To clarify the effects of different thinning intensities on understory regeneration in precious hardwood broad-leaved forests, long-term thinning experimental plots were established in 2016 in four state-owned forest farms in Harbin, Northeast China. Based on pre-thinning stand density, the plots were classified into three density levels (low, medium, and high), and four treatments were applied within each density level: control (CK), light thinning (LT), moderate thinning (MT), and heavy thinning (HT). In 2023, the community characteristics of seedlings and saplings, as well as shrub and herb layers, were investigated. Importance value, regeneration density, population regeneration potential, similarity coefficient, and diversity indices were calculated. A regeneration index was further constructed to comprehensively evaluate multiple regeneration indicators. Spearman correlation analysis was employed to examine the relationships among variables. The results showed that, in stands with a density of less than 500 trees·hm-2, the regeneration index under LT treatment was 0.703, while HT inhibited regeneration. In stands with densities of 500-1 000 trees·hm-2, both LT and MT significantly promoted regeneration, with regeneration indices of 0.656 and 0.742, respectively. In stands with densities greater than 1 000 trees·hm-2, MT achieved the highest regeneration index of 0.844. The height and coverage of shrub and herb layers significantly increased under LT and MT treatments, whereas HT reduced community similarity and species richness. The number of saplings and the regeneration index were significantly negatively correlated with stand density (r=-0.587 to -0.762, P<0.01), and significantly positively correlated with mean tree height (r=0.643 to 0.804, P<0.01). Overall, the growth of seedlings and saplings and shrub and herb layers in precious hard broad-leaved forests shows a trend of first increasing and then decreasing with the increasing thinning intensity. Low-density stands are best managed with no thinning or low-intensity intervention, medium-density stands are suitable for light thinning, and high-density stands are suitable for moderate thinning.
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