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No single factor can explain the low regeneration of patchy coniferous plantations in northern China

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Abstract

Context

Afforestation has been widely implemented to deliver climate change mitigation and restore ecosystem benefits. However, the efficacy of afforestation has been deputed. The regeneration ability of most plantations in Northern China has been suggested to fail to reach their optimal.

Objectives

Here, we compared the regeneration ability of plantations and natural forests in Northern China and explored how the climate factors and site features can determine the regeneration ability. We hypothesize that the deficient regeneration ability of plantations is mainly due to the single tree age and high stand density. Furthermore, the effects of climate factors cannot be ignored.

Methods

We investigated the climate factor, stand features, tree radial growth, and regeneration ability (the number of cones and seedlings) of two dominant conifers, Larix principis-rupprechtii and Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica in natural forests and plantations in northern China.

Results

Our analysis shows a significant difference in the number of both cones and regenerated seedlings produced by plantations and natural forests within the same site (P < 0.05). The stand density of plantations had a significant negative effect on the generation of seedlings (P < 0.05). Additionally, climatic factors, such as mean annual temperature and mean precipitation play a major role in regulating the heat and water availability for forest regeneration. Finally, we found that the inter-annual fluctuations in the radial growth of trees are also related to the number of seedlings produced, which is likely due to higher growth fluctuations indicating poorer drought adaptation of trees.

Conclusions

Our study suggests that no single factor can explain the regeneration failure of plantations in semi-humid and semiarid regions of China. Both site features and climatic factors affect the production of seedlings. Future afforestation should follow low-density afforestation in areas with favorable climatic conditions for tree growth.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was granted by National Key Research and Development Program (No. 2022YFF0801803).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Urban and Environmental Sciences and MOE Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Yang Qi, Jingjing Zhang, Feng Liu, Zhaopeng Song & Hongyan Liu

  2. College of Forestry, Precision Forestry Key Laboratory of Beijing, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China

    Boyi Liang

Authors
  1. Yang Qi
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  2. Jingjing Zhang
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  3. Feng Liu
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  4. Zhaopeng Song
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  5. Boyi Liang
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  6. Hongyan Liu
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Contributions

HL designed the experiment. YQ, JZ and FL conducted field survey. JZ conducted laboratory measurement. YQ, ZS and BL analyzed the data. YQ wrote the manuscript. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hongyan Liu.

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Qi, Y., Zhang, J., Liu, F. et al. No single factor can explain the low regeneration of patchy coniferous plantations in northern China. Landsc Ecol 38, 3973–3984 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-023-01716-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-023-01716-9

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