradients in species diversity: a review of concepts. Am. Nat. 100, 33–46 (1966).

    Article 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Jablonski, D., Royand, K. & Valentine, J. W. Out of the tropics: evolutionary dynamics of the latitudinal diversity gradient. Science 314, 102–106 (2006).

    Article 
    ADS 
    CAS 
    PubMed 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Condamine, F. L., Sperling, F. A. H., Wahlberg, N., Rasplus, J. Y. & Kergoat, G. J. What causes latitudinal gradients in species diversity? Evolutionary processes and ecological constraints on swallowtail biodiversity. Ecol. Lett. 15, 267–277 (2012).

    Article 
    PubMed 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Davidowitz, G. & Rosenzweig, M. L. The latitudinal gradient of species diversity among North American grasshoppers (Acrididae) within a single habitat: a test of the spatial heterogeneity hypothesis. J. Biogeogr. 25, 553–560 (1998).

    Article 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Colwell, R. K. & Hurtt, G. C. Nonbiological gradients in species richness and a spurious rapoport effect. Am. Nat. 144, 570–595 (1994).

    Article 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Roesti, M. et al. Pelagic fish predation is stronger at temperate latitudes than near the equator. Nat. Commun. 11, 1527 (2020).

    Article 
    ADS 
    PubMed 
    PubMed Central 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Janzen, D. H. Herbivores and the number of tree species in tropical forests. Am. Nat. 104, 501 (1970).

    Article 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Schemske, D. W. & Mittelbach, G. G. ‘Latitudinal gradients in species diversity’: reflections on Pianka’s 1966 article and a look forward. Am. Nat. 189, 599–603 (2017).

    Article 
    PubMed 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Pontarp, M. et al. The latitudinal diversity gradient: novel understanding through mechanistic eco-evolutionary models. Trends Ecol. Evol. 34, 211–223 (2019).

    Article 
    PubMed 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Zvereva, E. L. & Kozlov, M. V. Latitudinal gradient in the intensity of biotic interactions in terrestrial ecosystems: sources of variation and differences from the diversity gradient revealed by meta-analysis. Ecol. Lett. 24, 2506–2520 (2021).

    Article 
    PubMed 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Ricklefs, R. E. Community diversity: relative roles of local and regional processes. Science 235, 167–171 (1987).

    Article 
    ADS 
    CAS 
    PubMed 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Cornell, H. V. & Lawton, J. H. Species interactions, local and regional processes, and limits to the richness of ecological communities: a theoretical perspective. J. Anim. Ecol. 61, 1–12 (1992).

    Article 

    Google Scholar
     

  • He, F., Gaston, K. J., Connor, E. F. & Srivastava, D. S. The local–regional relationship: immigration, extinction, and scale. Ecology 86, 360–365 (2005).

    Article 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Song, X. & Corlett, R. T. Enemies mediate distance- and density-dependent mortality of tree seeds and seedlings: a meta-analysis of fungicide, insecticide and exclosure studies. Proc. R. Soc. B 288, 20202352 (2021).

    Article 
    CAS 
    PubMed 
    PubMed Central 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Hülsmann, L. et al. Latitudinal patterns in stabilizing density dependence of forest communities. Nature 627, 564–571 (2024).

    Article 
    ADS 
    PubMed 
    PubMed Central 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Michalet, R., Delerue, F., Liancourt, P. & Pugnaire, F. I. Are complementarity effects of species richness on productivity the strongest in species-rich communities? J. Ecol. 109, 2038–2046 (2021).

    Article 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Coomes, D. A., Kunstler, G., Canham, C. D. & Wright, E. A greater range of shade-tolerance niches in nutrient-rich forests: an explanation for positive richness–productivity relationships? J. Ecol. 97, 705–717 (2009).

    Article 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Michalet, R., Nemer, D. & Delerue, F. Canopy buffering effects against climatic extremes of deciduous broad-leaved forests are higher on calcareous than siliceous bedrocks. Oikos 2023, e09755 (2023).

    Article 
    ADS 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Zhang, J., Huang, S. & He, F. Half-century evidence from western Canada shows forest dynamics are primarily driven by competition followed by climate. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 112, 4009–4014 (2015).

