Seed production and seedling survival in a stand of Corsican pine in Southern Britain

There is much literature on natural regeneration which emphasizes the importance of good seed year, but few authors consider seed input in terms of the combination of seed quantity (i.e. number of seeds) plus seed quality (i.e. percentage of viable seeds). We have considered both aspects and also attempted to identify the proportions of good vs poor quality seeds contributing to natural regeneration via ‘ seed rain ’ vs ‘ cone drop ’ . In addition to studying seed input, we looked at the effects of vegetation control, ground preparation and protection from small mammals on seedling emergence and survival. Over a 3-year period (February 2001 to March 2004), there was enough seed production and seedling survival to conclude that natural regeneration could be successful beneath a 50-year-old stand of Corsican pine in the south of England. Peaks of pine seed release occurred in March/April in 2002 and 2003, but it was extremely surprising to observe that some seed was trapped in virtually every month of the 3-year study, demonstrating an almost continual release of (at least) small quantities of seeds. In line with this finding, although most pine seedlings were found shortly after peak seed dispersal in May, June and July; new seedlings were found in every month throughout the study except February and October. In general, vegetation control and ground preparation had a positive effect on seedling survival; the probability of a seedling surviving for 300 days was between 50 and 60 per cent.
See also: Kerr, G., Gosling, P., Morgan, G., Stokes, V., Cunningham, V. and Parratt, M. (2008) Seed production and seedling survival in a 50 year-old stand of Corsican pine (Pinus nigra subsp. laricio) in southern Britain. Forestry, 81 (4): 525-541. Attribution statement: If you use this data you must cite Kerr, G., Gosling, P., Morgan, G., Stokes, V., Cunningham, V. and Parratt, M. (2008) Seed production and seedling survival in a 50 year-old stand of Corsican pine (Pinus nigra subsp. laricio) in southern Britain. Forestry, 81 (4): 525-541.

关于自然更新的文献颇为丰富，其中强调优质种子年份的重要性，然而鲜有作者将种子输入视为种子数量（即种子总数）与种子质量（即存活种子百分比）的有机结合。本研究兼顾了这两方面，并试图通过‘种子雨’与‘球果脱落’的比例来识别优质与劣质种子对自然更新的贡献。此外，在研究种子输入的同时，我们还考察了植被控制、土壤准备以及抵御小型哺乳动物对幼苗出土与存活的影响。在三年期间（2001年2月至2004年3月），种子产量与幼苗存活率均达到足以得出结论的水平，即在英格兰南部50年生的 Corsican pine 林下，自然更新可以取得成功。2002年和2003年3月/4月出现了松树种子释放的高峰，但令人震惊的是，在三年研究中的几乎每个月份都发现了被捕获的种子，这表明种子释放几乎是持续不断的（至少是少量种子的释放）。与此发现一致的是，尽管大多数松树幼苗在5月、6月和7月的种子散布高峰期被发现，但在整个研究过程中，除了2月和10月外，每个月份都发现了新的幼苗。总的来说，植被控制和土壤准备对幼苗存活具有积极影响；幼苗存活300天的概率在50%至60%之间。参见：Kerr, G.，Gosling, P.，Morgan, G.，Stokes, V.，Cunningham, V. 和 Parratt, M. (2008) 英国南部50年生Corsican pine（Pinus nigra subsp. laricio）林中的种子产量与幼苗存活率。林业，81（4）：525-541。引用声明：若您使用此数据，必须引用Kerr, G.，Gosling, P.，Morgan, G.，Stokes, V.，Cunningham, V. 和 Parratt, M. (2008) 英国南部50年生Corsican pine（Pinus nigra subsp. laricio）林中的种子产量与幼苗存活率。林业，81（4）：525-541。