Assessing natural regeneration of oriental beech (Fagus orientalis L.) trees under different forest managements in Hyrcanian-temperate forest

The successful regeneration of trees in forests requires proper establishment and growth of seedlings. The traits of seedlings can be improving the decision- making forest managers regarding when applying silvcultural systems in forest ecosystems. We measured the major morphological traits of beech seedlings under different forest managements including single-tree selection, shelterwood systems and control(unlogged) site in Hyrcanian-temperate forest. We found that different forest managements are statistically the most important factor for the variation of seedlings traits in the forest. Small seedlings (H ≤ 50 cm) in the logged forest via single-tree selection and shelterwood showed the higher mean values regarding to plagiotropic, forked, height and H/D ratio. Tall seedlings (H:51–150 cm) in single-tree selection system had a higher mean values for seedling features including straight, single, H/D ratio, distance from seed trees and seedling number compared with shelterwood system and control site (p ≤ 0.01). Among the two beech seedlings height classes (small vs. tall), we found some attributes to differ significantly for control, shelterwood and single-tree selection sites (P ≤ 0.01, P ≤ 0.05). The main findings of our study might be favorable for forest managers to know the reaction of beech seedlings to different logging operations in Hyrcanian forests.