Spatial hints of forest ecotone indicating forest succession, a case of larch forests in Baihuashan Reserve, north China

In cold or alpine areas of northern China, birch forests and larch forests are the two primary forest types. These forests are also characteristic of a south branch of boreal forests in Asia. Some ecologists argue that larch forests can replace birch forests, but this still remains a question due to fragmentary or short observations. The ecotone between a larch forest patch and a birch forest patch is the arena in which the two species interplay and compete with each other, and studies of these areas are meaningful to understanding forest succession. In the alpine area of the Baihuashan Reserve, northern China, we sampled a larch-birch forest ecotone with eight plots in four transects and then analyzed population structures of larches and birches. The results show that the edges of the larch forest patch are composed of many larch saplings or young trees, but the edges of the birch forest patch are mainly composed of old birches. Across the ecotone, the larches, on average, are taller than the birches. These facts suggest that larch saplings can permeate into birch forest patches, probably by seed dispersal, germination, success-ful competition and growth, but birch saplings cannot permeate into larch forest patches. Therefore, on the ecotone, larch forest patches can steadily expand by unceasing permeation into birch forest patches, whereas birch forest patches progressively recede due to ultimate death of the old and poor recruitment of the young. Larch forest patches replace birch forest patches in a stepwise manner, causing succession from birch forests to larch forests. This study not only confirms that larch forests can naturally replace birch forests, but also introduces a simple and reliable method, employing spatial hints, to study forest succession. Additionally, the findings are of benefit to cultivation or development of larch forests in cold or alpine areas of the North Temperate Zone, which can be a huge carbon sink.