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Short-term death dynamics of trees in natural secondary poplar-birch forest in Changbai Mountains of Northeast China.

ZHANG Zhao-chen1,2, HAO Zhan-qing1, YE Ji1, LIN Fei1,2, YUAN Zuo-qiang1, XING Ding-liang1,2, SHI Shuai1,2, WANG Xu-gao1   

  1. (1State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110164, China;2University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)
  • Online:2013-02-18 Published:2013-02-18

Abstract: Taking the 5 hm2 sampling plot in the natural secondary poplar-birch forest in Changbai Mountains as test object, and based on the two census data in 2005 and 2010, an analysis was made on the main tree species composition and quantity, size class distribution of dead individuals, and regeneration characteristics of the main tree species in different habitat types of the plot in 2005-2010. In the five years, the species number of the individuals with DBH≥1 cm increased from 46 to 47, among which, 3 species were newly appeared, and 2 species were disappeared. The number of the individuals changed from 16509 to 15027, among which, 2150 individuals died, accounting for 13% of the whole individuals in 2005, and 668 individuals were newly increased. The basal area of the trees increased from 28.79 m2·m-2 to 30.55 m2·m-2, with that of 41 species increased while that of 6 species decreased. The decrease of the basal area of Betula platyphylla and Populus davidiana accounted for 72.3% of the total decrease. Small individuals had higher mortality, as compared with large ones, and the mortality of the individuals with DBH<5 cm occupied 65% of the total. B. platyphylla and P. davidiana contributed most in the dead individuals with large DBH. No difference was observed in the tree mortality among different habitat types, but the mortality of the individuals with different size classes showed greater variation.