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Abstract
Forest succession from Pinus to Quercus has often been observed in temperate forest, although the succession mechanism is not clearly understood. This study investigated factors that affect the succession of forests from pine to oak, using forest vegetation inventory data at plots at Kwan-ak mountain in Korea. Analyses of understory canopy coverage, light intensity, and tree numbers and ages in P. densiflora forests indicate that Q. mongolica can only invade these forests before understory shrub establishment. The results from analyses of all environmental factors indicate that similar adverse effects from environmental factors occur in established P. densiflora and Q. mongolica forests that inhibit Q. mongolica seedling survival. However, the observed survival rate of Q. mongolica seedlings under P. densiflora during winter were much higher than Q. mongolica seedlings under Q. mongolica trees, and it is due to accumulated snow over Q. mongolica forest litter which breaks or inhibits the emergence of Q. mongolica seedlings. Protecting seedlings with plastic cups significantly increased the survival rate which confirms that forest floor litter acts as a filter for the regeneration and succession of Q. mongolica forests. This paper thus concludes that understory shrubs and forest litter affect the succession dynamics of P. densiflora and Q. mongolica forests.
Highlights
Despite the ample observational evidence of the successional pattern, analyses have been lacking on factors that mediate such succession processes in many temperate ecosystems
In each Q. mongolica quadrat, there were an average of 9.5 Q. mongolica trees, 1.8 P. densiflora trees, and 5.5 R. mucronulatum shrubs (Table S1 in Supplementary Information)
P. densiflora forests had approximately twice the number of P. densiflora and approximately four times the number of R. mucronulatum shrubs in each quadrat compared with Q. mongolica forests
Summary
Despite the ample observational evidence of the successional pattern, analyses have been lacking on factors that mediate such succession processes in many temperate ecosystems. Despite the accumulated research about the forest succession, factors influencing pine to oak succession dynamics have not been adequately addressed that each studies showed different hypothesis about the reason of such patterns[14]. Despite the lack of research and the complexity in interactions, this study examines factors influencing pine to oak forest succession, drawing from a set of key factors that have been suggested to accelerate or inhibit succession in previous research. Succession from Pinus to Quercus forest within our study area is believed to be affected by light intensity, canopy cover, differences of litter, and gap formation within the canopy, no www.nature.com/scientificreports/. To draw upon and verify such beliefs, this study selects two factors that may affect the succession dynamics from Pinus to Quercus forests. It goes on to verify the effect of forest litters, which has been assumed to be the major factor that causes difference of seedling survival rate between Pinus and Quercus forests
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