Effects of forest canopy gap on biomass of Abies faxoniana seedlings and its allocation in subalpine coniferous forests of western Sichuan

摘要

Using a strip transect sampling method, the density, height (≤ 100 cm), basal diameter and compo-nents of biomass of Abiesfaxoniana seedlings, living in a forest gap (FG) and under the forest canopy (FC) of sub-alpine natural coniferous forests in western Sichuan, were investigated and the relationships among different com-ponents of biomass analyzed. The results indicated that the density and average height (H) of A. faxoniana seed-lings were significantly different in the FG and under the FC, with the values being 12903 and 2017 per hm2, and 26.6 and 24.3 cm. No significant differences were found in the average basal diameter (D) and biomass. The biomass allocation in seedling components was significantly affec-ted by forest gap. In the FG, the biomass ratio of branch to stem reached a maximum of 1.54 at age 12 and then declined and fluctuated around 0.69. Under the FC, the biomass ratio of branch to stem increased with seedling growth and exceeded 1.0 at about age 15. The total bio-mass and the biomass of leaves, stems, shoots and roots grown in the FG and under the FC were significantly correlated with D2H. There were significant and positive correlations among the biomass of different components.