Results The C : N ratio in plant tissue, litter, forest floor and mineral soil exhibited large variation across various sequences, with an average of 145.8 9.4 (mean SE), 49.9 3.0, 38.2 3.1 and 18.5 0.9, respectively. In most sequences, the plant tissue C : N ratio increased significantly with stand age, while the C : N ratio in litter, forest floor and mineral soil remained relatively constant...

Leaf area and its spatial distribution are key canopy parameters needed to model the radiation regime within a forest and to compute the mass and energy exchange between a forest and the atmosphere. A much larger proportion of available net radiation is received at the forest floor in open-canopy forests than in closed-canopy forests. The proportion of ecosystem water vapor exchange (lambda E) ...

Post-fire forest regeneration is strongly influenced by abiotic and biotic heterogeneity in the preand post-fire environments, including fire regimes, species characteristics, landforms, hydrology, regional climate, and soil properties. Assessing these drivers is key to understanding the long-term effects of fire disturbances on forest succession. We evaluated multiple factors influencing patte...

Information on the structural complexity of forest stands is required to inform conservation priorities that guide the sustainable management of private native vegetation for multiple objectives of landowners. Whilst research into methods for the operational mapping of vegetation structure is expanding, the research is largely exploratory, and no methods have yet seen widespread acceptance. Thi...

Abstract Aim Overstorey tree species influence both soil properties and microclimate conditions in the forest floor, which turn can induce changes ground bryophyte communities. The aim of study was to investigate effect identity most important habitat factors influencing understorey bryophytes. Methods We assessed 14 related parameters, including vascular plant presence light intensity on bryop...

Streamside management zones (SMZs) in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma are frequently established along headwater ephemeral and intermittent streams to protect water quality, provide wildlife habitat, and increase landscape diversity. To better understand the function of these riparian forest corridors, we characterized the tree density and composition, forest floor mass, and dow...

The response of terrestrial ecosystems to climate warming has important implications to potential feedbacks to climate. The interactions between topography, climate, and disturbance could alter recruitment patterns to reduce or offset current predicted positive feedbacks to warming at high latitudes. In northern Alaska the Brooks Range poses a complex environmental and ecological barrier to spe...

Multi-angle remote sensing can either be regarded as an added source of uncertainty for variable retrieval, or as a source of additional information, which enhances variable retrieval compared to traditional single-angle observation. However, the magnitude of these angular and band effects for forest structure parameters is difficult to quantify. We used the Discrete Anisotropic Radiative Trans...

[1] The dynamics of forest-atmosphere CO2 carbon isotope exchange were examined in a coniferous forest in Colorado, United States. Tunable diode laser absorption spectrometry provided extensive characterization of the carbon isotope content (dC) of CO2. Observed patterns in d C of forest air were associated with photosynthesis, respiration, and atmospheric boundary layer dynamics. Similar relat...

—Hyperspectral imagery from EO-1 Hyperion and AVIRIS were used in conjunction with continuous forest inventory (CFI) data to map detailed forest composition in the state forests of Western Maryland. We developed a hierarchical vegetation classification that conformed to the National Vegetation Classification Standard (NVCS) at the Alliance level and mapped these forest types as a function of hy...