Descriptions of spatial patterns are important components of forest ecosystems, providing insights into functions and processes, yet basic spatial relationships between forest structures and fuels remain largely unexplored. We used standardized omnidirectional semivariance modeling to examine the spatial pattern of fuels and forest structure measured in a systematic nested plot grid covering 14...

Increasing forest vegetation is important for carbon dynamics and to maintain the ecological and environmental balance in China. However, there is little understanding of how socioeconomic factors affect forest biomass carbon storage (FBCS). Here, we used continuous functions for biomass expansion factors and China’s seven completed forest inventories to estimate the changes in FBCS for 31 prov...

Increasing global human population and per-capita food consumption are expected to exacerbate the already massive agricultural footprint in tropical ecosystems. Madagascar is home to exceptional levels of biodiversity and is in the midst of severe land-use change, mostly driven by slash-and-burn, smallholder agriculture. Understanding the consequences of these agricultural practices for Malagas...

Article history: Received 1 November 2006 Received in revised form 29 March 2007 Accepted 17 April 2007 Exploratorymodeling is an approach used when process and/or parameter uncertainties are such that modeling attempts at realistic prediction are not appropriate. Exploratory modeling makes use of computational experimentation to test how varying model scenarios drive model outcome. The goal of...

Remnant trees, spared from cutting when tropical forests are cleared for agriculture or grazing, act as nuclei of forest regeneration following field abandonment. Previous studies on remnant trees were primarily conducted in active pasture or old fields abandoned in the previous 2-3 years, and focused on structure and species richness of regenerating forest, but not species composition. Our stu...

11 12 The objective of this study was to assess the utility of hyperspectral data in 13 estimating and mapping forest structural parameters including mean diameter-at14 breast-height (DBH), mean tree height and tree density of a closed canopy beech 15 forest (Fagus sylvatica L). Airborne HyMap images and data on forest structural 16 attributes were collected from the Majella National Park, Ital...

Forests are complex ecosystems that develop over centuries through the interactions between organisms and biogeochemical cycles of elements occurring in the soil-atmosphere continuum. The biomass and structure of a forest stand is involved in several ecosystem processes and has been used as an indicator of forest health and productivity. The forest biomass is a key component of the carbon cycle...

Some warm/dry mixed-conifer forests are at increasing risk of uncharacteristically large, high-severity fires. As a result, managers have begun ecological restoration efforts using treatments such as mechanical thinning and prescribed fire. Empirical information on the long-term impacts of these treatments is limited, especially in light of potential climate change. We assessed changes in fores...

Tropical montane forests provide an important natural laboratory to test ecological theory. While it is well-known that some aspects of forest structure change with altitude, little is known on the effects of altitude on above ground biomass (AGB), particularly with regard to changing height-diameter allometry. To address this we investigate (1) the effects of altitude on height-diameter allome...

introduction urban landscape is experiencing rapid changes which put all urban domains under pressures. these processes revolutionize urban landscape into spaces without ecologic values. the sustainability of green patches and corridors has been scathed by lack of ecological approaches in planning and design. therefore, urban green spaces structures and functions have been damaged. green spaces...