ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Comparing the Stand Structure of a Secondary
Mixed Forest with Three Broad-Leaved Forests
in China’s Greater Khingan Mountains
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Key Laboratory of Sustainable Forest Management and Environmental Microorganism Engineering
of Heilongjiang Province, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China
Submission date: 2019-10-18
Final revision date: 2019-11-12
Acceptance date: 2019-11-18
Online publication date: 2020-03-27
Publication date: 2020-05-12
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2020;29(5):3127-3141
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ABSTRACT
Stand structure is an important feature reflecting the status of forests. Here, four typical secondary
forests in the Greater Khingan Mountains are examined. Five random plots were selected from
each forest, and their tree size distributions and stand spatial structures were compared. The unary
distributions of the diameters at breast height (DBH) and tree heights showed consistency, which
indicated there was an over-abundance of small-diameter trees in these forests. The joint probability
distribution showed that the number of small-diameter trees was significantly larger than that of
large-diameter trees. Furthermore, according to the unary distribution of spatial structure characteristics,
the stands mostly exhibited a clustered structure, and the competition in the stands was intense, which is
not conducive to growth. One-way covariance analysis was used to test the similarities and differences
in the spatial parameters of the four stands. There were no significant differences between them in
terms of dominance or the uniform angle index. Only mingling was significantly different, where the
mixed forest had a significant advantage (p = 0.05). The structure of these secondary stands is poor, so
the formation of a stable forest ecosystem by natural succession is hampered.