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Geographical distribution of Aralia elata characteristics correlated with topography and forest structure in Heilongjiang and Jilin Provinces, Northeast China

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Abstract

The Araliaceae family consists of numerous species of medical plants of significant value as non-wood forest products. To conserve and culture these plants in natural forest stands is an important undertaking which should be implemented according to the relationship between forest structure and understory population. In this study, thirty-five plots were established in natural Aralia elata stands. Taller individual and denser populations were found in the northern and in the eastern regions, respectively. Both population densities and individual leaf weight increased along longitude. In contrast, their relationship with elevation and DBH were negative. Along with the altitude gradient, both height and root-collar diameter increased but population density declined. Root-collar diameter and population density decreased with latitude and DBH, respectively. Overall, dominant trees unlikely enforced strong disturbance to the development of understory A. elata populations unless concerning some specific topographic factors.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the assistances of Dan Wang, Wenbo Zhang, Feng Zhu, Peiyuan Chen, and Zhibin Ren in field investigation. Numerous individuals are also appreciated for their assistance in field investigation and data collection.

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Correspondence to Hengtian Zhao.

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Project funding: This research was funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant Number 2016YFC0500300), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant Number XDA23070503), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Numbers 41971122; 41861017; 31600496), the Regional Key Project in S & T Services Network Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant Numbers KFJ-STS-QYZD-044; KFJ-STS-ZDTP-048), and the Funding for Jilin Environmental Science (Grant Number 2017-16).

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Corresponding editor: Yu Lei.

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Wei, H., Chen, G., Chen, X. et al. Geographical distribution of Aralia elata characteristics correlated with topography and forest structure in Heilongjiang and Jilin Provinces, Northeast China. J. For. Res. 32, 1115–1125 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-020-01100-2

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