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Forests
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Natural Plant Regeneration Ecology in Forest Ecosystems
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Natural Plant Regeneration Ecology in Forest Ecosystems

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecology and Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 May 2020) | Viewed by 15814

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Maria Calvino-Cancela

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Ecology and Animal Biology, University of Vigo, Faculty of Sciences, Campus Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain
Interests: alien species; conservation biology; forest ecology; forest management; plant–animal interactions; plant regeneration ecology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Natural plant regeneration is a very important ecological process for forest ecosystems. It comprises a cycle of life stages from seeds to seedlings to adult plants and drives the succession of forest communities as well as their restoration following disturbances. It has important implications both at the population level, by determining a population growth and abundance, and at the community level, by determining the patterns of species turnover, as affected by interspecific differences in the success or timing of recruitment under different conditions. Plant regeneration thus shapes community dynamics, is essential for maintaining forest biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and, therefore, for forest conservation planning.

This Special Issue deals with all the natural processes related to plant regeneration in forest ecosystems, such as pollination, seed dispersal, seed predation, or seedling emergence and establishment. We welcome studies focusing on single species, either dominant trees or understory plants, as well as studies at the community level. Studies focused on the response of forest plant regeneration to abiotic and biotic factors typical of forest ecosystems as well as to human disturbances are especially welcome.

Prof. Dr. Maria Calvino-Cancela
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • flowering
  • fruiting
  • herbivory
  • plant demography
  • pollination
  • recruitment
  • seed dispersal
  • seed germination
  • seed predation

