Group harvesting is often used to regenerate mid-tolerant tree species. However, in managed northern hardwood forests of the Great Lakes region, regeneration failures are common among mid-tolerant species regardless of gap size. Coppicing advance regeneration has the potential to alter recruitment patterns within harvest gaps, as some mid-tolerant species have large dormant season carbohydrate reserves in the root system. However, the comparative sprouting abilities of northern hardwood saplings are not well quantified. Furthermore, variation in light availability and chronic browsing from white-tailed deer may modify comparative sprouting abilities. In this study, we tracked the effects of dormant season coppicing and deer exclusion on the initial sprouting response and five-year survival, height growth, and final height of seven-year-old volunteer white ash saplings and planted yellow birch, paper birch, northern red oak, sugar maple, red maple, and American beech saplings across a gradient of harvest gap sizes (10–35 m diameter, <0.5–1.25 tree height) in a mature even-aged northern hardwood stand in northern Lower Michigan, USA. In addition, saplings were given a growing position ranking, which integrated sapling final height and survival status relative to competitors to evaluate the effects of coppicing and deer exclusion on sapling development. Overall, coppicing produced a strong initial sprouting response with nearly all red maple and northern red oak stems initially sprouting. In the absence of deer, appreciable differences in sprout survival and height growth occurred among mid-tolerant and intolerant species and contributed to changes in growing position. Northern red oak sprouts significantly gained growing position over all species through a combination of high survival and modest height growth across all gap sizes. In contrast, coppiced yellow birch and paper birch sprout survival was significantly lower than uncoppiced stems, which contributed to declines in growing position for both species across all gap sizes. Coppicing in the absence of deer had less effect on the growing position of mid-tolerant red maple and white ash and shade tolerant sugar maple and American beech. Without deer exclusion, browsing limited the effectiveness of coppicing by reducing height growth and final height of all mid-tolerant species. Collectively, our results indicate that coppicing does not benefit mid-tolerant species equally and is unlikely to benefit browsing-preferred species in areas with high deer density. Nevertheless, in areas of lower deer density or in situations where sprouts can be protected, coppicing may improve the competitiveness of northern red oak saplings within harvest gaps.

群体采伐通常用于使中耐性树种再生。但是，在大湖地区受管理的北部硬木森林中，无论间隙大小如何，中耐性物种的再生失败都很常见。由于某些中耐性物种在根系中具有大量的休眠季节碳水化合物储备，因此，具有潜力的提前再生有可能改变收成缺口内的募集模式。但是，北部硬木树苗的相对发芽能力尚未得到很好的量化。此外，光可用性的变化和白尾鹿的长期浏览可能会改变比较发芽的能力。在这项研究中，我们追踪了休眠期的交配和排除鹿对初始发芽反应和五年存活率，身高增长，以及七岁的志愿者白灰幼树和最终的身高，这些白桦树苗和黄桦树，纸桦树，北部红橡树，糖枫树，红枫树和美国山毛榉树苗在收获间隙大小的梯度上（直径10-35 m，<在美国下密歇根州北部成熟成熟的北部硬木林中，树高为0.5–1.25树高。此外，给树苗的位置排名不断提高，该排名综合了树苗相对于竞争对手的最终身高和生存状况，以评估交配和排鹿对树苗发育的影响。总的来说，coppinging产生了强烈的初始萌芽反应，几乎所有的红枫和北部的红橡树茎都开始萌芽。没有鹿，在中耐性和不耐性物种之间发芽存活率和高度增长存在明显差异，并导致生长位置发生变化。北部红橡树新芽通过高生存率和所有间隙大小的适度高度生长相结合，显着提高了在所有物种中的生长地位。相比之下，白桦和纸白桦的新芽存活率显着低于未白桦的茎，这导致了这两种物种在所有间隙大小下的生长位置下降。在没有鹿的情况下进行矮化对中耐性红枫，白灰和耐荫糖枫和美洲山毛榉的生长位置影响较小。在没有排除鹿的情况下，浏览会降低所有中耐性物种的身高增长和最终身高，从而限制了交配的有效性。总的来说，我们的研究结果表明，在高鹿密度的地区，coppinging并不能平等地惠及中耐性物种，也不可能使浏览优先的物种受益。但是，在鹿密度较低的地区或可以保护新芽的情况下，进行交配可以提高北部红橡树苗在收获间隔内的竞争力。