Ligustrum sinense

However, an increase in height with shaded conditions, as demonstrated by L. sinense but not F. ligustrina, has been interpreted as a response for the capture of additional light. However, fruit production in L. sinense was about 10 times higher than that in F. ligustrina under high light conditions and about five times higher under low light conditions. When compared to the co-occurring shrub F. ligustrina, L. sinense has advantages in spatially and temporally capturing light in both sunny and shaded conditions. The increased light capture could permit L. sinense to have a higher photosynthetic capacity and resource-use efficiency than F. ligustrina, potentially resulting in greater vigor

All of our data are consistent with the thesis that privet actually causes a reduction in herbs and tree seedlings beneath it: both herbs and trees show fewer species and fewer stems under privet; there is a negative correlation between the density of two native species and the density of associated privet; tree seedlings under privet disappear during the summer; when privet is removed, both herb and tree seedlings show an increase in the number of species and stems in the next growing season. The effects of privet density on the abundance and species richness of native plants were similar for trees, shrubs, and ground covers (Table 8, Fig. 2). The abundance and species richness of native plants were higher in low and medium privet-density plots as compared to high privet-density plot