This volume brings together different 'schools' of ecological investigation of woodlands. After a description of the structure and floristic composition of the research sites, involving a comparison of boreal, temperate, Mediterranean and tropical forest, the study goes on to consider the dynamic aspects of the woodland formation.

This book investigates radiocesium movement in all major components of forest ecosystems, e.g. the plants, animals, insects, microorganisms, and soils, during the initial stage of contamination after the incident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Most of the work was conducted at a common research site. More specifically, the book examines the contribution of surface uptake by trees in the dynamics of radiocesium during the initial contamination stage; the movement of radiocesium in the form of small organic fragments that are essential to the radiocesium dynamics in forest ecosystems; and the upward movement of radiocesium due to microorganism activity, which promotes the effective decontamination of the forest floor. Lastly, it explains why spiders could be a valuable indicator of the contamination level in forest ecosystems.

2009 Outstanding Academic Title, Choice This acclaimed textbook is the most comprehensive available in the field of forest ecology. Designed for advanced students of forest science, ecology, and environmental studies, it is also an essential reference for forest ecologists, foresters, and land managers. The authors provide an inclusive survey of boreal, temperate, and tropical forests with an emphasis on ecological concepts across scales that range from global to landscape to microscopic. Situating forests in the context of larger landscapes, they reveal the complex patterns and processes observed in tree-dominated habitats. The updated and expanded second edition covers • Conservation • Ecosystem services • Climate change • Vegetation classification • Disturbance • Species interactions • Self-thinning • Genetics • Soil influences • Productivity • Biogeochemical cycling • Mineralization • Effects of herbivory • Ecosystem stability

This revision maintains the position of Forest Ecosystems as the one source for the latest information on the advanced methods that have enhanced our understating of forest ecosystems. Further understanding is given to techniques to explore the changes in climatic cycles, the implications of wide-scale pollution, fire and other ecological disturbances that have a global effect. The inclusion of models, equations, graphs, and tabular examples provides readers with a full understanding of the methods and techniques. - Includes a revised section on important advances in regional scale analyses - Features an update to global scale analyses including revised color images - Provides a detailed comparison of predicted vs. observed tree diversity across 65 eco-regions

The research presented here provides a sound scientific basis for management and policy decisions regarding the productivity and sustainability of forest ecosystems in the context of a rapidly changing global environment. It is the synthesis of 5 years of field and laboratory research on southern forests conducted by the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service to provide scientific assessments to the US Global Change Research Program, and, as such, is invaluable for policy makers and land use managers.

From the research results and discussions presented in this book it becomes clear that a profound understanding of the various interrelationships of the nutritional aspects allows the implementation of specific management strategies to improve stability and productivity of forest ecosystems. In particular the effects of environmental changes as related to the impacts of air pollution, global change and land use on nutrient uptake and cycling processes in forest ecosystems are dealt with in detail. The book is divided into six main issues and each topic contains reviews as well as selected results of recent studies.

The sexiest lowland forests in Papua Indonesia, hosting many high-valued timber species, attract the country’s authorities to allocate 94% as production forests. The main aim is to manage the forests sustainably under a concessionaire system strongly requiring sustainable-sense protocols stated in the national silviculture system-TPTI. However, in many cases, the logging activities in the tropics fail to perform sustainability in production and ecological integrity due to unavoidable high harvesting intensity adopted in uniform cutting protocols. Therefore, comprehending an intact forest’s local-specific features helps develop an adaptable silviculture technique. The book elaborates on 143 species identified in two logging concessions of Papua and explains significant differences in the distinct primary forests formed by the species. It also reveals the individuals and species of commercial timbers left after logging. Furthermore, it presentably discusses the current logging impacts potentially changing the species’ relative abundance, downgrading the future degree of tree diversity and causing a massive timber volume reduction that fizzles out to enter the third cycle. Additionally, the state-of-the-art method of relating species’ slope structure with its sapwood content of δ15N and N is conceptually explained to classify 103 species by light-requirement trait. Therefore, it is a critical indicator for species selection in the enrichment planting of pre-grown seedlings and subsequent tending. Ultimately, including a combination of species-specific minimum cutting diameter in TPTI with the consequence of enlarging the concession area becomes the ambitious goal of this work.