The patterns and factors of vegetation recovery at abandoned plantation clearcut sites in kyushu region: Implication for management

Forest recovery at abandoned plantation clearcut sites in Kyushu region depends on the amount and type of regeneration sources (buried seeds, advanced regeneration, and dispersed seeds). At the initial stage of recovery, all types of regeneration sources were important. On the other hand, the following successional process was reflected by possibility of seed dispersal. In particular, lucidophyllous species tended to recover at abandoned sites with a higher possibility of evergreen tree seed dispersal. Deer browsing was detected as the factor preventing vegetation development which was supposed to recover from these regeneration sources. Sites under moderate or serious deer browsing pressure were mostly covered by grasses and considered as the first priority sites for labor allocation. Sites without advanced regeneration, poor number of buried seeds or no adjacent broadleaved forest, tended to have low coverage of pioneer trees at the initial stage and the dominance of pioneer species predicted to continue even after 15 years. Decisions on labor allocation to these sites should be contingent on long-term tree species recoveries. Other vegetation recovery patterns which were dominated by evergreen trees or non-pioneer deciduous trees, or those mixed with pioneer trees, have low priorities for immediate labor allocation. Nonetheless, they will also require long-term monitoring to determine whether they will progress to the target lucidophyllous forest.