Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Stand development and regeneration during a 33-year period in a seral Picea glehnii forest, northern Japan

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Ecological Research

An Erratum to this article was published on 16 December 2005

Abstract

Stand development and regeneration were studied during a 33-year period (1965-1998) in a 1-ha plot in a seral Picea glehnii forest in northern Japan. P. glehnii was mono-dominant in the upper canopy layer, but its understory trees were rarely found in 1965. Other species were scarcely observed in 1965. Many recruited saplings of Abies sachalinensis which had grown to > 5 cm diameter at breast height (DBH) by 1998 had become dominant in the understory layer. Mortality of P. glehnii canopy trees was low. Therefore, the stand basal area increased during the census period due to the growth of surviving canopy trees. Stand development brought about intense competition among trees by increasing local crowding for each tree, and promoted dominance of larger trees and suppression of smaller trees. Although growth rates of understory trees of the two conifers decreased with the increase in local crowding, the growth rate of A. sachalinensis was consistently higher than that of P. glehnii at all extents of local crowding. The recruitment rate (growing to ≥ 5 cm DBH) of the two conifers was less affected by local crowding. However, the number of recruits of P. glehnii was only about a quarter of that of A. sachalinensis during the census period because the regeneration of P. glehnii was largely restricted to fallen logs and within 1 m of the base of any live tree > 20 cm DBH. Therefore, our long-term study suggests that A. sachalinensis will dominate over P. glehnii in the seral forest because of higher recruitment and growth rates of the former than the latter in the understory.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bunyavejchewin S (1999) Structure and dynamics in seasonal dry evergreen forest in northeastern Thailand. J Veg Sci 10:787-792

    Google Scholar 

  • Cheng D, Igarashi T (1988) Histopathology of Yezo spruce and Glehn’s spruce seeds infected by the dard snow-blight causal fungus Racodium therryanum. J Jpn For Soc 70:344-351

    Google Scholar 

  • Christy EJ, Mack RN (1984) Variation in demography of juvenile Tsuga heterophylla across the substratum mosaic. J Ecol 72:75-91

    Google Scholar 

  • Duncan RP (1991) Competition and the coexistence of species in a mixed podocarp stand. J Ecol 79:1073-1084

    Google Scholar 

  • Franklin JF, Maeda T, Ohsumi Y, Matsui M, Yagi H, Hawk GM (1979) Subalpine coniferous forests of central Honshu, Japan. Ecol Monogr 49:311-334

    Google Scholar 

  • Grime PJ (1977) Evidence for the existence of three primary strategies in plants and its relevance to ecological and evolutionary theory. Am Nat 111:1169-1194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hara T, Kimura M, Kikuzawa K (1991) Growth patterns of tree height and stem diameter in populations of Abies veitchii, A. mariesii and Betula ermanii. J Ecol 79:1085-1098

    Google Scholar 

  • Hara T, Nishimura N, Yamamoto S (1995) Tree competition and species coexistence in a cool-temperate old-growth forest in southwestern Japan. J Veg Sci 6:565-574

    Google Scholar 

  • Harmon ME, Franklin JF (1989) Tree seedlings on logs in Picea-Tsuga forests of Oregon and Washington. Ecology 70:48-59

    Google Scholar 

  • Hasegawa S, Tsujii T (1989) Dynamics of coniferous forests in Mt. Oakan. In: Report of basic studies on natural environments near Akan Lake (in Japanese). Maeda Ippo Foundation, Akan, pp 6-37

  • He F, Duncan RP (2000) Density-dependent effects on tree survival in an old-growth Douglas-fir forest. J Ecol 88:676-688

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hiura T, Fujiwara K (1999) Density-dependence and co-existence of conifer and broad-leaved trees in a Japanese northern mixed forest. J Veg Sci 10:843-850

    Google Scholar 

  • Ishibashi S, Shiraishi N, Sano M, Ono Y (1996) Studies on a selective cutting system of natural forests. 4. Growth analysis of Akaezomatsu (Picea glehnii Masters) natural forest at the foot of Mt. Meakan (in Japanese). Trans Ann Meet Hokkaido Br Jpn For Soc 44:146-148

    Google Scholar 

  • Ishizuka K (1961) A relict stand of Picea glehnii Masters on Mt. Hayachine, Iwate Prefecture. Ecol Rev 15:155-162

