Empirical solution to functions of canopy gaps in the maintenance of biodiversity of a broadleaved natural forest in Japan.

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We investigated sapling community at 53 forest canopy gaps in a natural forest in northern Ibaraki, for approximately 20 years. By chasing many samples for a long term in a permanent observation plot, we empirically clarified 1) regeneration process of major tree species that have not be well known and 2) the appropriateness of a popular hypothesis that canopy gaps contribute to maintain the biodiversity of forest tree species. It was shown that there are species which depend on gaps, that some of the species decline if the gaps became old, that regeneration in gaps was influenced by size or topography of the gaps, and that the trees which breed by birds have high dependence to the gaps.