The Population Characteristics Of Fargesia Nitida In Different Successional Stands Of The Subalpine Coniferous Forest In Wolong Nature Reserve

The special growth and propagation mode allow clonal plants to persist under varied environmental. Much attention has been focused on herbaceous clonal plants and a little is known about woody clonal plants. Based on field investigation, the present study examined the clonal population traits of Fargesia nitida in different successional stands of the Subalpine coniferous forest in Wolong Nature Reserve.To examine the bamboo ramet population growth of Fargesia nitida(Mitford) Keng f. et Yi and to determine how ramet population structure varies along the regeneration of coniferous forest, we sampled ramet populations of F. nitida from the following three successional stages: (i) a deciduous broad-leaved (BL)stand; (ii) a mixed broad-leaved coniferous (MI) stand; and (iii) a coniferous (CF) stand. We investigated the population structure, biomass allocation, and morphological characteristics of the bamboo ramet among the three stand types. Clonal ramets, constituting the bamboo population, tended to become short and small with succession. The ramet changed towards having a greater mass investment in leaves, branches and underground roots and rhizomes rather than in the culm. With respect to leaf traits, individual leaf mass and area in the BL stand were markedly bigger than those in both the MI and CF stands, except for no significant difference in specific leaf area. The age distribution showed that the bamboo population approached an older age with succession. The results demonstrate that the ramet population structure of F.nitida is unstable and its growth performance is inhibited by succession.Morphological plasticity is a crucial ecological strategy for this dwarf bamboo in a changing environment. The present study investigated the morphological traits of this bamboo in three stands (a deciduous broad-leaved (BL) stand, a mixed broad-leaved coniferous (MI) stand,and a coniferous (CF) stand) representing the central succession process. The results were as follows: the genet bamboo clump was weakened, in respect of size, height, biomass cumulation, with regeneration; underground biomass percentage and leaf biomass percentage were higher than other module; the morphological parameters of bamboo ramet were markedly influenced by the coniferous forest succession. clonal bamboo, in any hierachical growth forms, was intensively impacted by the succession. Nevertheless, this dwarf bamboo developed the morphological plasticity as a response.To understand the clonal expansion of this dwarf bamboo, the numeric traits and the budding and shooting capacity were examined. The results were as follows: the rhizome growth pattern belongs to the phalanx pattern. There was no significant difference in rhizome density, density and percentage of new surviving rhizome. At early stage the rhizome development was better. And there was no significance in underground biomass cumulation density. There was no difference in bud density. Compared to the BL and MI stands, the bamboo clump without shoot occupied a large percentage and the number of the bamb'oo with more than one shoot was low.