ArticleJournal of plant research2026
Site conditions but not intraspecific competition impact Eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) sapling growth and physiology along a stress and latitude gradient.
Article in Journal of plant research, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The Stress Gradient Hypothesis (SGH) predicts that the net effects of competition and facilitation among plants are determined by the interactions with environmental stressors. Juniperus virginiana is a stress-tolerant species that is native to the eastern United States but expanding into novel habitats, which may interact with changes in plant density as invasion proceeds to shape the course of species establishment. We tested this hypothesis by examining three sites along a complex latitudinal gradient shaped by historical glaciation and varying in snowfall, temperature, precipitation, and soil nutrients. We examined the impact of intraspecific competition (zero, one, two, and four competitors) on J. virginiana sapling growth metrics (relative growth rate, total biomass, and nitrogen concentration), physiological traits (midday water potential, assimilation rate, transpiration rate, and stomatal conductance), and water status. We found that abiotic conditions impacted plants in a non-linear fashion along a complex stress gradient, with the highest performance at high and low latitude sites. Intraspecific competition had limited effects overall, though some evidence suggests that negative impacts would develop over time at the highest density. Our study testing the expectations of SGH using this stress-tolerant species demonstrates how the theory can be applied to inform invasion management plans by showing that (1) intraspecific competition alone is unlikely to impact J. virginiana performance except at high plant densities, (2) environmental complexity, including the combined effect of temperature, precipitation, soil nutrient content, and competition, is a more likely driver of productivity and establishment, however (3) warmer, drier sites with higher soil nitrogen are expected to support higher growth rates, making them more vulnerable to J. virginiana invasion.
Indexed as
Identifiers
41249739What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.