Effects of Schima superba and Cunninghamia lanceolata Mixed Plantation on Growth and Leaf Functional Characteristics at Different Ages

Three types of plantation forests，namely，8-year old，27-year old and 36-year old Schima superba pure forests，Cunninghamia lanceolata pure forests，and S. superba mixing with C. lanceolata，were used to investigate the effects of mixing on the growth and leaf functional traits of forests at different ages in Youxi State-owned Forest Farm in Fujian Province in 2022. The results showed that：①Mixing could promote the growth of S. superba at different growth stages. However，it significantly decreased the growth of 27-year old C. lanceolata in the mixed forests and slightly decreased the growth of 36-year old C. lanceolata，except for slightly promoting the growth of 8-year old C. lanceolata. ②No significant effect of mixing on the leaf functional traits of S. superba and C. lanceolata was detected(P＞0. 05)，but some leaf functional traits indicated significant differences of the two species among different ages(P＜0. 05). ③Mixing did not significantly change the relationship between leaf functional traits and their growth of the two species，but leaf functional traits indicated that the two species adopted different survival strategies after mixing. That is，S. superba had adopted an acquisitive resource utilization strategy，while C. lanceolata has adopted a conservative resource utilization strategy.