LAUSR

Plants rely on a variety of dispersal vectors to transport their seeds, including both abiotic and biotic vectors. Distribution patterns of seedlings may be different owing to these differences in seed dispersal vectors; however, few studies have examined this assumption. In this study, we compared several seedling parameters (number, diameter, height, and distance from the mother tree) between a wind-dispersal species, Liquidambar formosana, and a rodent-dispersal species, Quercus acutissima, growing in the same bamboo forest and also examined how the type of dispersal vector influenced the spatial distribution of seedlings. One-hundred and seventy-four individual L. formosana seedlings and 84 individual Q. acutissima seedlings were recorded, and the average diameter and height of Q. acutissima seedlings were significantly larger than those of L. formosana seedlings. The seedling density of L. formosana showed a single-peak whereas Q. acutissima showed multiple peaks at different distances from the parent plant. The average dispersal distance of Q. acutissima seedlings (11.13 ± 9.45 m) was much further than that for L. formosana (7.71 ± 6.74 m). The results of this study suggest that rodentdispersed plants may have an increased chance of survival and a longer dispersal distance than wind-dispersed plants, and that animal-dispersal might be more conducive to the spread and regeneration of plant populations.