Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T06:17:24.890Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Variable regeneration behaviour of Ulmus davidiana var. Japonica in response to disturbance regime for risk spreading

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2008

Kenji Seiwa
Kenji Seiwa
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Forest Ecology, Experimental Farm, Tohoku University, Narugo, Miyagi, 989–67, Japan
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recruitment-related traits (development and dispersal of seeds, emergence, leaf dynamics, growth and survival of seedlings) were studied in Japanese elm (Ulmus davidiana var. japonica) in relation to disturbance at the soil level (bare soil, litter and control) or the canopy level (forest edge (FE), small gaps (SG) and forest understorey (FU)), or both, in a riverside forest from 1990 to 1993. Seed germination was also tested in the laboratory. Litter accumulation severely inhibited seedling emergence. Seedling emergence from a single seed rain occurred in summer immediately after seed dissemination and in the following spring. In summer, seedling emergence was higher in FE than in FU. In the following spring more seedlings emerged in FU than in FE and SG, resulting in non-significant differences in the percentage emergence among the three sites in bare soil. Darkness or far-red light induced seed dormancy, but after chilling they started to germinate again under white or red light conditions. These results explained emergence phenology under changing light conditions in the field. In FU, the spring emerging cohort grew and survived better than the summer emerging one. In FE the reverse was true. Japanese elm avoids unfavourable periods by escaping either in time (dormancy) or in space (dispersal). Such traits compensate for late and compressed seed dissemination, and improve seedling growth and survival not only when disturbance occurs at both canopy and soil level (bare soil in FE) but also only at soil level (bare soil in FU), which may occur more frequently in riverside forests.