    Article 
    ADS 
    CAS 
    PubMed 
    PubMed Central 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Brooker, R. W. et al. Facilitation in plant communities: the past, the present, and the future. J. Ecol. 96, 18–34 (2008).

    Article 
    MathSciNet 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Xu, H. et al. Do N-fixing legumes promote neighboring diversity in the tropics? J. Ecol. 107, 229–239 (2019).

    Article 
    CAS 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Xu, H. et al. Soil nitrogen concentration mediates the relationship between leguminous trees and neighbor diversity in tropical forests. Commun. Biol. 3, 317 (2020).

    Article 
    CAS 
    PubMed 
    PubMed Central 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Menge, D. N. L. et al. Patterns of nitrogen-fixing tree abundance in forests across Asia and America. J. Ecol. 107, 2598–2610 (2019).

    Article 
    CAS 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Germain, S. J. & Lutz, J. A. Shared friends counterbalance shared enemies in old forests. Ecology 102, e03495 (2021).

    Article 
    PubMed 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Birch, J. D., Simard, S. W., Beiler, K. J. & Karst, J. Beyond seedlings: ectomycorrhizal fungal networks and growth of mature Pseudotsuga menziesii. J. Ecol. 109, 806–818 (2021).

    Article 
    CAS 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Montesinos-Navarro, A., Valiente-Banuet, A. & Verdú, M. Mycorrhizal symbiosis increases the benefits of plant facilitative interactions. Ecography 42, 447–455 (2019).

    Article 
    ADS 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Bennett, J. A. et al. Plant-soil feedbacks and mycorrhizal type influence temperate forest population dynamics. Science 355, 181–184 (2017).

    Article 
    ADS 
    CAS 
    PubMed 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Tedersoo, L., Bahram, M. & Zobel, M. How mycorrhizal associations drive plant population and community biology. Science 367, eaba1223 (2020).

    Article 
    CAS 
    PubMed 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Zhong, Y. et al. Arbuscular mycorrhizal trees influence the latitudinal beta-diversity gradient of tree communities in forests worldwide. Nat. Commun. 12, 3137 (2021).

    Article 
    ADS 
    CAS 
    PubMed 
    PubMed Central 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Wiegand, T. et al. Latitudinal scaling of aggregation with abundance and coexistence in forests. Nature 640, 967–973 (2025).

    Article 
    ADS 
    CAS 
    PubMed 
    PubMed Central 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Fichtner, A., Forrester, D. I., Härdtle, W., Sturm, K. & von Oheimb, G. Facilitative-competitive interactions in an old-growth forest: the importance of large-diameter trees as benefactors and stimulators for forest community assembly. PLoS One 10, e0120335 (2015).

    Article 
    PubMed 
    PubMed Central 

    Google Scholar
     

  • De Frenne, P. et al. Global buffering of temperatures under forest canopies. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 3, 744–749 (2019).

    Article 
    PubMed 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Körner, C. Plant adaptation to cold climates. F1000Res. 5, 2769 (2016).

  • Blumstein, M., Gersony, J., Martínez-Vilalta, J. & Sala, A. Global variation in nonstructural carbohydrate stores in response to climate. Glob. Chang. Biol. 29, 1854–1869 (2023).

    Article 
    ADS 
    CAS 
    PubMed 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Allesina, S. & Levine, J. M. A competitive network theory of species diversity. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 108, 5638–5642 (2011).

    Article 
    ADS 
    CAS 
    PubMed 
    PubMed Central 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Åkesson, A. et al. The importance of species interactions in eco-evolutionary community dynamics under climate change. Nat. Commun. 12, 4759 (2021).

    Article 
    ADS 
    PubMed 
    PubMed Central 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Pinsky, M. L. Species coexistence through competition and rapid evolution. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 116, 2407–2409 (2019).

    Article 
    ADS 
    CAS 
    PubMed 
    PubMed Central 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Schemske, D. W., Mittelbach, G. G., Cornell, H. V., Sobel, J. M. & Roy, K. Is there a latitudinal gradient in the importance of biotic interactions? Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst. 40, 245–269 (2009).

