The Zagros forests (west of Iran) have been highly exploited in recent decades by human impacts. Easy access, abundance and variety of valuable forest yields have led to population growth density, creation of new residential areas and deforestation activities. In order to determinate the distribution and rate of deforestation from 1995 to 2006 by using the satellite imagery (IRS-1C and  LANDSAT...

In the northeastern US, the availability of light and nitrogen (N) limits the rate of woody plant growth in the forest understory and N limits forest productivity. Interspeci®c differences in the growth responses of saplings to the availability of these resources could affect the species composition of forest communities. While many studies have examined the relationship between shade-tolerance...

The management of second growth forests to accelerate the restoration of late-successional and old growth characteristics will be one of the greatest challenges for conservation in the redwood region over the next century. In the redwood region, the largest complex of protected areas exists in the north, however >50 percent of these forest reserves are composed of logged, degraded second growth...

1. Patterns of growth, activity and renewal of stems and branches are primary determinants of ecosystem function and strongly influence net primary productivity, water and energy balance. Here we compare patterns of leaf phenology, stem radial growth and branch growth of co-occurring savanna and forest trees in the Cerrado region of central Brazil to gain insight into the influence of these par...

I evaluate trends in forest loss, population size, economic growth, and corruption within 12 nations that contain the large bulk of Asian tropical forests, and contrast these with trends occurring elsewhere in the tropics. Half of the Asian nations have already experienced severe (>70%) forest loss, and forest-rich countries, such as Indonesia and Malaysia, are experiencing rapid forest destruc...

Most models of the potential effects of climate change on forest growth have produced deterministic predictions. However, there are large uncertainties in data on regional forest condition, estimates of future climate, and quantitative relationships between environmental conditions and forest growth rate. We constructed a new model to analyze these uncertainties along with available experimenta...

In the wake of widespread loss of old-growth forests throughout the tropics, secondary forests will likely play a growing role in the conservation of forest biodiversity. We considered a complex hierarchy of factors that interact in space and time to determine the conservation potential of tropical secondary forests. Beyond the characteristics of local forest patches, spatial and temporal lands...

Forest ecosystems have been exposed to climate change for more than 100 years, whereas the consequences on forest growth remain elusive. Based on the oldest existing experimental forest plots in Central Europe, we show that, currently, the dominant tree species Norway spruce and European beech exhibit significantly faster tree growth (+32 to 77%), stand volume growth (+10 to 30%) and standing s...