Abstract
ABSTRACTThe study was conducted to analyze the effects of thinning intensity on understory vegetation in Chamaecyparis obtusa stands. The site was located on Mt Moonsu in Gochang-gun, South Korea and consisted of five treatment plots: 5 m × 5 m quadrats were installed in each plot. The total flora of the C. obtusa stand included 47 families, 60 genera, and 70 species. Three classes of floristic regional indicator plants were verified: six taxa in class I, one taxon in class II, and one taxon in class III. Also, Phytolacca americana and Robinia poseudoacacia appeared as naturalized plants in heavy thinning and control plots, respectively. Their Naturalized Index and Urbanization Index were shown as 1.00% and 0.74%, respectively. Within the treatment plots, the greatest number of species appeared in the heavily thinned plots (31 species). Chamaecyparis obtusa showed the highest dominance index of 4.67. Regarding species richness of understory vegetation, there was a very distinct difference between the thinned and non-thinned plots, whereas there was no significant differences among the treatment plots such as light thinning, normal thinning, heavy thinning, and super heavy thinning plots. Thus, understory vegetation was influenced by the presence of thinning, but not influenced by thinning intensity in this study.
Highlights
Thinning generally involves removal of enough trees to reduce competition for sunlight and nutrients for remaining plants in the stand (Burton 2000), so thinning has focused on the growth of individual trees to harvest as much timber as possible and earn a profit (Ares et al 2010)
In this study we suggest a classification of dominance values (DVs) that can be used to compare and analyze the dominant degree of understory vegetation according to the thinning intensity
Meliosma oldhamii, out of eight species detected as the floristic regional indicator plants was found at all plots, and three species, Gynostemma pentaphyllum, Mallotus japonicas, and Dryopteris varia, were recorded at four plots including control
Summary
Thinning generally involves removal of enough trees to reduce competition for sunlight and nutrients for remaining plants in the stand (Burton 2000), so thinning has focused on the growth of individual trees to harvest as much timber as possible and earn a profit (Ares et al 2010). Thinning generally means cutting down enough of the trees to reduce competition for sunlight and nutrients for plants remaining in the stand (Burton 2000). Thinning increases levels of sunlight and impacts on growth of understory vegetation For this reason, it is possible that the use of different management plans will have various effects on the growth of understory vegetation by controlling sunlight in managed forests
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