Seedling/Sapling Banks and Their Responses to Forest Disturbance

  • Shin Abe
Chapter
Part of the Ecological Studies book series (ECOLSTUD, volume 158)

Abstract

Although all the trees that compose a mature forest originate as seedlings on the forest floor, the composition of a seedling or sapling community of ten differs from that of the adult trees. While this discrepancy may signal a shift or fluctuation in the forest (see Chapter 6), it can be attributed to demographic behaviors of each species (e.g., Harcombe 1987; Aiba and Kohyama 1997). To understand the maintenance mechanisms of a forest community, or to predict the forest dynamics, we must consider the seedling and sapling stages, since they, as well as the seed stage, are the stages subject to drastic demographic changes (see Chapter 1). Following on the previous chapters of this volume on seed production (Chapter 9), dispersal (Chapter 10), and dormancy and germination (Chapter 11), I describe the young tree community in Ogawa Forest Reserve (OFR) in this chapter, especially as it relates to forest disturbances.

Keywords

Relative Growth Rate Closed Canopy Sapling Density Conspecific Adult Shannon Function 
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© Springer Japan 2002

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  • Shin Abe

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