The groundbreaking example of creation of a tree plantation in an urban area is the “Inochi-No-Mori” project. The main goal of vegetation creation in Inochi-No-Mori is a deciduous broad-leaved forest dominated by Celtis sinensis and Aphananthe aspera. C. sinensis and A. aspera forests are thought to be the native vegetation of the Kyoto basin. For creation of C. sinensis and A. aspera plantations in urban areas, the promotion of natural regeneration of these two woody species is a necessity. To achieve this goal, an understanding of the growth characteristics of seedlings of these two species is required. To clarify the growth characteristics, recruitment, mortality and relative height growth rates of seedlings of C. sinensis and A. aspera in Inochi- No-Mori, we set up 163 quadrats (163 m2) on the forest floor of this tree plantation. As a result, there were no significance differences in mortality rates between two species. Recruitment rates of A. aspera seedlings, were relatively low. But low mortality and high growth rates were observed in this species. Although there were high recruitment rates in the C. sinensis seedlings, mortality rates were high and growth rates were relatively low. In a created urban tree plantation, the regeneration processes of the closely related species C. sinensis and A. aspera differed.
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