Abstract
Forest recovery immediately following disturbance is a critical period that dictates successional trajectories at stand and landscape scales. Models designed to capture forest recovery processes can vary widely in complexity depending on the number, types, and intensity of the triggering disturbances, and the questions being addressed. At a minimum, simulations must capture the process of stand re-initiation whereby vegetation becomes re-established, especially in terms of composition, rate, and spatial pattern. Additional considerations can include changes in vegetative composition, recovery of stand biomass or leaf area index (LAI), changes in soil carbon stores and nutrient availability, water yield and water chemistry, and biological legacies. Truly connecting forest recovery to landscape-scale processes requires integration via spatial processes, particularly dispersal and colonization, fuel connectivity, and density-dependent herbivory (ungulate or insect). A myriad of approaches have been developed with progress on many fronts but substantial challenges remain. In this chapter, we briefly review the current state of knowledge, provide examples that demonstrate the range of model complexity, and discuss the remaining challenges in simulation modeling of forest recovery following disturbance.
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Scheller, R.M., Swanson, M.E. (2015). Simulating Forest Recovery Following Disturbances: Vegetation Dynamics and Biogeochemistry. In: Perera, A., Sturtevant, B., Buse, L. (eds) Simulation Modeling of Forest Landscape Disturbances. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19809-5_10
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