We use a GIS-based agent-based model (ABM), named dynamic ecological exurban development (DEED), with spatial data in hypothetical scenarios to evaluate the individual and interacting effects of lot-size zoning and municipal land-acquisition strategies on possible forest-cover outcomes in Scio Township, a municipality in Southeastern Michigan. Agent types, characteristics, behavioural methods, ...

BACKGROUND Natural forest succession often affects soil physical and chemical properties. Selected physical and chemical soil properties were studied in an old-growth forest across a forest successional series in Dinghushan Nature Reserve, Southern China. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS The aim was to assess the effects of forest succession change on soil properties. Soil samples (0-20 cm dept...

As natural forest cover declines, planted forests have come to occupy an increasing percentage of the earth's surface, yet we know little about their suitability as alternative habitat for wildlife. Although some primate species use planted forests, few studies have compared primate populations in natural and nearby planted forests. From March 2006 to July 2010, we conducted line transect surve...

The 90,674 wildland fires that burned 2.9 million ha at an estimated suppression cost of $1.6 billion in the United States during the 2000 fire season demonstrated that forest fuel loading has become a hazard to life, property, and ecosystem health as a result of past fire exclusion policies and practices. The fire regime at any given location in these regions is a result of complex interaction...

Synthetic Aperture Radar Tomography (TomoSAR) allows the reconstruction of the 3D reflectivity of natural volume scatterers such as forests, thus providing an opportunity to infer structure information in 3D. In this paper, the potential of TomoSAR data at L-band to monitor temporal variations of forest structure is addressed using simulated and experimental datasets. First, 3D reflectivity pro...

This study assesses the effectiveness of stratification, based on photo-interpreted forest types, for strategic inventory. It uses results (from stratified sampling) for Total Merchantable Volume (TMV) in 18 Inventory Areas in Tasmanian State forest. The variance of the TMV as determined from stratified sampling is compared with the estimated variance of a simple random sample using the same nu...

McIntosh, Anne C.S.; Gray, Andrew N.; Garman, Steven L. 2009. Canopy structure on forest lands in western Oregon: differences among forest types and stand ages. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-794. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 35 p. Canopy structure is an important attribute affecting economic and ecological values of forests in the P...

The Plain Forestation Project is an important measure designed to alleviate air pollution in Beijing, the capital of China. Ten commonly cultivated forest types of the Plain Forestation Project were studied at three growth stages of leaves. The particulate matter (PM)2.5 concentrations and forest structures were surveyed to analyze the PM2.5 concentration differences between different forest ty...

Secondary cavity nesting (SCN) birds breed in holes that they do not excavate themselves. This is possible where there are large trees whose size and age permit the digging of holes by primary excavators and only rarely happens in forest plantations, where we expected a deficit of both breeding holes and SCN species. We assessed whether the availability of tree cavities influenced the number of...

In order to determine the impact of forest conversions on labile organic carbon fractions, soils at depths of 0 10, 10 30 and 30 50 cm were collected from three types of forest: secondary monsoon evergreen broadleaved forest (BF), mixed pine and broadleaved forest (MF) and Masson pine forest (PF) in subtropical China. The light fraction organic carbon (LFOC), particulate organic carbon (POC) an...