Spatial relationship between congeners
Although the three Myrcia species occur in similar environments in the plot, we found no positive associations indicating habitat filtering to the same favourable patches, or negative associations as evidence of interspecific competition. The different size classes of the three species studied were, in most cases, spatially independent, i.e. the observed g 12(r ) fell within the simulation envelopes. The only exception was medium trees of M. multiflora and M. racemosa , which were spatially associated (Appendix S3). This association was explained by a shared habitat association of the two congener species, asg 12(r ) fell within the simulation envelopes when we used the parametric intensity functionλh (x, y ) to parameterize the pattern reconstruction (Fig. 2).
We also found no evidence of interspecific competition in relation to size distribution of the species. The sizes of trees were in most cases not influenced by the presence of nearby congeners of the same size class, as indicated by results of the independent marking null model. The only exception was medium-sized trees of M. racemosa , which showed smaller DSH near individuals of M. brasiliensis(< 6 m) and of M. multiflora (< 13 m). However, this effect was caused by systematic size differences caused by harsh environmental conditions, as the observedκm 1.(r ) fell within the simulation envelopes of the local random marking null model (Fig. 3).