The survivorship of a monocarpic bamboo grass, Sasa kurilensis, during the early regeneration process was documented by a 10 year observation of the seedling population after mass flowering in the Hakkoda Mountains, northern Japan. Three phases were recognized: the establishment, density-stable and thinning phases. The mortality of the densely germinated seedlings (932.9 m-2 in a Betula ermanii forest and 1222.3 m -2 in a Sasa grassland) was high, up to 0.5 year -1, in the establishment phase (0-1 year after germination) and low in the density-stable phase ( 1-3 years after germination). After reaching full density state, the seedling population showed a nearly constant mortality of 0.18 year-* due to self-thinning (the thinning phase). The high C/F ratio presumably caused suppressed seedlings to die. Recovery of the S. kurilensis population was estimated to require ca 20 years in the study plots, judging from the height growth and the decrease in culm density of the seedling population. The illuminance on the ground was higher in the flowered population than in the unflowered one for 5 years after mass death. The duration of high ground illuminance is an important factor affecting the dynamics of forests with Sasa undergrowth, because tree seedlings need to establish under high ground illuminance for the successful regeneration of the forests.
This data paper reports tree census data collected in a network of 34 forest sites in Japan. This is the largest forest data set freely available in Japan to date. The network is a part of the Monitoring Sites 1000 Project launched by the Ministry of the Environment, Japan. It covers subarctic to subtropical climate zones and the four major forest types in Japan. Forty-two permanent plots, usually 1 ha in size, were established in old-growth or secondary natural forests. Censuses of woody species ‡15 cm girth at breast height were conducted every year or once during 2004 to 2009. The data provide species abundance, survivorship and stem girth growth of 52,534 individuals of 334 tree and liana species. The censuses adopted common census protocol, which provide good opportunities for meta-analyses and comparative studies among forests. The data have been used for ecological studies as well as for the biodiversity reports published by the Ministry of the Environment.
The flowering behavior and juvenile growth habits of bamboos are reviewed in relation t o clonal growth, and the significance of the mode of clonal growth in the life history of bamboos is discussed. The rhizome system composes the basic frame of bamboo plants and determines fundamental ecological features. We can recognize clear differences in the rhizome systems between tropical and temperate regions, as well as changes in flowering behavior. Bamboos in warmer regions have the clump-forming pachymorph rhizome system and tend t o flower at shorter intervals and less synchronously. Temperate bamboos tend t o form closed bamboo forests with a leptomorph rhizome system and have a conspicuous mass flowering pattern with a long interval. The adaptive significance of differences in flowering behavior can be understood by analyzing the population structure and pattern of genet distribution in tropical and temperate regions. The population dynamics of juveniles are also strongly affected by the mode of clonal growth, especially by the pattern of expansion. The mode of clonal growth plays an important role in determining the pattern of population recovery after flowering. It is thus indispensable to analyze species-specific characteristics of clonal growth for the elucidation of evolutionary trends of bamboo life history.
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