Sprouting characteristics of communities during succession in an evergreen broad-leaved forest on Gutian Mountain, East China

doi:10.17520/biods.2018222

Abstract

Abstract:

Sprouting is an important vegetative reproduction strategy. Sprouting in woody plants is especially of great significance for maintaining forest structure and influencing vegetation dynamics and succession. In this study, we collected sprout data from 25 plots (30 m × 30 m) in an evergreen broad-leaved forest on Gutian Mountain, Zhejiang Province, East China for all trees with diameter at breast height (DBH) equal to or greater than 5 cm. Based on this data, we used general linear regression models to explore the characteristics and the effects of topographic factors and forest age on sprouting ability in forest communities during succession. We found that (1) 53.8% (56/104) of species in this forest showed evidence of sprouting. (2) The plot-level sprouting ability decreased significantly with elevation and marginally decreased significantly with aspect. (3) The plot-level sprouting ability decreased significantly with forest age. Forest age explained 20%-30% of the variation in sprouting ability after being fitted with the models using topographical factors. Both the number of sprouting genets and the proportion of sprouted species richness decreased significantly, while the mean DBH of sprouting genets increased significantly with forest age. This study shows that a decrease in community sprouting ability coupled with an increase in forest age may result from changes in both species composition (i.e. a decreasing number of individuals, but a higher sprouting ability) and structure (i.e. an increasing in proportion of larger individuals) during forest succession. In addition, the sprouting ability of forest communities is also affected by topographical factors, such as elevation and aspect.

http://jtp.cnki.net/bilingual/detail/html/SWDY201901004

Key words: forest regeneration, sprouts, forest age, topography

Chi Xiulian, Wang Qinggang, Guo Qiang, Yang Xian, Tang Zhiyao. Sprouting characteristics of communities during succession in an evergreen broad-leaved forest on Gutian Mountain, East China[J]. Biodiv Sci, 2019, 27(1): 24-32.

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URL: https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/10.17520/biods.2018222

https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/Y2019/V27/I1/24

Figures/Tables 4

Table 1 Statistics of sprouting characteristics for top 20 sprouting species in number of main stems

Table 2 Relationships between sprouting ability and forest age and topographical factors

萌生能力指标 Sprouting ability index	变量 Variables	回归斜率 Coefficient	解释量 Explained variation (R²)	P
萌生率 Ratio of the number of sprouts to the number of main stems (RS)	海拔 Elevation	-0.0007	0.258	0.0095
	坡度 Slope	-0.0041	0.017	0.5328
	坡向 Aspect	-0.0677	0.085	0.1567
	林分年龄 Forest age	-0.0058	0.383	0.0010
萌生个体比例 Proportion of sprouting individuals among all individuals (PMSI)	海拔 Elevation	-0.0003	0.262	0.0089
	坡度 Slope	-0.0019	0.018	0.5193
	坡向 Aspect	-0.0378	0.129	0.0781
	林分年龄 Forest age	-0.0023	0.295	0.0050
萌生个体平均萌茎数 Number of sprouts per sprouting individual (NSMSI)	海拔 Elevation	-0.0009	0.154	0.0522
	坡度 Slope	-0.0065	0.015	0.5601
	坡向 Aspect	-0.0697	0.031	0.3997
	林分年龄 Forest age	-0.0091	0.322	0.0031

Fig. 1 Relationships between the ratio of the number of sprouts to the number of main stems (RS), the proportion of sprouting individuals among all individuals (PMSI) and the number of sprouts per sprouting individual (NSMSI) of communities and their residuals after being fitted models by topographical factors and forest age. Solid lines indicate significant relationship with P-value less than 0.05.

Fig. 2 Relationships between sprouted species richness, proportion of sprouted species, number of sprouting genets, mean diameter at breast height (DBH) of sprouting genets and forest age. Solid lines indicate significant relationship with P-value less than 0.05, while dash lines indicate insignificant relationship with P-value greater than 0.05.

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