Objective To study the growth and reproduction characteristics of Fargesia decurvata J. L. Lu under different forest types, and the trade-off characteristics of clonal reproduction and sexual reproduction of long-lived, one-time flowering bamboos.

Method F. decurvata, the dominant species in shrub layer under three forest types, i.e. deciduous broad-leaved forest (De), evergreen deciduous broad-leaved mixed forest (De+Ev) and evergreen broad-leaved forest (Ev) was selected as experimental materials, to study the morphological plasticity, biomass accumulation and biomass distribution characteristics and reproductive characteristics in vegetative stage and ripening stage.

Result (1) From vegetative stage to ripening stage, the amount of leaves decreased significantly in De and De+Ev, and there was no significant change in Ev. The length of the splitter, the amount of internode of the splitter, the mean diameter of the splitter, and the internode length of the splitter all decreased in De and De+Ev, and increased in Ev. During the ripening stage, the amount of spikelets in De was higher than that in De+Ev and Ev. (2) During the transition from vegetative growth to ripening stage, the leaf biomass accumulation and leaf biomass allocation of F. decurvata ramets in De and De+Ev decreased sharply, there was no significant change in the biomass of other components in this two types of forest; the biomass accumulation of each component in Ev increased significantly except for the leaves, and the biomass allocation increased significantly in the branches, and decreased in the leaves and roots; the stems and branches as supporting organs accounted for a large amount of biomass allocation in the three forest types. (3) During the vegetative growth stage, F. decurvata in the three forest types produced shoots for clonal growth, and the amount of bamboo shoots per unit area of De+Ev was significantly higher than Ev. However, no shoots were produced during the ripening stage, only seeds were produced, and the amount of bamboo seedlings per unit area of Ev was significantly lower than that of the other two forest types. The tissue density was significantly higher than that in vegetative growth stage. The seed setting rate and reproductive distribution of F. decurvata were very low.

Conclusion The morphological characteristics, biomass accumulation and biomass allocation characteristics of F. decurvata population are different in various life history stages, and there are also differences among these forest types. There is an obvious trade-off between clonal growth and sexual reproduction, as sexual reproduction progresses, the clonal growth capacity will weaken and disappear.