    Google Scholar 

  • Kikuzawa K (1988) Intraspecific competition in a natural stand of Betula ermanii. Ann Bot 61:727-734

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohyama T (1992) Size-structured multi-species model of rain forest trees. Funct Ecol 6:206-212

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohyama T (1993) Size-structured tree poplations in gap-dynamic forest: the forest architecture hypothesis for the stable coexistence of species. J Ecol 81:131-143

    Google Scholar 

  • Lusk CH (1995) Seed size, establishment sites and species coexistence in a Chilean rain forest. J Veg Sci 6:249-256

    Google Scholar 

  • Manokaran N, Kochummen KM (1987) Recruitment, growth and mortality of tree species in a lowland dipterocarp forest in Peninsular Malaysia. J Trop Ecol 3:315-330

    Google Scholar 

  • Matsuda K, Haruki M, Hasegawa S, Yajima T, Sekine M, Mayama R (1978) Studies on the Picea glehnii forest. (V) Species composition and regeneration of the southernmost natural community of the Picea glehnii on Mt. Hayachine (in Japanese). Jpn J Ecol 28:347-356

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakamura T, Obata K (1985) Differences in ecological character between Abies veitchii and Tsuga diversifolia. II: distribution of seedlings on the moss-covered floor of Tsuga forests on Mt. Fuji (in Japanese). Bull Tokyo Univ For 74:67-79

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakashizuka T (1989) Role of uprooting in composition and dynamics of an old-growth forest in Japan. Ecology 70:1273-1278

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakashizuka T (1991a) The importance of long-term studies of forest dynamics in large plots (in Japanese). Jpn J Ecol 41:45-53

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakashizuka T (1991b) Population dynamics of coniferous and broad-leaved trees in a Japanese temperate mixed forest. J Veg Sci 2:413-418

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakashizuka T, Kohyama T (1995) The significance of the asymmetric effect of crowding for coexistence in a mixed temperate forest. J Veg Sci 6:509-516

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakashizuka T, Iida S, Tanaka H, Shibata M, Abe S, Masaki T, Niiyama K (1992) Community dynamics of Ogawa Forest Reserve, a species-rich deciduous forest, central Japan. Vegetatio 103:105-112

    Google Scholar 

  • Namikawa K (1996) Stand dynamics during a 12-year period in an old-growth, cool temperate forest in northern Japan. Ecol Res 11:23-33

    Google Scholar 

  • Osawa A (1992) Development of a mixed-conifer forest in Hokkaido, northern Japan, following a catastrophic windstorm: A “parallel” model of plant succession. In: Kelty MJ, Larson BC, Oliver CD (eds) The ecology and silviculture of mixed-species forests. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 29-52

    Google Scholar 

  • Sheil D, Burslem DFRP, Alder D (1995) The interpretation and misinterpretation of mortality rate measures. J Ecol 83:331-333

    Google Scholar 

  • Sugita H, Tani M (2001) Difference in microhabitat-related regeneration patterns between two subalpine conifers, Tsuga diversifolia and Abies mariesii, on Mount Hayachine, northern Honshu, Japan. Ecol Res 16:424-433

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suzuki E, Tsukahara J (1987) Age structure and regeneration of old growth Cryptomeria japonica forests on Yakushima Island. Bot Mag Tokyo 100:223-241

    Google Scholar 

  • Suzuki E, Ota K, Igarashi T, Fujiwara K (1987) Regeneration process of coniferous forests in northern Hokkaido. I. Abies sachalinensis forest and Picea glehnii forest. Ecol Res 2:61-75

    Google Scholar 

  • Takahashi K (1994) Effect of size structure, forest floor type and disturbance regime on tree species composition in a coniferous forest in Japan. J Ecol 82:769-773

    Google Scholar 

  • Takahashi K (1996a) Plastic response to crown architecture to crowding in understorey trees of two co-dominating confers. Ann Bot 77:159-164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Takahashi K (1996b) Mechanisms determining coexistence and exclusion between two co-dominating species in subalpine forests. PhD dissertation, Hokkaido University, Sapporo

  • Takahashi K (1997) Regeneration and coexistence of two subalpine conifer species in relation to dwarf bamboo in the understorey. J Veg Sci 8:529-536

