Abstract: Regeneration is an essential pathway for the continuity of tree populations and a critical ecological process for the maintenance and restoration of natural forest ecosystems. Seed regeneration and sprout regeneration represent two strategies shaped by long-term evolution, reflecting adaptive trade-offs in response to resource limitations and environmental disturbances. In the context of global change, such trade-off is undergoing profound alteration. Based on regeneration niche theory, we reviewed the biological foundations and ecological significance of seed regeneration (colonization niche) and sprout regeneration (persistence niche) in tree species, with a focus on the mechanisms of global climate change, shifting in disturbance regimes, and habitat fragmentation that influence these two regeneration strategies. There are deficiencies in current research regarding the systematic analysis of the formation and evolution mechanisms of different tree species’ preference for regeneration, the physiological and molecular mechanisms of shoot occurrence, the methodological challenges in multi-dimensional quantification of regeneration niches and their responses to global change, the need for further research on the response of forest tree regeneration strategies under global change, and the insufficient integration of the regeneration niche theory and forest management practices. Future efforts should be made to strengthen the molecular ecological and systems biological basis for the evolution of forest tree regeneration trade-off strategies under global change, to quantify the conversion thresholds of tree seedling regeneration and shoot regeneration, to construct a multi-dimensional research framework for forest tree regeneration niches, to strengthen the research on the response mechanisms of main forest tree species’ regeneration strategies under global change, and to promote the deep integration of forest tree regeneration trade-off theory and forest management practices. These efforts would provide scientific basis for the sustainable management and ecological restoration of forests.

Key words: natural regeneration, seed regeneration, sprout regeneration, reproductive strategy, trade-off