Clonal reproduction may contribute to population maintenance in areas where disturbance caused by snow limits tree recruitment. To understand the importance of clonal reproduction in the population dynamics of canopy tree species, it is necessary to determine the frequency of clonal reproduction in the early stages of seedling establishment. We found 106 ramets, including “small-sized” ramets of less than 5 cm in diameter at breast height, aggregated within 4 patches in a 70 × 50 m plot and also identified 20 genets among these ramets with the use of nuclear microsatellite markers. The size structure of the ramets revealed an inverse J-shaped distribution, suggesting that continuous recruitment of new ramets occurs. However, the number of intermediate-sized ramets (around 10 cm DBH) at the present study site was small, suggesting that most new ramets die while they are still small by pressure from heavy snow. Of the 20 genets, 12 included one or more small-sized ramets, which indicated recent recruitment. Of the 12 genets, 3 included only a single small-sized ramet, which suggested seedling recruitment, whereas the other 9 included multiple ramets (39 small-sized ramets in total), which indicated clonal recruitment. The frequency (9/12) and number (39/9) of recent clonal recruits suggest that clonal reproduction effectively maintains the population of Cryptomeria japonica in snowy regions.

中文翻译：

---

通过对小型分株的调查显示，日本雪莲最近在多雪地区的克隆繁殖

在由雪引起的干扰限制了树木募集的地区，克隆繁殖可能有助于维持种群。为了了解克隆繁殖在冠层树种种群动态中的重要性，有必要确定幼苗建立初期克隆繁殖的频率。我们发现了106个分株，包括在乳房高度处直径小于5厘米的“小型”分株，聚集在一个70×50 m的情节中的4个斑块中，并且还使用核微卫星标记物在这些分株中鉴定了20个种系。分株的大小结构显示出呈反J形分布，这表明新分株会不断招募。但是，目前的研究地点的中型分株（约10 cm DBH）数量很少，这表明大多数新分株在大雪的压力下仍会变小而死亡。在这20个种系中，有12个包括一个或多个小型分株，这表明最近正在招募。在这12个种系中，有3个只包括一个小型分株，表明有苗募集，而其他9个包括多个分株（总共39个小株），表明有克隆分株。最近的新兵募集的频率（9/12）和人数（39/9）表明，克隆繁殖有效地维持了种群的数量。而其他9个包括多个分株（总共39个小型分株），表明克隆募集。最近的新兵募集的频率（9/12）和人数（39/9）表明，克隆繁殖有效地维持了种群的数量。而其他9个包括多个分株（总共39个小型分株），表明克隆募集。最近的新兵募集的频率（9/12）和人数（39/9）表明，克隆繁殖有效地维持了种群的数量。柳杉在多雪的地区。