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

对茨城县北部一天然森林53个林隙的树苗群落进行了近20年的调查。通过在一个永久的观测样地长期追踪大量样本，我们从经验上澄清了1)不为人知的主要树种的更新过程，2)流行的树冠间隙有助于维持森林树种生物多样性的假设的正确性。结果表明：有一些物种依赖于林隙，一些物种随着林隙的老化而减少，林隙的更新受林隙大小和地形的影响，鸟类繁殖的树木对林隙有高度的依赖性。

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.