Recruitment of Arbor Species in highly Fragmented Secondary Forests

Abstract

In suburban areas, management of fragmented forests have become to an important problem. To estimate the future species composition of tree layer, present species composition and size distribution of seedlings and saplings of arbor species were investigated in the suburbs of the Tokorozawa city, Japan. The results are as follows. 1) The species composition were varied with the distance from parent trees, and the internal factors such as vegetative structures and understory coverage. 2) Almost individuals of the present canopy species such as Quercus se rrata and Celtis sinensis were very small (max.=4.8mm), but that of Q. myrsinaefolia, Chamaecyparis pisifera, and C. obtusa were comparatively larger. The latter of the results indicates that Q. myrsinaefolia, C. pisifera, and C. obtusa may dominate under canopy in the future.