Abstract
Broadleaf-Korean pine forests exhibit high species richness and distinctive species composition, which are currently becoming more dominant among natural forests in Changbai Mountains of north-eastern China. Understanding the ecological process of restored vegetation is quite important for ecosystem reconstruction. Distinguishing stand development stages and analyzing the dynamic spatial patterns could provide insights into significant community coexistence mechanisms. In the present study, eight permanent study areas were established according to the substituting space for time method in Changbai Mountains of north-eastern China. The optimal division method was used to quantify the successional series into different stand development stages, and the point pattern analysis method (L(r) function) was used to analyse the dynamic changes in spatial patterns and interspecific associations. Our results suggested that: (1) The stand development process was divided into five stages: the first three stages were poplar-birch secondary forests in different stages of recovery, the fourth stage was the spruce-fir mixed forest, and the last stage was the primary broadleaf-Korean pine forest; (2) The spatial pattern showed an aggregated distribution at a small scale and changed to a random distribution as the scale increased in poplar-birch secondary forests, but the spatial pattern appeared to be randomly distributed in spruce-fir mixed forest and broadleaf-Korean pine forest; (3) The interspecific associations between pioneer species and climax species changed from negative to positive among the different stand stages, and environmental resources were shared among these species. Interspecific differences in shade tolerance among the tree species were key determinants of forest dynamics and structure. Our study is vital to the understanding of the forest development; thus, the spatial change features should receive greater attention when forest management is being planned and restoration strategies are being developed for the Changbai Mountains.
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