INTRASPECIFIC AND INTERSPECIFIC COMPETITION BETWEEN MATORRAL SHRUBS
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1981
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Abstract
The model of Gutierrez and Fuentes, which adequately predicted sizes between neighbor distances in the Acacia caven savanna, is applied to the more diverse matorral community of central Chile. The model essentially predicts a positive linear relationship between the sizes of nearest neighbors and the distance separating them. This prediction is tested experimentally by cutting the nearest neighbors of individuals involved in species-pairs of known successional status. The experiments sustain the competition model; matorral shrubs [Lithraea caustica, Quillaja saponaria, Colliguaya odorifera, Muehlenbeckia hastulata, Baccharis rosmarinifolia] compete intra- and interspecifically; and matorral shrubs tested seem to fit into a model of hierarchical competitive dominance in their successional pattern.