Structural attributes of stand overstory and light under the canopy

Abstract

This paper reviews the literature relating to the relationship between light availability in the understory and the main qualitative and quantitative attributes of stand overstory usually considered in forest management and planning (species composition, density, tree sizes, etc.) as well as their changes as consequences of harvesting. The paper is divided in two sections: the fi rst one reviews studies which investigated the infl uence of species composition on understory light conditions; the second part examines research on the relationships among stand parameters determined from mensurational fi eld data and the radiation on understory layer. The objective was to highlight which are the most signifi cant stand traits and management features to build more practical models for predicting light regimes in any forest stand and, in more general terms, to support forest managers in planning and designing silvicultural treatments that retain structure in different way in order to meet different objectives.