To the human eye, a forest is a slowly changing ecosystem that,
superficially, looks alike from one year to the next. This seeming
quiet though is a balance between the tremendous progenerative
potential of trees and an equally tremendous mortality rate. The
intrinsic nature of the trees that comprise a forest make it all
but impossible to collect complete data sets on the dynamics of
natural forests and our understanding of the long-term dynamics of
forests is based largely on scientific inference. Because of this
reliance on inference, mathematical models of forest dynamics offer
a valuable formalization of what we believe to be the important
mechanisms involved in forest succession. Originally published in
1984, A Theory of Forest Dynamics is intended for scientists and
graduate students in ecology and forestry. The book includes: a
review of ecologic succession; coverage of forest dynamics models
and detailed analysis of several models of forest succession.
Mathematic models of forest dynamics are inspected and evaluated.
The models are applied to ecologic problems on scales ranging from
small forest gaps to entire landscapes and over years to millennia.
"Almost twenty years after its first publication, this book
continues to be a highly valuable resource for forest ecologists,
whether they are engaged in dynamic modeling or not. It provides a
thorough, mathematically underpinned theory of forest succession
with a large array of application examples. I am thrilled that this
volume is available again." Dr. Harald Bugmann, Professor of
Mountain Forest Ecology, ETH Zurich, Switzerland "Since this book
was first published in 1984, it has been a seminal publication
describing the ecological processes controlling the dynamics of
forest ecosystems. The scientific relevance and importance of the
book have only increased over time. In particular, as climate
modelers now realize that terrestrial ecosystems are an important
feedback in the climate system they are including dynamic
vegetation models in their climate models. This allows vegetation
to change as climate changes, feeding back to affect climate. Hank
Shugart's book outlines the theory of forest dynamics needed to
successfully include dynamic vegetation within climate models." Dr.
Gordon Bonan, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder,
Colorado "Hank Shugart's book A Theory of Forest Dynamics has
served as a "bible" in the field of forestry and ecology since its
original publication in 1984. It made the forest gap model known
world-wide, which led to the application of a large number of
forest gap models to almost all forest types and continents. It has
become a classic in forest science. Traditionally, forest science
was regarded as a statistical and experienced science because trees
could not be observed by a single person for an entire life span,
making it impossible to predict the consequences of forest
management, disturbances and environmental changes. The invention
of the forest gap model quickly changed that situation because
forest gap models can record, simulate and forecast the past,
present and future in an understandable scale so that long term
dynamics of forests may be understood based on a small group of
hypothesis related succession factors: birth, mortality, growth
under competition of light, water and space, parameterized by
simple forestry inventory in forestry and forest ecology. A Theory
of Forest Dynamics can be used both for research and teaching in
forest science. It was written for scientists interested in forest
science, but it has also been used as a textbook in computer
modeling and forest ecology." Yan Xiaodong, Deputy Director, START
TEA RRC, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of
Sciences, Beijing
General
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