Throughout their global range, oak‐dominated ecosystems have undergone state changes in stand structure and composition. Land managers face an especially acute challenge in restoring oak ecosystems and promoting oak regeneration in urban–exurban areas, where high‐intensity silvicultural treatments are often not feasible. To investigate low‐intensity management alternatives which could be widely applied in urban–exurban forests, a large‐scale adaptive management experiment was implemented in Lake County, IL, in 2012. Five canopy manipulation treatments of varying intensity, timing, and spatial aggregation were replicated across three study areas and oak seedlings were under‐planted into treatment units following management. Responses of understory light environment, shrub and groundlayer plant communities, and survival and growth of underplanted oak seedlings were evaluated. Understory light availability, canopy openness, total groundlayer plant cover, and groundlayer species diversity all differed among treatments. However, although understory light availability was significantly increased by canopy manipulation, groundlayer communities and oak seedling survival and growth did not differ among treatments. High overall seedling survival rates suggest current conditions are amenable to oak regeneration, but long‐term monitoring will be needed to assess the potential for seedlings to transition to the sapling and canopy layers. Early results demonstrate that canopy‐focused silvicultural treatments can affect the understory light environment and, to some degree, groundlayer plant communities. However, underplanting of oak seedlings paired with subcanopy thinning may be sufficient to restore an oak seedling layer, and (when necessary or preferred) canopy manipulation could potentially be deferred until later in the restoration timeline to promote oak recruitment.

中文翻译：

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测试以恢复为重点的造林对城市-郊区橡木林地橡木再生和地上植物群落的影响

在其全球范围内，以橡树为主的生态系统的林分结构和组成发生了状态变化。土地管理者在恢复橡木生态系统和促进城市郊区的橡木再生方面面临着特别严峻的挑战，在这些地区，高强度的造林处理往往是不可行的。为了研究可在城市郊区森林中广泛应用的低强度管理替代方案，2012年在伊利诺伊州莱克县实施了大规模的适应性管理试验。对五种不同强度，时间和空间聚集的林冠处理方法进行了研究。在三个研究区域中进行复制，并在管理后将橡树幼苗栽种到处理单元中。地下光环境，灌木和地上植物群落的响应，并评估了种植不足的橡树幼苗的存活和生长。在不同处理之间，地下光的可用性，冠层的开放度，底层植物的总覆盖率以及底层物种的多样性都不同。然而，尽管通过冠层操纵显着提高了林下光的利用率，但不同处理之间地层群落和橡树幼苗的存活和生长没有差异。总体上较高的幼苗成活率表明当前条件适合橡木再生，但需要进行长期监测以评估幼苗过渡到树苗和冠层的潜力。早期结果表明，以树冠为中心的造林方法会影响地下光环境，并在一定程度上影响底层植物群落。然而，