Liana regeneration in the treefall gaps, at the gap edges and in the forest interior of a subtropical montane moist evergreen broad-leaved forest in the Ailao Mountains, Southwestern China

The regenerative pattern of lianas was studied across an environmental gradient from treefall gaps to gap edges to the forest interior of a subtropical montane primary forest in southwestern China. Specifically, the following questions were addressed: (1) How do the species composition, species richness and abundance of regenerative lianas change across the environmental gradients? (2) What is the regeneration mode of lianas at the community and species levels under different forest habitats? I established sample plots in each of the three forest habitats and counted all liana stems & LE; 50 cm in height or length. I found that the species composition of regenerative lianas varied between treefall gaps, gap edges and the forest interior, with light-demanding species primarily growing in the first two habitats and shade-tolerant species growing in the last habitat. PCA ordination also showed clear clustering of the plots between treefall gaps, gap edges and forest interior. The species' distribution changed from the leftmost shade-tolerant to the rightmost light-demanding species along the first axis of the PCA ordination. The abundance and species richness of regenerative lianas were significantly higher in the treefall gaps and at the gap edges than in the forest interior. Of the 25 species recorded, fifteen regenerated only from seed, while the others regenerated from rhizomes (five species) or from stolons (five species), as well as from seed. Seed regeneration was common in the three forest habitats, while clonal growth mainly occurred in the forest interior. Result from the two-way ANOVA indicated that species, habitats and their interactions had significant effects on the regeneration pattern of lianas at the community level.