Coppice response of Khasru (Quercus semecarpifolia) under partial cuttings

Abstract

Appropriate coppice treatments could help establish regeneration and structural complexity in degraded forests dominated by Khasru (Quercus semecarpifolia) – the most prominent species among Himalayan oaks. However, the effect of varying cutting intensities on the response of coppiced Khasru stumps has not been fully explored. In a Khasru forest in Nepal, we performed two partial cutting treatments – High-intensity Coppice (HighCop) and Low-Intensity Coppice (LowCop), with mean residual canopy cover of 11 % and 40 %, respectively. After ten months, we measured and compared sprouting response between the two treatments and modelled the probability of stump-sprouting with a logistic regression, using treatment-type and stump dimensions as predictors. Eighty-five percent of stumps (n = 41) resprouted in the LowCop treatment, while only 48 % resprouted in HighCop (n = 42). LowCop had a significantly greater number of coppice shoots per stump, but the total basal area of shoots and height of tallest shoot per stump were not significantly different. Shoot heights across both treatments suggest that Khasru coppice can grow faster than reported previously. Treatment-type was the only significant predictor of stump-sprouting success. Holding their dimensions constant, stumps were five times more likely to resprout in LowCop than HighCop. Our results contradict prior studies for other species of oak that report that the probability of sprouting either increases with, or is unaffected by, the intensity of cuttings. We establish that partial cuttings can promote satisfactory coppice response in Khasru and demonstrate that wider experimentation into Khasru coppice management is justified.