ArticleFrontiers in plant science2026
Drivers of understory shrub and herb biomass in subtropical Chinese fir forests: a cluster analysis and SEM approach.
Article in Frontiers in plant science, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Understory vegetation plays a key role in forest ecosystem material cycling and energy flow, and studying its biomass dynamics and underlying driving mechanisms is vital for understanding forest ecosystem functions and achieving precise management. In order to elucidate the complex pathways through which stand structure and environmental factors influence understory vegetation biomass, a study was conducted on 180 plots of Chinese fir forests at different developmental stages in the subtropical region of China. The study included 36 plots each of young forest (6 years), middle-age forest (12 years), near-mature forest (20 years), mature forest (25 years), and over-mature forest (30 years) stands. Based on the quantification of shrub and herb biomass in Chinese fir forests and functional clustering, structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to systematically analyze the direct and indirect effects of environmental factors and stand structure on understory vegetation biomass. The results indicate the following: First, K-means clustering analysis revealed that shrub can be classified into two categories: Tall, dense shrubs (TD-SB) and Low-Sparse Shrubs (LS-SB), and herb can be classified into three categories: Tall, dense herbs (TD-HB), Low-Sparse herbs (LS-HB), and Medium-density herbs (MD-HB); Second, stand structure and environmental factors have significant effects on understory shrub and herb biomass. The Mingling Index of tree species within stand structure exerts the greatest negative effect on shrub biomass and the greatest positive effect on herb biomass. Among environmental factors, slope position and slope gradient have been found to exert a relatively strong positive influence on understory vegetation biomass. The results revealed that all stand structure indicators had a negative effect on the shrub biomass of TD-SB and LS-SB, while environmental factors had a negative impact on MD-HB. This study establishes a theoretical framework for the sustainable management of subtropical Chinese fir forest ecosystems and demonstrates its practical application.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.