    Google Scholar 

  • Takahashi K, Kohyama T (1999) Size-structure dynamics of two conifers in relation to understorey dwarf bamboo: a simulation study. J Veg Sci 10:833-842

    Google Scholar 

  • Takahashi K, Mitsuishi D, Uemura S, Suzuki J, Hara T (2003a) Stand structure and dynamics during a 16-year period in a sub-boreal conifer-hardwood mixed forest, northern Japan. For Ecol Manage 174:39-50

    Google Scholar 

  • Takahashi K, Uemura S, Suzuki J, Hara T (2003b) Effects of understory dwarf bamboo on soil water and growth of overstory trees in a dense secondary Betula ermanii forest, northern Japan. Ecol Res 18:767-774

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tatewaki M (1958) Forest ecology of the islands of the North Pacific Ocean. J Fac Agric Hokkaido Univ 50:371-486

    Google Scholar 

  • Tatewaki M, Yamanaka T (1940) Phytosociological study on Picea glehnii forests at Mt. Kikin in Kitami (in Japanese). Trans Sapporo Nat Hist Soc 157:1-54

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor AH (1990) Disturbance and persistence of sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong) Carr.) in coastal forests of the Pacific Northwest, North America. J Biogeogr 17:47-58

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor AH, Qin Z (1988) Regeneration patterns in old-growth Abies-Betula forests in the Wolong Natural Reserve, Sichuan, China. J Ecol 76:1204-1218

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsuyuzaki S, Haruki M (1996) Tree regeneration patterns on Mount Usu, northern Japan, since the 1977-1978 eruptions. Vegetatio 126:191-198

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Umeki K, Kikuzawa K (1999) Long-term growth dynamics of natural forests in Hokkaido, northern Japan. J Veg Sci 10:815-824

    Google Scholar 

  • Veblen TT, Ashtom DH, Schlegel FM, Veblen AT (1977) Distribution and dominance of species in the understory of a mixed evergreen-deciduous Nothofagus forest in south-central Chile. J Ecol 65:815-830

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiner J (1984) Neighbourhood interference amongst Pinus rigida individuals. J Ecol 72:183-195

    Google Scholar 

  • Welden CW, Hewett SW, Hubbell SP, Foster RB (1991) Sapling survival, growth, and recruitment: relationship to canopy height in a neotropical forest. Ecology 72:35-50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woods KD (2000a) Dynamics in late-successional hemlock-hardwood forests over three decades. Ecology 81:110-126

    Google Scholar 

  • Woods KD (2000b) Long-term change and spatial pattern in a late-successional hemlock-northern hardwood forest. J Ecol 88:267-282

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yamada S (1958) Studies on the history of volcanic eruptions of alluvium epoch in Hokkaido on the basis of depositional features of the pyroclastics (in Japanese). Chidankensenpo 8:1-40

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamamoto S, Nishimura N, Matsui K (1995) Natural disturbance and tree species coexistence in an old-growth beech-dwarf bamboo forest, southwestern Japan. J Veg Sci 6:875-886

    Google Scholar 

  • Yatoh K (1977) Trees of Japan (in Japanese). Asakura Shoten, Tokyo

Download references

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank Obihiro Regional Forestry Office for providing the long-term data. Our thanks are also due to the members of the Laboratory of Forest Management, Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, for field assistance in 1998.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Koichi Takahashi

    Present address: Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 Docteur Penfield, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1B1, Canada

  2. Masaru Yogo

    Present address: Tomoku Company Limited, Marunouchi-Mitsui Building, Marunouchi, Tokyo, 100-0005, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Shinshu University, Matsumoto, 390-8621, Japan

    Koichi Takahashi

  2. Department of Forest Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-0809, Japan

    Masaru Yogo

  3. Hokkaido Research Station, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Sapporo, 062-8516, Japan

    Satoshi Ishibashi

Authors
  1. Koichi Takahashi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Masaru Yogo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Satoshi Ishibashi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Koichi Takahashi.

Additional information

An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11284-005-0144-8

About this article

Cite this article

Takahashi, K., Yogo, M. & Ishibashi, S. Stand development and regeneration during a 33-year period in a seral Picea glehnii forest, northern Japan. Ecol Res 21, 35–42 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-005-0093-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-005-0093-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation