Responses of Visual Forms to Neighboring Competition: A Structural Equation Model for Cotinus coggygria var. cinerea Engl.

Background: The visual forms of individual trees in peri-urban forests are driven by a complex array simultaneous cause-and-effect relationships. Materials and Methods: Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), as specialized analytical technique, was used to model understand the interactions. It applied find out responses neighboring competition forest dominated Cotinus coggygria var. cinerea Engl. Beijing, China. Research Highlights: Light interception space extrusion have substantial effects on forms, expressed crown foliage forms. structural SEM tested hypothetical correlations among latent variables, namely competition, Results: fitted suggested direct negative effect an insignificant Moreover, indirect positive mediated revealed. Conclusions: associated findings should facilitate landscape management providing insight into causal mechanisms thereby assisting quality promotion.