Seed Rain and Seedling Establishment of Picea glauca and Abies balsamea after Partial Cutting in Plantations and Natural Stands
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The authors have clarly improved the manuscript by clarifying the points mentioned by the reviewers and by correctly carying out the suggestions provided by the reviewers. I think the manuscript could be accepted for publication at this point.
Author Response
No comments from the reviewer 1
Reviewer 2 Report
Great job authors. Well written manuscript and well structured. Attached file includes my minor comments and points.
Suggestion:
You may expand and improve the introduction.
[1,29,37] please express the citations in text based on MDPI journals guideline throughout the manuscript.
Line 56-59: Please add a conclusion to this manuscript after discussion and includes answering these questions based on results.
Please add space between lines 137 and 138
Line 101-102: before versus after partial cutting.
Table 1. Column 7 from left heading: Mean diameter at breast height (cm)
Also in Table 1. columns under Stems and seedlings per ha SD values in parenthesis are so high for 2 last columns?
Line 149 should be italic
Figure 1. (comments on page 7)
Please edit the numbers of y axis: 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 ...
Please edit the numbers of y axis: 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 ...
Please edit the numbers of y axis: 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 ...
Line 213: 0.05
Figure 4. How about Fir any * or ** or letters in both graphs?
Please use the same font in Y axis caption of these 2 graphs as follow:
Total seedlings %
Line 298: 250,000 seeds
Line 317: 7,000 to 8,000 seeds
Line 322: You may add a paragraph to conclude the research.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Reviewer 2
Journal Forests (ISSN 1999-4907)
Manuscript ID forests-451503
Type Article
Number of Pages 20
Title
Seed rain and seedling establishment of Picea glauca and Abies balsamea after partial cutting in plantations and natural stands
Authors
Laurent Gagné *, Luc Sirois , Luc Lavoie
Abstract
The conditions for natural regeneration of white spruce (Picea glauca) and balsam fir (Abies balsamea) in 12 natural stands and 5 plantations containing both species were investigated 9 to 30 years after partial cutting. We estimated seed input on the ground, measured light reaching the understory, and recorded the presence and age of seedlings smaller than 150 cm in height on 6 different substrates: mineral soil, moss, rotten wood, litterfall, herbaceous and dead wood. Partial cutting generally prompted the establishment and growth of seedlings. The number of fir and spruce seedlings is always greater in natural stands than in plantations, a trend likely associated with the reduced abundance of suitable substrate for establishment in the latter. White spruce is significantly associated to rotten wood while fir settles on all types of substrates that cover at least 10% of the forest floor. There is a strong relationship between light intensity and the median height of spruce seedlings, but this relationship is non-significant for fir. Seedlings of both species can survive at incident light intensities as low as 3%, but an intensity of 15% or more seems to offer the best growth conditions. The results of this study provide guidelines for successful forest regeneration following partial cuts in spruce-fir stands.
Open Review
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Comments and Suggestions for Authors
Great job authors. Well written manuscript and well structured. Attached file includes my minor comments and points.


Suggestion:
SEE ANSWERS IN BOLD
1-You may expand and improve the introduction.
We did not have any details on these suggestions, and therefore we kept the same introduction.
2-[1,29,37] please express the citations in text based on MDPI journals guideline throughout the manuscript.
We made corrections throughout the manuscript
3- Line 56-59: Please add a conclusion to this manuscript after discussion and includes answering these questions based on results.
The reviewer suggested to add a new paragraph at the end to conclude the research. Instead we rewrote the our last paragraph in a more conclusive style (rather than a prescriptive one, as previously), in addressing each of the four objectives that were mentioned at the end of the introduction section.
4-Please add space between lines 137 and 138
See page 5
5-Line 101-102: before versus after partial cutting.
6-Table 1. Column 7 from left heading: Mean diameter at breast height (cm) See page 4
6a-Also in Table 1. columns under Stems and seedlings per ha SD values in parenthesis are so high for 2 last columns?
The values of SD are the good ones
7-Line 149 should be italic
See page 6
8-Figure 1. (comments on page 7)
Please edit the numbers of y axis: 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 ...
Please edit the numbers of y axis: 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 ...
Please edit the numbers of y axis: 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 ...
See page 7
9-Line 213: 0.05

Figure 4. How about Fir any * or ** or letters in both graphs?
There was no significant difference for the fir. That is why there are not any * or letter.
10-Please use the same font in Y axis caption of these 2 graphs as follow:
Total seedlings % See page 10.
11-Line 298: 250,000 seeds see page 13
Line 317: 7,000 to 8,000 seeds see page 13
Line 322: You may add a paragraph to conclude the research.
See point 3 above
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
