Book Description
This digital document is a journal article from Forest Ecology and Management, published by Elsevier in . The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
The fragmentation of old forests is an aspect of forest development that has to be considered in long-term forest planning. Although several measures of the spatial structure of forests have been reported in the literature, very few have been evaluated with respect to their usefulness in long-term forest planning. The objective of this study was, therefore, to investigate if it is possible to use of one of these measures, the shape index, as a criterion in the optimization model for decreasing the fragmentation of old forest in the landscape The shape index is evaluated by solving a two-objective problem with simulated annealing, which aims at maximizing the net present value and minimizing the shape index for a landscape consisting of 924 stands. In a case study, the stated problem was converted to a one-objective problem by weighting the two objectives together. The study showed clear differences in the spatial patterns of old forest between the different weight combinations. With a higher weight on the shape index, the old forests become more clustered and the number of small and isolated patches of old forest decrease compared with a low weight on the shape index. The results also indicate that it is possible to considerably improve the shape index with only a small sacrifice in net present value. It is also clear from the case study that the shape index is a computationally well-behaved measure to use in optimization. The solution times for the different cases were generally very short. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is a journal article from Forest Ecology and Management, published by Elsevier in 2006. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
It is difficult to map forest growth potential across regions with different environmental conditions from limited field measurements of productivity. Climatically sensitive biophysical models and remotely sensed data on vegetation offer the potential to overcome this problem. We combine both approaches in this paper. We calibrated the midsummer value of NASA's MODIS instrument's enhanced vegetation index (EVI) against site indices (SI) mapped at 10 widely dispersed locations for Douglas-fir or ponderosa pine, ranging in height from 16 to 48m at 50 years (age at breast height). Median values of EVI derived from a 3kmx3km grid centered on commercial forest lands of known productive capacities produced a linear regression with site indices (R^2=0.83). We matched stand growth properties generated by a physiologically based stand growth model (3-PG) with site-specific yield tables and inferred from model predictions, as well as from the literature, that a close relation exists between maximum leaf area index (max L), maximum periodic annual increment (max PAI), and SI. We tested the ability of median EVI to predict SI values derived from height and tree age measurements made at 5263 federal inventory and analysis (FIA) survey plots in Oregon with comparable success (R^2=0.53) to that derived from previous application of 3-PG using 1km resolution of climate and soil data. Based on the general agreement between the two approaches, we used mid-summer EVI valves to generate a 1km resolution map predicting spatial variation in SI of Douglas-fir over 630,000km^2 in the Pacific and Inland Northwest, U.S.A. ... Read more

Book Description
The first comprehensive and critical overview of Christian perspectives on the relationship between social justice and ecological integrity, this annotated bibliography focuses on works that include ecological issues, social-ethical values and problems, and explicitly theological or religious reflection on ecological and social ethics and their interrelations. This body of moral reflection on the relationship between ecological ethics and social and economic justice (sometimes called "eco-justice") will be of interest to those involved in religious education, research, liturgical renewal, public policy recommendations, community action, lay witness, and personal life-style transformation. The work is comprised of an introductory review essay followed by over 500 complete annotations. As a contemporary subject, much has been written in the past 30 years about the Christian approaches to the relationship between ecological integrity and social justice. The literature comes from a variety of disciplines and perspectives: from biblical studies to philosophical theology and cultural criticism; and from evangelical theory to process, feminist, and "creation-centered" theologies. Although there have been significant movements and developments in this literature, much writing seems unaware of other or earlier discussions of the interrelationships. This volume brings all the works together. ... Read more

