Details that matter: the spatial distribution of individual trees maintains forest ecosystem function

Stephen Wilson Pacala, D. H. Deutschman

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

170 Scopus citations

Abstract

The processes controlling tree-scale spatial heterogeneity in forests have large effects on system-level properties such as standing crop, and on community-level properties such as successional species turnover. A "mean field' version of the forest simulation model SORTIE is developed in which horizontal spatial heterogeneity is eliminated while vertical structure is retained. The mean-field model maintains only approximately one half the standing crop and loses successional diversity approximately twice as fast as the full spatial model. Data from natural stands support the spatial model. Results are set in the context of ongoing efforts to develop models intended to predict the biosphere's response to global change. -from Authors

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)357-365
Number of pages9
JournalOikos
Volume74
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 1995

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

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