Early post‐fire vegetation regeneration in Larix kaempferi artificial forests with an undergrowth of Sasa senanensis

Post‐fire vegetation regeneration was studied for a 6‐year period in a 13‐year‐old‐artificial forest consisting of Larix kaempferi with a dense undergrowth of Sasa senanensis . The study site was classified into three fire severity categories according to the degree of Sasa senanensis scorching, that is, a high‐severity category, a mid‐severity category, and a low‐severity category. Study plots were established in areas which fitted the criteria for each category, and in nearby unburned sites. A total of 41 woody species were newly emerged during the 6‐year study period in the burned and unburned plots. Only a few seedlings and resprouts emerged in the unburned plots, while many seedlings emerged in the high‐severity plots from the first year after fire onward. A high‐severity fire that burns the rhizomes of Sasa is necessary for the vegetation recovery by germination of seed. Whereas the establishment of seedlings was restricted to a few years after fire, the regeneration through resprouting continued into the last year of observation. The survival time of resprouts was longer than that of seedlings, and the survival time of shade‐tolerant species was longer than that of shade‐intolerant species. In contrast, shade‐intolerant species grew more rapidly than shade‐tolerant species. The plants’ ability to exceed the maximum height of the Sasa before the bamboo recovers can be critical to the survival of shade‐intolerant species. Because resprouts have a stronger resistance to the shade of Sasa than seedlings, the resprouts of shade‐tolerant species play a major role in the re‐establishment of woody species after fire in sites with considerable Sasa ground‐cover.