Seed production and seedling survival in a stand of Corsican pine in Southern Britain
Summary
There is much literature on natural regeneration which emphasizes the importance of good seed year, but few authors consider seed input in terms of the combination of seed quantity (i.e. number of seeds) plus seed quality (i.e. percentage of viable seeds). We have considered both aspects and also attempted to identify the proportions of good vs poor quality seeds contributing to natural regeneration via ‘ seed rain ’ vs ‘ cone drop ’ . In addition to studying seed input, we looked at the effects of vegetation control, ground preparation and protection from small mammals on seedling emergence and survival. Over a 3-year period (February 2001 to March 2004), there was enough seed production and seedling survival to conclude that natural regeneration could be successful beneath a 50-year-old stand of Corsican pine in the south of England. Peaks of pine seed release occurred in March/April in 2002 and 2003, but it was extremely surprising to observe that some seed was trapped in virtually every month of the 3-year study, demonstrating an almost continual release of (at least) small quantities of seeds. In line with this finding, although most pine seedlings were found shortly after peak seed dispersal in May, June and July; new seedlings were found in every month throughout the study except February and October. In general, vegetation control and ground preparation had a positive effect on seedling survival; the probability of a seedling surviving for 300 days was between 50 and 60 per cent. See also: Kerr, G., Gosling, P., Morgan, G., Stokes, V., Cunningham, V. and Parratt, M. (2008) Seed production and seedling survival in a 50 year-old stand of Corsican pine (Pinus nigra subsp. laricio) in southern Britain. Forestry, 81 (4): 525-541.
Categories
Use limitation statement
There are no public access constraints to this data. Use of this data is subject to the licence identified.
Licence
Contains Forestry Commission information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Attribution statement
If you use this data you must cite Kerr, G., Gosling, P., Morgan, G., Stokes, V., Cunningham, V. and Parratt, M. (2008) Seed production and seedling survival in a 50 year-old stand of Corsican pine (Pinus nigra subsp. laricio) in southern Britain. Forestry, 81 (4): 525-541.
Use constraints
Forest Research must be acknowledged as the source of the data in any subsequent papers/products
Technical information
Update frequency
notPlanned
Lineage
Data were created following the method described in Kerr et al. (2008). The "cumulative counts" csv files give monthly totals for Trays (East and West) and Quadrats (East and West) Totals are recorded for birch, western hemlock, corsican pine, "other" seed (unidentified), Numbers of empty/broken pieces of husks are also recorded as well as cones and cores. The seed part of this collection went on for germination in the labs. The empty/broken husks, cones and cores were simply counted and removed from the trial. Birch, western hemlock and "other" seeds went on to a pre-chilled germination. The numbers of normal germinations after 0, 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35 days were counted. THIS COUNT IS CUMULATIVE. The remainder of the seeds were classified into: abnormal = seed germinated but did not develop normally fresh = seed live and viable but did not germinate in the 35 day period chit = seed germinated on probably the last day of the experiment (was just starting germination) dead = seed was dead empty = seed cut open at the end of the germination trial and was found to be empty Corsican pine seeds went on to a no-prechill germination The numbers of normal germinations after 0, 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35 days were counted. THIS COUNT IS CUMULATIVE. After June 2001 the germination trial was reduced to 28 days as no further seeds had been observed germinating after 35 days. The remainder of the seeds were classified into: abnormal = seed germinated but did not develop normally fresh = seed live and viable but did not germinate in the 35 day period chit = seed germinated on probably the last day of the experiment (was just starting germination) dead = seed was dead empty = seed cut open at the end of the germination trial and was found to be empty "VIABLE SEED" = gernimated, abnormal, chit and fresh "NON-VIABLE SEED" = dead and empty seeds NOTE July/August/September 2001 were all sampled together October 2003 was a 3 week collection Late October/November 2003 was a 6 week collection
Spatial information
Coordinate reference system
http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/EPSG/0/27700Geographic extent
- Latitude from: 51.1847 to 51.1853
- Longitude from: -0.8515 to -0.8505
Metadata information
Language
English
Metadata identifier
469f313c-f870-47aa-98fd-3fbab354b132
Published by
Forestry Commission
Contact publisher
mapping.geodata@forestry.gov.ukDataset reference dates
Creation date
31 December 2004
Revision date
19 January 2016
Publication date
N/A
Period
- From: 01 March 2001
- To: 30 April 2004
Search
Data and Supporting Information
| Data services and download by area of interest | Link | Action |
|---|---|---|
| https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/data.defra.gov.uk/Forestry/FC_OpenData/FR/AH463.zip | Open link |