Stand structure of a natural Pinus-Cunninghamia forest in Anhui, eastern China

The aim is to determine the ecological characteristics of Pinus massoniana Lamb and Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb) Hook, which co-dominate a natural coniferous forest in the Huangshan region of Anhui Province, eastern China, we examined the spatial patterns, size structure, and tree height-diameter relationship of both species. P. massoniana dominated the canopy layer, but smaller individuals were scarce. In contrast, C. lanceolata co-dominated the sub-canopy layer and had a considerable number of saplings and sprouting from the root collar of larger individuals. The spatial pattern of P. massoniana tended to be overdispersed at small scales, but became random-overdispersed at intermediate to larger scales. The spatial pattern of C. lanceolata was clumped at small scales. In a young stand, tree height at a given stem diameter was larger for P. massoniana than for C. lanceolata. Based on these results, we inferred several ecological characteristics of these two dominant species: Cunninghamia lanceolata is a relatively slow-growing shade-tolerant-species. P. massoniana is a fast-growing shade-intolerant species that has high mortality rates if suppressed and regenerates only after large-scale disturbances.