The principles of ecological succession bear importantly on the relationships between man and nature. The framework of successional theory needs to be examined as a basis for resolving man’s present environmental crisis. Most ideas pertaining to the development of ecological systems are based on descriptive data obtained by observing changes in biotic communities over long periods, or on highly theoretical assumptions; very few of the generally accepted hypotheses have been tested experimentally. Some of the confusion, vagueness, and lack of experimental work in this area stems from the tendency of ecologists to regard “succession” as a single straightforward idea; in actual fact, it entails an interacting complex of processes, some of which counteract one another.

The Strategy of Ecosystem Development

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the rates at which Coarse Woody Debris (CWD) is added and removed from ecosystems, the biomass found in streams and forests, and many functions that CWD serves. CWD is an important component of temperate stream and forest ecosystems and is added to the ecosystem by numerous mechanisms, including wind, fire, insect attack, pathogens, competition, and geomorphic processes. Many factors control the rate at which CWD decomposes, including temperature, moisture, the internal gas composition of CWD, substrate quality, the size of the CWD, and the types of organisms involved. The mass of CWD in an ecosystem ideally represents the balance between addition and loss. In reality, slow decomposition rates and erratic variations in input of CWD cause the CWD mass to deviate markedly from steady-state projections. Many differences correspond to forest type, with deciduous-dominated systems having generally lower biomass than conifer-dominated systems. Stream size also influences CWD mass in lotic ecosystems, while successional stage dramatically influences CWD mass in boat aquatic and terrestrial settings. This chapter reviews many of these functions and concludes that CWD is an important functional component of stream and forest ecosystems. Better scientific understanding of these functions and the natural factors influencing CWD dynamics should lead to more enlightened management practices.

Ecology of Coarse Woody Debris in Temperate Ecosystems

The Lund-Potsdam-Jena Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (LPJ) combines process-based, large-scale representations of terrestrial vegetation dynamics and land-atmosphere carbon and water exchanges in a modular framework. Features include feedback through canopy conductance between photosynthesis and transpiration and interactive coupling between these 'fast' processes and other ecosystem processes including resource competition, tissue turnover, population dynamics, soil organic matter and litter dynamics and fire disturbance. Ten plants functional types (PFTs) are differentiated by physiological, morphological, phenological, bioclimatic and fire-response attributes. Resource competition and differential responses to fire between PFTs influence their relative fractional cover from year to year. Photosynthesis, evapotranspiration and soil water dynamics are modelled on a daily time step, while vegetation structure and PFT population densities are updated annually. Simulations have been made over the industrial period both for specific sites where field measurements were available for model evaluation, and globally on a 0.5degrees x 0.5degrees grid. Modelled vegetation patterns are consistent with observations, including remotely sensed vegetation structure and phenology. Seasonal cycles of net ecosystem exchange and soil moisture compare well with local measurements. Global carbon exchange fields used as input to an atmospheric tracer transport model (TM2) provided a good fit to observed seasonal cycles of CO2 concentration at all latitudes. Simulated inter-annual variability of the global terrestrial carbon balance is in phase with and comparable in amplitude to observed variability in the growth rate of atmospheric CO2 . Global terrestrial carbon and water cycle parameters (pool sizes and fluxes) lie within their accepted ranges. The model is being used to study past, present and future terrestrial ecosystem dynamics, biochemical and biophysical interactions between ecosystems and the atmosphere, and as a component of coupled Earth system models.

Evaluation of ecosystem dynamics, plant geography and terrestrial carbon cycling in the LPJ dynamic global vegetation model

This work presents a new dynamic global vegetation model designed as an extension of an existing surface-vegetation-atmosphere transfer scheme which is included in a coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation model. The new dynamic global vegetation model simulates the principal processes of the continental biosphere influencing the global carbon cycle (photosynthesis, autotrophic and heterotrophic respiration of plants and in soils, fire, etc.) as well as latent, sensible, and kinetic energy exchanges at the surface of soils and plants. As a dynamic vegetation model, it explicitly represents competitive processes such as light competition, sapling establishment, etc. It can thus be used in simulations for the study of feedbacks between transient climate and vegetation cover changes, but it can also be used with a prescribed vegetation distribution. The whole seasonal phenological cycle is prognostically calculated without any prescribed dates or use of satellite data. The model is coupled to the IPSL-CM4 coupled atmosphere-ocean-vegetation model. Carbon and surface energy fluxes from the coupled hydrology-vegetation model compare well with observations at FluxNet sites. Simulated vegetation distribution and leaf density in a global simulation are evaluated against observations, and carbon stocks and fluxes are compared to available estimates, with satisfying results.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2003GB002199

A dynamic global vegetation model for studies of the coupled atmosphere-biosphere system

Old-growth forests remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at rates that vary with climate and nitrogen deposition. The sequestered carbon dioxide is stored in live woody tissues and slowly decomposing organic matter in litter and soil. Old-growth forests therefore serve as a global carbon dioxide sink, but they are not protected by international treaties, because it is generally thought that ageing forests cease to accumulate carbon. Here we report a search of literature and databases for forest carbon-flux estimates. We find that in forests between 15 and 800 years of age, net ecosystem productivity (the net carbon balance of the forest including soils) is usually positive. Our results demonstrate that old-growth forests can continue to accumulate carbon, contrary to the long-standing view that they are carbon neutral. Over 30 per cent of the global forest area is unmanaged primary forest, and this area contains the remaining old-growth forests. Half of the primary forests (6 times 10 8 hectares) are located in the boreal and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. On the basis of our analysis, these forests alone sequester about 1.3 plusminus 0.5 gigatonnes of carbon per year. Thus, our findings suggest that 15 per cent of the global forest area, which is currently not considered when offsetting increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, provides at least 10 per cent of the global net ecosystem productivity. Old-growth forests accumulate carbon for centuries and contain large quantities of it. We expect, however, that much of this carbon, even soil carbon, will move back to the atmosphere if these forests are disturbed

Old-growth forests as global carbon sinks.

A quantitative analysis of plant form-the pipe model theory : i.basic analyses

A quantitative analysis of plant form-the pipe model theory : ii. further evidence of the theory and its application in forest ecology

Structure of forest canopies as related to their primary productivity

https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/seitai/25/2/25_KJ00001775740/_pdf

Distribution of forest vegetation and climate in the korean peninsula. : i. distribution of some indices of thermal climate

Vertical stratification in microclimate

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