Effects of light intensity on seed germination and early seedling performance of Plnus koraiensls: implication for regeneration improvement

摘要

Pinus koraiensis is one of the three worldwide five-leaved pine species in the northern hemisphere. The development of P. koraiensis community in the secondary forests has been severely restricted because of the failure of its natural regeneration. Seed germination and seedling performance, the two key stages in the natural regeneration processes, are critical to environmental conditions. It has been proved that light conditions might be the most vital for seed germination and seedling growth. However, the light requirements of germination are not always correlated with seedling shade tolerance for woody species. To determine the optimum light requirements of these two key stages for P. koraiensis will be beneficial for improving its regeneration capability by artificial measures. We hypothesized that uncoupled light requirements for these two stages might be adverse to the natural regeneration of P. koraiensis.