    Article 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Brooker, R. W. & Callaghan, T. V. The balance between positive and negative plant interactions and its relationship to environmental gradients: a model. Oikos 81, 196–207 (1998).

    Article 
    ADS 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Pugnaire, F. Positive Plant Interactions and Community Dynamics (CRC, 2010).

  • Detto, M. & Pacala, S. Integrating conspecifics negative density dependence, successional and evolutionary dynamics: towards a theory of forest diversity. Commun. Biol. 7, 1572 (2024).

    Article 
    PubMed 
    PubMed Central 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Wiegand, T., Gunatilleke, C. V. S., Gunatilleke, I. A. U. N. & Huth, A. How individual species structure diversity in tropical forests. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 104, 19029–19033 (2007).

    Article 
    ADS 
    CAS 
    PubMed 
    PubMed Central 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Kraft, N. J. B. & Ackerly, D. D. in Ecology and the Environment Vol. 8 (ed. Monson, R.) 67–88 (Springer, 2014).

  • Mittelbach, G. G. & Schemske, D. W. Ecological and evolutionary perspectives on community assembly. Trends Ecol. Evol. 30, 241–247 (2015).

    Article 
    PubMed 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Maestre, F. T. & Cortina, J. Do positive interactions increase with abiotic stress? A test from a semi-arid steppe. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 271, S331–S333 (2004).

    Article 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Loreau, M. & Hector, A. Partitioning selection and complementarity in biodiversity experiments. Nature 412, 72–76 (2001).

    Article 
    ADS 
    CAS 
    PubMed 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Wright, A. J., Wardle, D. A., Callaway, R. & Gaxiola, A. The overlooked role of facilitation in biodiversity experiments. Trends Ecol. Evol. 32, 383–390 (2017).

    Article 
    PubMed 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Barry, K. E. et al. The future of complementarity: disentangling causes from consequences. Trends Ecol. Evol. 34, 167–180 (2019).

    Article 
    PubMed 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment. Atlas of the Biosphere. University of Wisconsin-Madison https://sage.nelson.wisc.edu/data-and-models/atlas-of-the-biosphere/ (2026).

  • Anderson-Teixeira, K. J. et al. CTFS-ForestGEO: a worldwide network monitoring forests in an era of global change. Glob. Chang. Biol. 21, 1365–2486 (2015).

    Article 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Global Soil Data Task Group. Global Gridded Surfaces of Selected Soil Characteristics (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 2000).

  • van den Hoogen, J. et al. Global soil temperature code and data. Zenodo https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4558663 (2021).

  • ESA Climate Office. Soil Moisture. ESA https://climate.esa.int/en/projects/soil-moisture/ (2026).

  • Jump, A. S., Mátyás, C. & Peñuelas, J. The altitude-for-latitude disparity in the range retractions of woody species. Trends Ecol. Evol. 24, 694–701 (2009).

    Article 
    PubMed 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Macarthur, R. & Levins, R. The limiting similarity, convergence, and divergence of coexisting species. Am. Nat. 101, 377–385 (1967).

    Article 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Barnes, D. K. A. Polarization of competition increases with latitude. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 269, 2061–2069 (2002).

    Article 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Adler, P. B. et al. Competition and coexistence in plant communities: intraspecific competition is stronger than interspecific competition. Ecol. Lett. 21, 1319–1329 (2018).

    Article 
    PubMed 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Detto, M. & Muller-Landau, H. C. Stabilization of species coexistence in spatial models through the aggregation–segregation effect generated by local dispersal and nonspecific local interactions. Theor. Popul. Biol. 112, 97–108 (2016).

    Article 
    PubMed 

    Google Scholar
     

  • Detto, M. mdetto / Positive-Interactions. GitHub http://github.com/mdetto/positive-interactions (2026).

  • Detto, M. The relative importance of competition and facilitation in explaining latitudinal gradient of tree diversity. Code Ocean https://codeocean.com/capsule/4844196/tree (2026).

  • RELATED ARTICLES

    Most Popular

    Recent Comments