Pair-wise competition-trials amongst seedlings of ten dipterocarp species; the role of initial height, growth rate and leaf attributes

To investigate whether seedlings of ten dipterocarp species differed significantly in terms of growth and mortality or whether species were not significantly different and could be considered ecologically similar, seedlings were grown, two per pot, in two experiments: (1) where the two seedlings were of equal height (30 cm); and (2) where one seedling was 10 cm shorter than the other. Seedlings were grown in a shade house with 15% above-canopy light in a 50:50 forest soil–sand mixture and were watered frequently; pots were placed so that seedling density was 130 seedlings m−2 of ground. In the first experiment there were 45 pairwise combinations of species when seedlings were 30 cm tall (AB, AC, AD,…. BC, BD…IJ; where A, B, C…J signify different species); each combination was replicated 10 times so there were 450 pots with 900 seedlings. In the second experiment there were 100 pairwise combinations of species and size e.g. Aa (30 cm A with 20 cm a), Ab (30 cm A with 20 cm b), each combination was replicated 10 times hence there were 1000 pots with 2000 seedlings. After 22 mo 79% of the initial 2900 seedlings survived; on average they had grown 42 cm (i.e. to 72 cm tall from their initial 30 cm). The most frequent outcome of competition-trials between different sized individuals (784 of 1000 trials) was that the initially taller seedling of each pair ‘won’ (it was the taller or surviving seedling). When 900 of these trials (setting aside, Aa, Bb, Cc etc.) were analysed as 45 comparisons between species with different sized individuals (Ab and aB are one interspecific comparison for these purposes), initial height determined the outcome in 23 cases (even in some competitions between light hardwood species and heavy hardwood species); in 6 cases a species (mostly light hardwoods) behaved as a ‘dominant’ – they usually won even if they were smaller initially. We found few significant differences between species in: initial seedling heights; leaf nitrogen concentrations; and specific leaf areas when they were grown in similar conditions, and these attributes were not correlated with growth rates. The similarity of seedlings of different species meant that often a height difference of just 10 cm was enough to determine the outcome of a pairwise competition-trial in high seedling densities and light equivalent to that in forest gaps.