Sprouting characteristic in restoration ecosystems of monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forest in south-central of Yunnan

Seedling, made up of small individuals of woody plant species in the understorey, is an important component of many forests and considered as an important source for natural restoration in forest ecosystems. Simultaneously seedling plays an important role in the regeneration of numerous tree species. Based on space鄄for鄄time substitution method, we treated coniferous and broad鄄leaved mixed forest, secondary monsoon evergreen broad鄄leaved forest ( MEBF ) , primary MEBF in the same area as three different stages of secondary succession of MEBF. Eight sampling plots representing the three different stages distribute in Caiyanghe nature reserve, surrounding the areas of Meizihu and Xinfang reservoir of Puer, in Yunnan Province, the southwest of China. We investigated seedling regeneration characteristics of woody plants of MEBF during secondary succession by looking at species composition, density, height level and the relationship with environmental factors. Overall, we found 2014 individuals of woody seedlings belonging to 101 species ( dominated by understory tree species) in the eight plots covering 144鄄m 2 area. The species richness of tree seedling, shrub seedling and liana seedling were 50, 29 and 22 respectively, and their corresponding individuals were 1499, 299 and 216. Tree seedling

Sprouting regeneration is one important mechanism of many woody plants, it plays an important role in the process of maintaining population stability and continuity. Sprouting is a part of " regeneration niche 冶 and a highly evolutionary labile trait of many ancient plant species, it has important physiological function on the regulating of plant individual life history strategies. Taxus yunnanensis is one of the relic species of the Tertiary Period and also is the endangered plants. Taxus yunnanensis is the first鄄class protective plants in China, which is mainly distributed in Yunnan,