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 3841 KiB  
Article
To Plant or Not to Plant, That Is the Question: Reforestation vs. Natural Regeneration of Hurricane-Disturbed Mangrove Forests in Guanaja (Honduras)
by Thomas Fickert
Forests 2020, 11(10), 1068; https://doi.org/10.3390/f11101068 - 6 Oct 2020
Cited by 31 | Viewed by 5627
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Mangrove forests offer many essential ecosystem services, including the protection of (sub)tropical coastlines, their inhabitants, and the infrastructure from severe storms and tsunamis. However, mangroves themselves suffer severely from such phenomena. After such events, reforestation efforts are widely undertaken [...] Read more.
Background and Objectives: Mangrove forests offer many essential ecosystem services, including the protection of (sub)tropical coastlines, their inhabitants, and the infrastructure from severe storms and tsunamis. However, mangroves themselves suffer severely from such phenomena. After such events, reforestation efforts are widely undertaken to facilitate the recovery of the mangroves. Many of these laborious activities, however, fail for a number of reasons. Material and Methods: In October 1998, the Honduran Island of Guanaja was severely hit by Hurricane Mitch, and, after the storm, almost all of the mangrove forests (97%) were rated as dead. Seven years after Mitch, a longterm survey on the regeneration of the mangroves started. Field samplings in six variably disturbed mangrove zones was conducted in 2005, 2009, and 2016. Along permanent line-transects, all living plant species were recorded for statistical analyses and for quantifying progress. In this paper, the focus is on the three most severely hit areas. In two of them, planting efforts were carried out while the third one was left to regenerate naturally. This setting allowed a direct comparison between natural and human-assisted regeneration processes under otherwise similar conditions and equally severe previous disturbance. Results: Reforestation measures were characterized by high mortality rates of Rhizophora mangle L. propagules planted predominantly. Some, however, surely survived and might have contributed to regeneration after the disturbance. In 2016, roughly two decades after Hurricane Mitch, low-growing Rhizophora mangle forests, with high ground cover, were found. Surprisingly, the area without any planting also witnessed similar mangrove rejuvenation in the same period. Conclusion: Findings on the recovering mangroves in Guanaja confirm the lessons learned from other mangrove rehabilitation measures: planting mostly fails and commonly does not accelerate the revegetation of disturbed forests. In naturally regenerating forests, recolonization may occur after a certain time-lag only if few diaspore sources survived in the surrounding; as soon as established mangrove plants bear propagules, a quick return to viable forests takes place, proving the high resilience of these coastal ecosystems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Natural Plant Regeneration Ecology in Forest Ecosystems)
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14 pages, 1655 KiB  
Article
Effects of Seed Size and Sand Burial on Germination and Early Growth of Seedlings for Coastal Pinus thunbergii Parl. in the Northern Shandong Peninsula, China
by Peili Mao, Longmei Guo, Yunxiao Gao, Lin Qi and Banghua Cao
Forests 2019, 10(3), 281; https://doi.org/10.3390/f10030281 - 22 Mar 2019
Cited by 25 | Viewed by 5102
Abstract
This paper examines the effects of seed size and the depth of sand burial on seed germination and seedling development for Pinus thunbergii. Parl. Seeds from 20- to 30-year old trees grown in the coastal area of Yantai were divided into three [...] Read more.
This paper examines the effects of seed size and the depth of sand burial on seed germination and seedling development for Pinus thunbergii. Parl. Seeds from 20- to 30-year old trees grown in the coastal area of Yantai were divided into three size categories (large, medium, and small). The seeds were sown in pots with different depth of sand, and their germination and seedling growth during the first month were investigated. Results showed that large seeds possessed the highest 1000-seed weight and soluble sugar concentration. Large and medium seeds had a higher germination rate, germination index, vigor index, and seedling biomass than small seeds. With the increase in seed size, root mass ratio, root/shoot ratio, specific root length, and specific root area decreased, whereas leaf mass ratio increased. Sand burial depth significantly influenced seed germination and seedling growth, and the highest germination rate and seedling biomass were achieved with 2–3 cm sand burial. We also found that seedling biomass was positively related to germination rate, germination index, and vigor index, but was negatively related to mean germination time. Moreover, seedling biomass was negatively correlated with root mass ratio and root/shoot ratio, but positively correlated with leaf mass ratio, specific root length, and specific root area. The results suggest that seed size and sand burial depth are key factors in the regeneration of the coastal P. thunbergii forest. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Natural Plant Regeneration Ecology in Forest Ecosystems)
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13 pages, 2557 KiB  
Article
Converting Larch Plantations to Larch-Walnut Mixed Stands: Effects of Spatial Distribution Pattern of Larch Plantations on the Rodent-Mediated Seed Dispersal of Juglans mandshurica
by Jing Wang, Qiaoling Yan, Ting Zhang, Deliang Lu, Jin Xie, Yirong Sun, Jinxin Zhang and Jiaojun Zhu
Forests 2018, 9(11), 716; https://doi.org/10.3390/f9110716 - 18 Nov 2018
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3523
Abstract
Larch (Larix spp.) is planted after a clear-cut of secondary forests (SFs) to meet the timber demand of Northeast China. However, the declination of soil fertility and the acidification of surface runoff in larch plantations (LPs) resulting from mono-species composition have threatened [...] Read more.
Larch (Larix spp.) is planted after a clear-cut of secondary forests (SFs) to meet the timber demand of Northeast China. However, the declination of soil fertility and the acidification of surface runoff in larch plantations (LPs) resulting from mono-species composition have threatened the sustainable development of LPs. Converting pure LPs into larch-walnut mixed forests can solve those problems, in which it is crucial to promote the seed regeneration of Juglans mandshurica in LPs. The success of walnut seed regeneration is dependent on rodent removing seed away from mother trees and the dispersal processes rely on the stand structure. The spatial distribution pattern between LPs and SFs is a type of stand structure that might affect seed dispersal. There are two typical spatial patterns in Northeast China due to different topographical conditions, that is, contour type (C-T, LPs and SFs located at the same slope position and aspect) and downslope type (D-T, LPs located at the down slope of the adjacent SF in the same aspect). The objectives of our study were to verify the effects of the spatial distribution pattern of LPs on rodent-mediated seed dispersal and to determine the optimal spatial distribution type for seed dispersal. The field trial was conducted by releasing tagged J. mandshurica seeds at three stages of seed rain during two continuous growing seasons in two types of spatial distribution patterns for LPs. We found that contour type had a substantial advantage in the rodent-mediated seed dispersal, that is, the dispersal rate and the proportion of scatter-hoarded seeds in LPs of C-T stands were much higher than in D-T stands, respectively. These differences may be caused by the variation in the topographic factor for these two types of spatial distribution pattern of LPs. In the C-T stands, it was a translational motion for rodents to remove walnuts from SFs to LPs, which would be an energy efficient and favorable method of seed dispersal. Fluctuation of seed abundance had an effect on rodent behaviors and seed fates, that is, there was a faster dispersal rate and lower proportion of seeds in situ in the non-masting year of 2015 than in the masting year of 2016 and proportion of scatter-hoarded seeds reached the highest during the early stage and lowest at the middle stage of seed rain. Thus, the contour type of LPs with a favorable terrain advantage is potentially conducive to dispersing walnut seeds by rodents during early stage of seed rain and converting larch plantations into larch-walnut mixed forests. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Natural Plant Regeneration Ecology in Forest Ecosystems)
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