The approach to construct and test the theory of forest ecology

Abstract

This chapter gives the main lines of biological and methodological thinking applied in the whole book. The vision that mass and energy fluxes convey the interactions between forest ecosystem and its surroundings at different levels is the starting point of the theory formation. We formulate a common framework, called cover theory, to deal with different phenomena in the ecosystem. We analyse the fluxes generated by metabolism, and we use conservation of mass and energy for derivation of differential equations to describe each phenomenon under study. We test the dynamic models with field data to obtain feedback from nature. Finally, we combine the theories to form the physical and physiological theory of forest ecology.