Co-dominance and succession in temperate forests: a mathematical approach
Author(s)
Cammarano, Mario
Date Issued
March 30, 2010
Type
Doctoral Thesis
Abstract
Forest vegetation covers about one-third of the Earth’s land surface.
At the population level, forests have been widely studied through complex simulators that successfully reproduce observed patterns of long-term successions. At ecosystem level, while it is well-known that
terrestrial ecosystems have potentially large effects on global climate,
it is clear that uncertainties in model predictions are large as well.
Such uncertainties could be reduced by incorporating in large scale models the ecological realities of biodiversity and competition for light.
As vegetation simulators are too complex to run at large scale, this requires a simpler description of vegetation dynamics. Moreover, several basic mechanisms of forest dynamics, such as the co-dominance of tolerant trees competing for light, are still a matter of debate in
ecological literature.
The aim of this thesis is to contribute both to an improvement of our current understanding of basic aspects of forest dynamics and to provide a simple description of their mechanisms. Investigated mechanisms
include co-dominance of tolerant tree species competing for light, coexistence in a patchy habitat and the relationship between
shade tolerance and successional status. For this purpose I developed a simple mechanistic model that describes competition for light in temperate forests. The model is based on a two-level stage structure.
Interspecific interactions between the stage levels are key features of the model. I qualitatively compared the model with several studies of forest ecosystem in North America. These comparisons supported
model predictions. Furthermore, the model provided simple interpretations for observed patterns.
Additional information
Dottorato di ricerca in Ecologia forestale
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