How do aboveground and belowground functional traits correlate with the demography of tree seedlings regenerated after landslide disturbances?

Trait-based plant ecology is commonly used to study plant demography in forests, especially after disturbances. However, how functional traits affect the demography of regenerating seedlings after landslides remains largely unknown. This study conducted a 2-year monitoring of <i>Abies sachalinensis</i> (evergreen species) and <i>Acer mono</i> (deciduous species) seedlings dominantly regenerating in artificial landslide areas in northern Japan. We investigated the correlations between intraspecific variations in functional traits and two demographic properties (growth and mortality). We found that growth of evergreen tree seedlings was correlated with functional traits related to leaf and root construction costs and light capture capacity. However, there were no significant correlations between mortality and the functional traits for either species in the post-landslide forests. Our results emphasize the importance of both aboveground and belowground functional traits in understanding vegetation recovery after landslides. This work suggests that the intraspecific trait-demography relationships can vary depending on the demographic properties in post-landslide forests.