Comparison between old-growth stands and secondary stands regenerating after clear-felling in warm-temperate forests of Yakushima, southern Japan Shin-ichiro Aiba a,* , David A. Hill b , Naoki Agetsuma c a Faculty of Science, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima 890-0065, Japan b School of Biological Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QG, UK c Faculty of Economics, Akita University of Economics and Law, Akita 010-0058, Japan Received 19 February 1999; received in revised form 24 September 1999; accepted 20 December 1999 Abstract In order to infer successional changes in structure, species composition and diversity of warm-temperate forest, we compared secondary stands regenerating after clear-felling (41±64-years old) with old-growth stands at altitudes between 300 and 800 m on Yakushima Island, southern Japan. Stem density and maximum stem diameter differed between secondary and old-growth stands, but basal area and aboveground biomass did not. At lower altitudes, the dominant species in old-growth stands with a strong sprouting capacity (Castanopsis cuspidata) also dominated secondary stands, and species composition of secondary and old-growth stands was similar. At higher altitudes, by contrast, the dominant species in old-growth stands (Distylium racemosum) had little sprouting capacity and was poorly represented in diverse secondary stands, which were dominated by Castanopsis or other less abundant species. Secondary stands had greater species diversity (Shannon±Wiener index) than old-growth stands, particularly at higher altitudes. This was due to greater species richness resulting from higher stem density per area, but not to greater evenness. We grouped the component species that share ecologically similar traits into four guilds (fagaceous, primary evergreen, secondary evergreen and deciduous species). Secondary stands were characterized by greater numbers of deciduous and secondary evergreen species. We concluded that different sprouting capacities of dominant species and different regeneration traits among guilds are responsible for the change in species composition and diversity during succession. # 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Disturbance; Secondary forest; Species diversity; Sprouting; Succession 1. Introduction Species composition of secondary forests regener- ating after disturbance differs from that of old-growth forests. It is well established that there are two functional groups of plant species, i.e. early- and late-successional species (Bazzaz, 1979; Bormann and Likens, 1979), or pioneer and climax species (Swaine and Whitmore, 1988), that characterize sec- ondary and old-growth forests, respectively. In the course of forest succession, the dominant species change from pioneers to a mixture of pioneer and climax, and then to exclusively climax species. Forest Ecology and Management 140 (2001) 163±175 * Corresponding author. Tel.: 81-99-285-8171; fax: 81-99-259-4720. E-mail address: aiba@sci.kagoshima-u.ac.jp (S. Aiba). 0378-1127/01/$ ± see front matter # 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII:S0378-1127(00)00325-X