Interactions among neighboring individuals influence plant performance and should create spatial patterns in local community structure. In order to assess the role of large trees in generating spatial patterns in local species richness, we used the individual species–area relationship (ISAR) to evaluate the species richness of trees of different size classes (and dead trees) in circular neighborhoods with varying radius around...

Niche and neutral theories emphasize different processes that contribute to the maintenance of species diversity and should leave different spatial structures in species assemblages. In this study we used variation partitioning in combination with distance‐based Moran's eigenvector maps and habitat variables to determine the relative importance of the effects of pure habitat, pure spatial, and spatially structured habitat proc...

Walter (Jahrb Wiss Bot 87:750–860, 1939) proposed a two-layer hypothesis, an equilibrium explanation for coexistence of savanna trees and grasses. This hypothesis relies on vertical niche partitioning and assumed that grasses are more water-use efficient than trees and use subsurface water while trees also have access to deeper water sources. Thus, in open savannas, grasses were predicted to predominate because of their water...