Abstract
Combining the data of current stand structures with past records regarding seed production, seedling dynamics and growth collected just before and after harvest cutting, we investigated the regeneration process of Fagus crenata over 30 years of natural regeneration practice, at the Hakkoda Research Site, northern Honshu, Japan. A large number of sound seeds were produced in 1976. The density of F. crenata seedlings in cutting years was 30,000 ha−1 where clear cutting was carried out 1 year before the masting, while the density was 430,000 and 260,000 where shelterwood logging was carried out in the year after the masting and 2 years after the masting, respectively. The majority of regenerating trees were advanced seedlings that originated from the last masting before the cuttings. In 2007, ca 30 years after the cuttings, secondary forests with sufficiently high F. crenata density had been formed in the two shelterwood plots harvested after the masting, while the regeneration was relatively sparse in the clearcut plot harvested before the masting. Different forest floor treatments caused few differences in the densities of regenerating trees over the course of 30 years. These findings reveal that advanced regeneration played an important role in achieving the successful regeneration of F. crenata in this case.
