Effects of Slope and Strip-Cutting Width on Bamboo Shoot Emergence, Culm Formation, and Understory Vegetation Diversity in Moso Bamboo Forests in China

Moso bamboo (<i>Phyllostachys edulis</i>) harvesting is labor-intensive and inefficient, while strip-cutting enables mechanized, cost-effective management and supports long-term production. Intensive strip-cutting disturbs bamboo ecosystems, altering soil, litter and understory vegetation. This may reduce long-term productivity despite moso bamboo's rapid growth, especially in the mountainous areas like Anji, Zhejiang. To balance ecological and production goals, we evaluated strip-cutting widths of 3, 5, and 8 m under three slope classes, 5-14° (gentle, SL1), 15-24° (moderate, SL2), and 25-34° (steep, SL3), focusing on bamboo growth recovery and understory vegetation diversity. Compared with uncut control plots, the number of herbaceous and shrub species increased in all treatment plots. In 5 m moderate slope plots, shoot and culm numbers were 27% and 13% higher than those in the 3 m and 8 m plots, and 37% higher than uncut control plots. Herb species diversity, as reflected by the Shannon-Wiener (<i>H</i>'), Simpson (<i>D</i>), and Margalef richness (<i>R</i>) indices, was high in the narrowest clearcut strips under SL1 and SL3. Pielou's evenness index (<i>J</i>) was high in the 3 and 5 m plots under SL2 and SL3. Shrub species diversity, as indicated by <i>D</i> and <i>R</i>, was high in 5 and 8 m plots under SL2 and SL3. Principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that under SL2, 5 m strip-cutting width with a score of 0.649 outperformed others. These results suggest that 5 m strip-cutting width under SL2 slope optimizes understory vegetation diversity and supports a synergistic outcome of "high shoot emergence-high culm formation" thereby achieving both ecological and production benefits.