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Manipulating seed availability, plant competition and litter accumulation by soil preparation and canopy opening to ensure regeneration success in temperate low-mountain forest stands

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Abstract

This study aimed at evaluating alternative methods to ensure regeneration success in temperate low-mountain forest stands by (1) estimating the effects of seed availability, competition from the adult stand and from neighbouring vegetation and interaction with the litter layer on seedling density, and by (2) comparing the effects of various silvicultural methods on regeneration success. The experiment was conducted in a monospecific beech (Fagus sylvatica) stand and a mixed silver fir-beech (Abies alba, Fagus sylvatica) stand with contrasted vegetation communities, in north-east France. Different methods of soil preparation, i.e. chemical (herbicide), mechanical (surface hoeing and deep scarification using light-weight machines) and biological (cover crops after surface hoeing) methods, were applied along a canopy opening gradient. After soil preparation (in 2009), vegetation colonisation and tree seedling density were monitored once a year from 2010 to 2013. Results were similar for the two sites. Seedling density the first year indicated a predominant effect of seed availability and soil scarification over potential competitive effects of adult stand and neighbouring vegetation. Despite continuous vegetation colonisation after soil preparation, seedling density remained stable over the 4 years of the experiment. For each of the 4 years, seedling density increased with canopy cover. Seedling density was higher after mechanical soil preparation than after herbicide application. Cover crops (following surface hoeing) appeared as the best method, ensuring both the lowest vegetation colonisation and the highest seedling density.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Léon Wehrlen for stimulating discussions, Erwin Thirion and Florian Vast for running the experiment and establishing the database, Vanessa Vilard for data preprocessing, and Xavier Auzuret and Fabien Duez for field work and data collection. This research was funded by the Ministère de l’Agriculture, de l’Agroalimentaire et de la Forêt (MAAF) through the programs E 30/07 and E 16/2011 and by the Office National des Forêts (ONF) through the programs “Maîtrise de la végétation forestière concurrente 2007–2010, and 2011–2014”. The UMR 1092 LERFoB is supported by the French National Research Agency (ANR) through the Laboratory of Excellence ARBRE (ANR-12-LABXARBRE-01).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INRA, UMR 1092 LERFoB, Route d’Amance, 54280, Champenoux, France

    Mathieu Dassot & Catherine Collet

  2. AgroParisTech, UMR 1092 LERFoB, 14 Rue Girardet, 54000, Nancy, France

    Mathieu Dassot & Catherine Collet

  3. EcoSustain, Environmental Engineering Office, Research and Development, 31, Rue de Volmerange, 57330, Kanfen, France

    Mathieu Dassot

Authors
  1. Mathieu Dassot
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  2. Catherine Collet
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Correspondence to Mathieu Dassot.

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Communicated by C. Ammer.

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Dassot, M., Collet, C. Manipulating seed availability, plant competition and litter accumulation by soil preparation and canopy opening to ensure regeneration success in temperate low-mountain forest stands. Eur J Forest Res 134, 247–259 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-014-0847-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-014-0847-x

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