Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of contributors
- Section I Forest health and mortality
- 1 The past as key to the future: a new perspective on forest health
- 2 Mortality: the essence of a healthy forest
- 3 How do we do it, and what does it mean? Forest health case studies
- Section II Forest health and its ecological components
- Section III Forest health and the human dimension
- Appendix A Microsoft® Excel® instructions for Chapter 2
- Appendix B Microsoft® Excel® instructions for Chapter 3
- Glossary of terms
- Index
- References
2 - Mortality: the essence of a healthy forest
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of contributors
- Section I Forest health and mortality
- 1 The past as key to the future: a new perspective on forest health
- 2 Mortality: the essence of a healthy forest
- 3 How do we do it, and what does it mean? Forest health case studies
- Section II Forest health and its ecological components
- Section III Forest health and the human dimension
- Appendix A Microsoft® Excel® instructions for Chapter 2
- Appendix B Microsoft® Excel® instructions for Chapter 3
- Glossary of terms
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
Chapter 1 explained the importance of diameter distributions to assess sustainability as a component of forest health. In this chapter, we further develop the method and its application, and we explore complimentary statistical tools that have been developed to analyze other aspects of forest condition. The main objective of this chapter is to present the methodology used to calculate baseline mortality, the role of diameter distributions and model fitting in this process, and to review additional conceptual methods to assess aspects of forest health. We make no effort to distinguish among different mortality-inducing agents. We first will look at diameter distributions and how to determine baseline mortality, and then examine other techniques that consider management objectives and spatial scales.
Recently, the importance of determining the causes and consequences of tree mortality at a large spatial scale has been realized (Hansen and Goheen 2000; Holdenrieder et al., 2004). Determining the normal or baseline amount of disease or mortality is an essential part of this effort. If disease or other disturbance is considered an impediment to the optimal use of forest resources, then the ideal disease level is zero. However, if disturbances, pests and diseases are viewed in their full ecological context, then some abundance greater than zero must be considered a “healthy amount of disease” (Manion 2003). We use the term “a healthy amount of disease” to refer to the level of mortality-inducing agents that will induce the needed mortality, regardless of the cause of the mortality.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Forest HealthAn Integrated Perspective, pp. 17 - 49Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
References
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