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1 In growing forest stands, above-ground net primary production peaks early in stand development and then declines. The causes for this decline are not yet well understood, but hypotheses include physiological and ecophysiological effects, as well as changes in stand structure due to local competition among neighbouring trees.2 The majority of existing studies address mono-causal explanations of this decline. Here we study the combined effects of intrinsic growth limitation of individual trees, growth limitation due to neighbourhood competition, and self-thinning.3 We use an individual-based model to analyse forest wood production of a mangrove species described by a sigmoidal growth function, and two hypothetical species with exponential or linear growth. The model reproduces a decline for all species investigated, even when individual growth rates did not become limited.4 We conclude that individual, sigmoidal growth curves are sufficient but not necessary to explain the production decline in natural forests where neighbourhood competition is appreciably active.5 We show that the causes for production decline change during forest development. Whereas growth reduction through neighbourhood competition is the main process at the beginning, imbalanced wood loss dominates the later stage of the decline.Journal of Ecology(2004)92, 846 –853 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary 1 The ongoing enrichment of the atmosphere with CO2 raises the question of whether growth of forest trees, which represent close to 90% of the global biomass carbon, is still carbon limited at current concentrations of close to 370 p.p.m. As photosynthesis of C3 plants is not CO2 -saturated at such concentrations, enhanced ‘source activity’ of leaves could stimulate ‘sink activity’ (i.e. growth) of plants, provided other resources and developmental controls permit. I explore current levels of non-structural carbon in trees in natural forests in order to estimate the potential for a carbon-driven stimulation of growth. 2 The concentration of non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) in tree tissues is considered a measure of carbon shortage or surplus for growth. A periodic reduction of NSC pools indicates either that carbon demand exceeds con-current supply, or that both source and sink activity are low. A steady, very high NSC concentration is likely to indicate that photosynthesis fully meets, or even exeeds, that needed for growth (surplus assimilates accumulate). 3 The analysis presented here considers data for mature trees in four climatic zones: the high elevation treeline (in Mexico, the Alps and Northern Sweden), a temperate lowland forest of central Europe, Mediterranean sclerophyllous woodland and a semideciduous tropical forest in Panama. 4 In all four climatic regions, periods of reduced or zero growth show maximum C-loading of trees (source activity exceeding demand), except for dry midsummer in the Mediterranean. NSC pools are generally high throughout the year, and are not significantly affected by mass fruiting episodes. 5 It is concluded that, irrespective of the reason for its periodic cessation, growth does not seem to be limited by carbon supply. Instead, in all the cases examined, sink activity and its direct control by the environment or developmental constraints, restricts biomass... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]