Complex forest stand structures: management, measurement and modelling

Abstract

A consequence of popular demands for production forestry based on complex stands characterized byvertical, horizontal and spatial heterogeneity is that the estimation and modelling of temporal dynamics and production potential becomes more challenging. New technologies may make it expedient to census remotely and simulate the growth of the whole forest, rather than to rely on the extrapolation from a few precise point samples. Other demands by stakeholders (e.g., for closer attention to plantation water use) create additional challenges that provoke a re-think of traditional approaches to forest inventory and modelling. During the past decade, much effort has been directed at the ‘micro-scale’, towards better physiological and single-tree models. Changing paradigms of forest management require refinements at the ‘meta-scale’, to better deal with the complexity created by greater diversity in spatial and temporal structure of forests, and in the demands of stakeholders. The challenge is to create models that are reliable yet accessible and understandable by all stakeholders in the forest management discussion.