Effect of Tending Patterns on Regeneration and Plant Diversity in Secondary Chinese Fir Mixed Forest

Different tending patterns(thinning 15%+weeding and shrub cutting, thinning 15%, weeding and shrub cutting) were conducted in 2010 in 20-year mixed Cunninghamia lanceolata with broad leaf forest located in Hushan Forest Farm of Suichang, Zhejiang province. Investigations in 2014 on understorey regeneration and plant diversity demonstrated that three tending patterns were in favor of understorey natural regeneration of vegetation and plant diversity compared with the control(no treatment), especially the pattern of thinning 15%+weeding and shrub cutting (P < 0.05). Tending pattern of weeding and shrub cutting had the most influence on individual density of small arbor species (P < 0.05). Shannon-Wienner diversity index of herb layer with thinning 15% was higher than with weeding and shrub cutting (P < 0.05). Understorey wood and herb species richness and coverage was ordered by thinning 15%+weeding and shrub cutting> thinning 15%>weeding and shrub cutting>control. Thinning 15%+weeding and shrub cutting had great positive relation with understorey regeneration of arbor species and shrub growth, while weeding and shrub cutting had important role in small arbor growth