Tree communities
contribute to maintenance of species diversity in tropical forests. Coexistence
of many tree species is not without competition. Therefore, coexistence of tree
species and size diversities occur sequentially or simultaneously in tropical naturalforests. Understanding
coexistence and competition mechanisms of tree species requires knowledge of
interactions within and between species.
However, many conservation efforts and strategies failed due to
inability to identify and maintain functional coexistence mechanisms among tree
species in the forest. Also, most trees died because of pressure on their
habitats and not because of limiting growth resources. Hence, species identity,
minimum distance and size of the neighbouring trees which are responsible for
coexistence of competing trees in most tropical forests have not been
explicitly reviewed. Therefore, this review evaluated some of the density
dependent mechanisms for coexistence of tree species alpha diversity in
tropical forests. Many interactive mechanisms are responsible for coexistence tree speciesin tropical forests.
Inter- and intra-specific competitions are the
most significant and both facilitate
positive and negative density dependence. Therefore, switching from negative to
positive density dependencemay
occur in some situations. Positive and negative density effects regulate
species abundance and coexistence through
conspecific and heterospecific structures. Aggregates of conspecific and heterospecific neighbours constitute forest
spatial structure. Negative density interactions are mutually exclusive
and basically ranged from effect of species identity of neighbours, distance to
neighbours and tree size of the neighbours
to reference trees in the community structures. Some mechanisms shorten
distances for heterospecific than conspecific interactions. Conspecific
structures improved survival and growth of rare tree species. Interactive
mechanisms in tree community and population structures facilitate species
diversity and size inequality, respectively.
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