Relationships between resprouting ability, species traits, and resource allocation patterns in woody species in a temperate forest

Many woody plants resprout to restore above-ground biomass after disturbances or to survive in stressful environments. Resprouting requires carbohydrate storage, but the general relationship between resource allocation patterns and resprouting ability remains unclear because it can be influenced by the disturbance regime to which species have adapted.
We studied deciduous broadleaved trees that coexist in a Japanese cool-temperate forest to investigate the relationships among the biomass and total non-structural carbohydrate (TNC) allocation patterns of saplings, resprouting ability and functional traits. The study species comprised 16 single-stemmed species that only resprout when above-ground biomass loss occurs and eight multi-stemmed species that resprout regardless of whether above-ground damage occurs or not.
Single-stemmed species with better juvenile resprouting ability had larger roots, whereas multi-stemmed species with better juvenile resprouting ability did not necessarily...