Biodiversity: Complementary canopies

Biodiversity meets the atmosphere: a global view of forest canopies.

The forest canopy is the functional interface between 90% of Earth's terrestrial biomass and the atmosphere. Multidisciplinary research in the canopy has expanded concepts of global species richness, physiological processes, and the provision of ecosystem services. Trees respond in a species-specific manner to elevated carbon dioxide levels, while climate change threatens plant-animal interacti...

MODELLING PLANT CANOPIES FOR BIOCONTROL AND BIODIVERSITY Insect movement, networks and lacunarity

Canopy structure has an important role to play in determining the searching patterns of predators of insect pests in crops. The connections between plants within the canopy are crucial in determining the ability of predators to move around the canopy. Virtual plant models provide an ideal method for providing a realistic background for modelling the movement of insects in plant canopies. Experi...

Momentum Transfer within Canopies

To understand the basic characteristics of the observed S-shaped wind profile and the exponential flux profile within forest canopies, three hypotheses are postulated. The relationship between these fundamental profiles is well established by combining the postulated hypotheses with momentum equations. Robust agreements between theoretical predictions and observations indicate that the nature o...

Radiative Transfer in Vegetation Canopies

Cirrus Canopies in Tropical Storms

An analysis is made of the generation, advection, and dissipation processes of the cirrus canopy in tropical storms with particular emphasis on the formation of sharp edges. Although subsidence and accompanying evaporation may be factors, this formation is closely tied with the wind flow pattern near the edges. The stronger the radial wind velocity in the vicinity of the edges, the greater is t...