Forest resource inventories must include wood quality information to support the optimum use of wood fibre. The objective of this study was to develop models relating maximum live branch diameter (MBD), which affects lumber value, to tree and stand characteristics that can be measured through current and emerging remote sensing technologies. Using non-linear mixed effects models for six Canadia...

Understanding forest carbon budget and dynamics for sustainable resource management and ecosystem functions requires quantification of above- and below-ground biomass at individual tree species and stand levels. In this study, a total of 122 trees (9-12 per species) were destructively sampled to determine above- and below-ground biomass of 12 tree species (Acer mandshuricum, Acer mono, Betula p...

Large areas of forests were radioactively contaminated by the Fukushima nuclear accident of 2011, and forest decontamination is now an important problem in Japan. However, whether trees absorb radioactive fallout from soil via the roots or directly from the atmosphere through the bark and leaves is unclear. We measured the uptake of radiocesium by trees in forests heavily contaminated by the Fu...

Drought-sensitive European beech forests are increasingly challenged by climate change. Admixing other, preferably more deep-rooting, tree species has been proposed to increase the resilience of drought. This diversification might also affect soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) stocks that relevant for a wide range functions ecosystem services, such as water nutrient retention, fi...

The long-term and large-scale dynamics of ecosystems are in large part determined by the performances of individual plants in competition with one another for light, water, and nutrients. Woody biomass, a pool of carbon (C) larger than 50 % of atmospheric CO2, exists because of height-structured competition for light. However, most of the current Earth system models that predict climate change ...

Abstract We extend the study of economically optimal carbon storage to a previously unexplored forest type, mixed-species size-structured stands. The ecological model applied in is transition matrix with growth functions for boreal Norway spruce ( Picea abies (L.) Karst.), birch Betula pendula Roth and B. pubescens Ehrh.), other broadleaves. broadleaved trees are assumed have no commercial valu...

Based on a large number of floristic plots (n = 82 581), the French forest status related to soil nitrogen (N) availability was reconstructed from herb species bio-indication spanning from1910 to 2010. The temporal changes highlighted a decrease in available-N until 1990s in coniferous and broadleaved forests (mean ΔC:N=+0.79 and +0.74 C:N units, respectively). It was followed by an increase in...

Leaf caloric value (LCV) reflects the capacity of a leaf to fix and accumulate solar energy through photosynthesis. We systematically investigated the LCV of 745 plant species in 9 forests, representing a range of tropical to cold-temperate forests along the 4700-km North-South Transect of Eastern China. The goals were to explore the latitudinal patterns of LCV at the levels of species, plant f...