Product Description
May 1965. Special Scientific Report-Fisheries No. 507, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 352 pages. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is a journal article from Forest Ecology and Management, published by Elsevier in 2006. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
In this paper, we demonstrate an objective and quantitative methodology for developing a stand scale index of structural complexity. While we use data from particular woodland and dry sclerophyll forests communities in south-eastern Australia to do this, our methodology has generic value. Our approach involves: (1) establishing a comprehensive suite of stand structural attributes; (2) quantifying attributes in the comprehensive suite, by collecting data from a set of stands representing the range of condition occurring in the vegetation communities in which the index is intended to operate; (3) identifying a core set of structural attributes from an analysis of these data; and (4) combining the core attributes in a simple additive index, in which attributes are scored relative to their observed levels in each vegetation community. To apply this approach, data were collected from 48 study sites representing the range of condition in a 15,000km^2 study area located in the South-eastern Highlands Bioregion of Australia. The following 13 core attributes were identified from these data: vegetation cover <0.5m; vegetation cover 0.5-6.0m; perennial species richness; lifeform richness; stand basal area of live trees; quadratic mean diameter of live stems; ln(number of regenerating stems ha^-^1+1); ln(number of hollow-bearing trees ha^-^1+1); ln(number of dead trees ha^-^1+1); @/(number of live stems ha^-^1 >40cmdbh); @/(total log length ha^-^1); @/(total large log length ha^-^1); and litter dry weight ha^-^1. These core attributes were combined in a simple additive index, in which, each attribute accounted for 10 points in a total index value of 130. Attributes were rescaled as a score from 0 to 10, using equations that modelled attribute score as a function of the raw attribute data (r^2>0.95, p<0.0001). The index was not sensitive to attribute weightings and, on this basis, attributes carried equal weight. In this form, the index was straightforward to apply, and differentiated between study sites. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Misleading and woefully inadequate book on crocodile biology
From the title of this book, I assumed that an up-to-date treatise of the biology of crocodiles and alligators, including a well-researched and informative bibliography, would be forthcoming. How wrong I was. The bookin paperback format is simply a cheaply-bound set of A4 photocopies.Unfortunately, things go downhill once the covers are opened.

The book isdivided into three sections, the first of which reads like pro-researchpropaganda written as though the author's life depended on the idea ofpromoting and supporting the idea of research. At nearly 20 pages, this ismassively verbose and has virtually nothing to do with the book's title.The only piece of crocodile information present is a brief section entitled"prologue" which contains one of the most embarrassing errorsabout alligator biology that I've seen. The second section of the book, anindex and bibliographic resource, is perhaps the only redeeming feature ofthe book. Yet, with only 121 references, most of which are taken from thebiochemical literature and all of which are at least five years old, thissection is of limited value to anyone interested in the book's real title.The final section of the book, which is quite extensive, is devoted to alist of medical and other reference books which have nothing whatsoever todo with crocodilians - or even zoology.

To summarise, do not waste yourmoney on this publication. One of my major gripes is the utterly misleadingtitle - if you expected a serious publication on crocodilian biology, lookelsewhere. The contents are of little use to anyone interested in thebiology of alligators and crocodiles. Far better choices would include Webb& Manolis' "Crocodiles of Australia" and Ross'"Crocodiles and Alligators". ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is a journal article from Forest Ecology and Management, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Results from seven long-term experiments in the southern US were summarized to understand production dynamics of intensively managed loblolly pine plantations. Replicated studies that spanned a wide range of soil and climatic conditions were established (North Carolina-NC; Georgia-GA (three sites); Florida-FL; Louisiana-LA; Oklahoma-OK). All experiments received some combination of silvicultural treatments, including fertilizer application, understory competition control, irrigation, and thinning. Accumulation of stemwood biomass at age 15 years varied among sites and ranged from 70Mgha^-^1 (NC) to 180Mgha^-^1 (GA). All sites that received fertilizer and weed control applications were responsive to treatments, and growth responses ranged from about 2-fold (GA) to 3.5-fold (FL) at age 15 years. Variation in fertilizer responses among sites reflected differences in soil types, inherent site quality, and stages of stand development. Site carrying capacity, expressed as maximum basal area attained in closed canopy stands, was surprisingly consistent among sites and climatic conditions, reaching 45-48m^2ha^-^1 under the most intensive silvicultural treatments. Across studies, competition-related mortality was initiated as stand basal areas approached 30-35m^2ha^-^1, and annual stemwood biomass increment peaked as basal areas reached about 20-35m^2ha^-^1. These data suggest that a regional maximum in stand density occurs for loblolly pine when regular fertilizer additions are made or inherent soil nutrient supply is high. Periodic density management will be required to minimize reductions in individual tree and net stand growth. Wood specific gravity at a standard ring age of 10-11 years varied both among sites and by treatment within sites, and ranged from approximately 0.45 (OK site) to 0.56 (GA sites). Maximum leaf area index (LAI) among sites varied from about 2.5 to 6.5. The relationship between stemwood biomass increment and LAI across sites was strong at LAI levels <3.0, but was considerably more variable at higher LAIs. Variation in stemwood increment at higher LAIs was substantially reduced, however, when extreme data points were removed; a logistic function explained 75% of the variation in stemwood increment across all sites. Differences in productivity among sites were not strongly related to site water balance. Taken together, these results support other work which suggests that soil nutrient availability is the dominant driver of loblolly pine productivity across its natural range. Future research should seek to better understand the mechanisms of nutrient demand, uptake and utilization efficiency in developing stands, as well as the factors controlling intraspecific tree competition. ... Read more