Several decades of research have shown that canopy gaps drive tree renewal processes in the temperate deciduous forest biome. In the literature, canopy gaps are usually defined as canopy openings that are created by partial or total tree death of one or more canopy trees. In this study, we investigate linkages between tree damage mechanisms and the formation or not of new canopy gaps in norther...

A wetness duration experiment was carried out within a lily field situated adjacent to coastal dunes in the Netherlands. A within-canopy model was applied to simulate leaf wetness in three layers, with equal leaf area indices, within the canopy. This simulation model is an extension of an existing model. It appeared that in most cases leaf wetness started in the uppermost layer followed by the ...

In Earth system modelling, a description of the energy budget of the vegetated surface layer is fundamental as it determines the meteorological conditions in the planetary boundary layer and as such contributes to the atmospheric conditions and its circulation. The energy budget in most Earth system models has been based on a big-leaf approach, with averaging schemes that represent in-canopy pr...

Fire in the boreal region is the dominant agent of forest disturbance with direct impacts on ecosystem structure, carbon cycling, and global climate. Global and biome-scale impacts are mediated by burn severity, measured as loss of forest canopy and consumption of the soil organic layer. To date, knowledge of the spatial variability in burn severity has been limited by sparse field sampling and...

This paper concerns vegetation parameter retrieval from polarimetric interferometric SAR (PolInSAR) data. A two–component polarimetric interferometric model, designed for geophysical parameter retrieval, is presented for volumetric media over ground. It is based on a scattering model based polarimetric decomposition and the random volume over ground (RVoG) PolInSAR inversion technique. For fore...

We compared the distribution of sympatric Ixodes scapularis Say and Amblyomma americanum (L.) within several suitable forested habitats at different spatial scales and characterized differences in microhabitat features accounting for the observed distribution of questing ticks. We used automatic data loggers placed in the shrub and litter layers to contrast mesoclimate and microclimate conditio...

Ammonia (NH3) surface/atmosphere exchange is bi-directional and as such resistance models must include canopy concentrations. An existing single layer model that describes the exchange in terms of adsorption to leaf cuticles and bi-directional transport through leaf stomata, which is governed by a stomatal compensation point (χ s), is applied here to NH3 exchange over oilseed rape and compared ...

Leaf quantity (i.e., canopy leaf area index, LAI), quality (i.e., per-area photosynthetic capacity), and longevity all influence the photosynthetic seasonality of tropical evergreen forests. However, these components of tropical leaf phenology are poorly represented in most terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs). Here, we explored alternative options for the representation of leaf phenology effect...

The desirable structure of longleaf pine forests, which generally includes a relatively open canopy of pines, very few woody stems in the mid-story, and a well-developed, herbaceous ground layer, provides critical habitat for flora and fauna and contributes to ecosystem function. Current efforts to restore longleaf pine to upland sites dominated by second-growth loblolly pine require informatio...

1 This paper describes mean and turbulent flow and mass transport in the presence of aquatic 2 vegetation. Within emergent canopies, the turbulent length-scales are set by the stem diameter and 3 spacing, and the mean flow is determined by the distribution of canopy frontal area. Sparse 4 submerged canopies enhance bed roughness and near-bed turbulence, but the velocity profile 5 remains logari...