Individual-based forest models simulate forest dynamics on the basis of establishment, growth and death of individual trees. This paper attempts to review and compare two major types of individual-based forest models: growth-yield and gap models. Although the two types of models share some similar features, they differ in model structure and data requirements and play several complementary role...

Question: Hurricanes and cyclones cause a wide range of damage to coastal forests worldwide. Most of these storms are not catastrophic in ecological terms, but forest responses to storms of moderate intensities are poorly understood. In regions with a high frequency of moderate hurricanes, how does variation in disturbance intensity affect the magnitude of ecological responses? Location: Nausho...

Forest decline is perceived as a threat to forest health in many regions of the world. The decline of red spruce in the mountains of the northeastern United States is one well-known example. We evaluated the impact of spruce decline by considering its effect on the prevailing gap dynamics. We compared plant composition, height growth, and indices of resource availability in gaps to the forest a...

Riparian forests regulate linkages between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, yet relationships among riparian forest development, stand structure, and stream habitats are poorly understood in many temperate deciduous forest systems. Our research has (1) described structural attributes associated with old-growth riparian forests and (2) assessed linkages between these characteristics and in-st...

* A lack of data on responses of mature tree growth and water use to ambient ozone (O(3)) concentrations has been a major limitation in efforts to understand and model responses of forests to current and future changes in climate. * Here, hourly to seasonal patterns of stem growth and sap flow velocity were examined in mature trees from a mixed deciduous forest in eastern Tennessee (USA) to eva...

The remnants of primeval Norway spruce forests in the European temperate zone are crucial for maintaining forest biodiversity in high mountain landscapes. This paper presents results of a multidisciplinary research and evaluation project on the management practices for mountain spruce forests in the Natura 2000 site (National Nature Reserve Serak-Keprnik in the Hruby Jesenik Mountains, the Czec...

Although rain forest is characterized as pyrophobic, pyrophilic giant eucalypts grow as rain forest emergents in both temperate and tropical Australia. In temperate Australia, such eucalypts depend on extensive, infrequent fires to produce conditions suitable for seedling growth. Little is known, however, about constraints on seedlings of tropical giant eucalypts. We tested whether seedlings of...

Influence of Tylenchorhynchus ewingi on growth of loblolly pine seedlings, and host suitability of legumes and small grains Stephen W. FRAEDRICH 1·*, Michelle M. CRAM 2, Zafar A. HANDOO 3 and Stanley J. ZARNOCH 4 1 Southern Research Station, USDA Forest Service Athens, GA 30602, USA 2 Forest Health Protection, USDA Forest Service, Athens, GA 30602, USA 3 USDA Agricultural Research Service, Nema...

Ecologists have limited understanding of how geographic variation in forest biomass arises from differences in growth and mortality at continental to global scales. Using forest inventories from across North America, we partitioned continental-scale variation in biomass growth and mortality rates of 49 tree species groups into (1) species-independent spatial effects and (2) inherent differences...