Regeneration from seed of Sinarundinaria fangiana, a bamboo, in the Wolong Giant Panda Reserve, Sichuan, China

Seed production was low on plants that flowered in 1984, one year after clones mass-flowered. Insects killed 41% of flower ovaries or developing seed on 1984 plants. Soil seed bank samples suggest that 34% of flowers produced seed in 1983 when the species mass-flowered. Viability of seed produced in 1983 was 22-34%. This species seed germinated in both 1984 and 1985. Germination and establishment were greater in sites with a closed canopy forest than in clearcuts. Removal of the forest canopy appears to retard regeneration from seed. Forestry practices should be altered from clearcutting to selective cutting in areas adjacent to panda Ailuropoda melenoleuca reserves to prevent compositional change in the forest understory that may be detrimental to pandas. -from Authors