Keywords

gapsfar-red lightlitterphenologyseed germinationseedling emergenceseedling survival
Type
Ecology
Information
Seed Science Research , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , June 1997 , pp. 195 - 207
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Augspurger, C.K. (1984) Seedling survival of tropical tree species: interaction of dispersal distance, light gaps, and pathogens. Ecology 65, 1705–1712.Google Scholar
Canham, C.D. and Marks, P.L. (1985) The response of woody plants to disturbance: patterns of establishment and growth. pp 197–216in Pickett, S. T. A. and White, P. S. (Eds) The ecology of natural disturbance and patch dynamics. New York, Academic Press.Google Scholar
Collins, S.L. and Good, R.E. (1987) The seedling regeneration niche: habitat structure of seedlings in oak-pine forest. Oikos 48, 89–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Facelli, J.M. and Pickett, S.T.A. (1991) Plant litter: its dynamics and effects on plant community structure. Botanical Reviews 57, 1–32.Google Scholar
Fenner, M. (1985) Seed ecology. London: Chapman & Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freas, K.E. and Kemp, P.R. (1983). Some relationships between environmental reliability and seed dormancy in desert annual plants. Journal of Ecology 71, 211–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haeusseler, S. and Tappeiner, J.C. II. (1993) Effects of the light environment on seed germination of red alder (Alnus rubra). Canadian Journal of Forest Research 23, 1487–1491.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hara, H. (1996) Seed insects of the Japanese elm. Seasonal Report of Hokkaido Forestry Research Institute 101, 4–7.Google Scholar
Harper, J.L. (1977) Population biology of plants. London, Academic Press.Google Scholar
Houle, G. (1994) Spatiotemporal patterns in the components of regeneration of four sympatric tree species—Acerrubrum, A. saccharum, Betula allegehaniensis and Fagus grandifolia. Journal of Ecology 82, 39–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howe, H.F. and Smallwood, J. (1982) Ecology of seed dispersal. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 13, 201–228.Google Scholar
Jones, R., Sharitz, R., Dixon, P., Segal, D. and Schneider, R. (1994) Woody plant regeneration in four flood plain forests. Ecological Monographs 64, 345–367.Google Scholar
Kitajima, K. and Augspurger, C.K. (1989) Seed and seedling ecology of a monocarpic tropical tree, Tachigalia versicolor. Ecology 70, 1102–1114.Google Scholar
Kon, H. and Okitsu, S. (1995) Structure and regeneration of Ulmus davidiana var. japonica forest at Mt. Asama and Mt. Togakushi, Central Japan. Technical Bulletin of Faculty of Horticulture, Chiba, University 49, 99–110.Google Scholar
Kramer, P.J. and Kozlowski, T.T. (1979) Physiology of woody plants, London, Academic Press.Google Scholar
Molofsky, J. and Augspurger, C.K. (1992) The effect of leaf litter on early seedling establishment in a tropical forest. Ecology 73, 68–77.Google Scholar
Nakamura, F. (1990) Perspectives for the effects of geomorphic processes. Biological Science 42, 57–67.Google Scholar
Namikawa, K. (1996) Stand dynamics during a 12 year period in an old-growth cool temperate forest in northern-Japan. Ecological Research 11, 23–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Niiyama, K. (1990) The role of seed dispersal and seedling traits in colonization and coexistence of Salix species in a seasonally flooded habitat. Ecological Research 5, 317–331.Google Scholar
Peterson, C.J. and Facelli, J.M. (1992) Contrasting germination and resource partitioning by Betula and Rhus subjected to various amounts and types of plant litter. American Journal of Botany 79, 1209–1216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rokish, D.P. and Bell, D.P. (1995) Light quality and intensity effects on the germination of species from the Jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) forest of western Australia. Australian Journal of Botany 43, 169–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schupp, E.W., Howe, H.F., Augspurger, C.K. and Levey, D.J. (1989) Arrival and survival in tropical tree fall gaps. Ecology 70, 562–564.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seiwa, K. and Kikuzawa, K. (1991) Phenology of tree seedlings in relation to seed size. Canadian Journal of Botany 69, 532–538.Google Scholar
Seiwa, K. and Kikuzawa, K. (1996) Importance of seed size for the establishment of seedlings of five deciduous broad-leaved tree species. Vegetatio 123, 51–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silvertown, J.W. (1984) Phenotypic variety in seed germination behaviour: the ontogeny and evolution of somatic polymorphism in seeds. American Naturalist 124, 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
St. Clair, J.B. and Adams, W.T. (1991) Effects of seed weight and rate of emergence on early growth of open-pollinated Douglas-fir families. Forest Science 37, 987–997.Google Scholar
Streng, D.R., Gritzenstein, J.S. and Harcombe, P.A. (1989) Woody seedling dynamics in an east Texas floodplain forest. Ecological Monograph 59, 177–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sydes, C. and Grime, J.P. (1981) Effect of tree leaf litter on herbaceous vegetation in deciduous woodlands I. Field investigations. Journal of Ecology 69, 237–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tatewaki, M. (1961a) Vegetation of the deciduous broad-leaved forest along the Ohotsuku sea, prov. Kitami, Hokkaido. (Tatewaki's iconography of vegetation of the natural forest in Japan VI). Laboratory of Botany, Hokkaido University. (in Japanese with English summary)Google Scholar
Tatewaki, M. (1961b) Vegetation of the forests in the vicinity of lake Shikotsu, prov. Iburi, Hokkaido. (Tatewaki's iconography of vegetation of the natural forest in Japan VIII). Kitami Forest Office. (in Japanese with English summary)Google Scholar
Tatewaki, M., Tohyama, M. and Igarashi, T. (1967) The forest vegetation on the lake-side of Abashiri, prov. Kitami, Hokkaido, Japan. Memoires of the Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University 6, 284–324. (in Japanese with English summary)Google Scholar
Tatewaki, M., Ito, K., Tohyama, M. and Yokomizo, Y. (1966) Forest vegetation of Oku-nikko, pref. Tochigi in central Honshu. (Tatewaki's iconography of vegetation of the natural forest in Japan X). Research Bulletins of the College Experiment Forest, Hokkaido University, 26, 291–498. (in Japanese with English summary)Google Scholar
Thompson, K., Grime, J.P. and Mason, G. (1977) Seed germination in response to diurnal fluctuation in temperature. Nature 267, 147–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsuneya, F. (1996) Distribution patterns and habitat conditions of the main tree species composed lowland forests in Oyafuru, Hokkaido, Japan. Japanese Journal of Ecology 46, 21–30. (in Japanese with English summary)Google Scholar
Vazquez-Yanes, C. and Orozco-Segovia, A. (1993) Patterns of seed longevity and germination in the tropical rain forest. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 24, 69–87.Google Scholar
Venable, D.L. and Brown, J.S. (1988) The selective interactions of dispersal, dormancy, and seed size as adaptations for reducing risk in variable environments. American Naturalist 131, 360–384.Google Scholar
Venable, D.L. and Lawlor, L. (1980) Delayed germination and dispersal in desert annuals: escape in space and time. Oecologia 46, 272–282.Google Scholar
Zammit, C. and Westoby, M. (1987) Seedling recruitment strategies in obligate-seeding and resprouting Banksia shrubs. Ecology 68, 1984–1992.Google Scholar