Description
Despite the great diversity of habitats grouped under a single name, forests are ecosystems characterized by the dominance of trees, which condition not only the epigeal environment but also life in the soil. Changes in the biological diversity of natural ecosystems have in the second half of the 20th century become a global problem due to intensive human activities. Although currently, biodiversity has become a key component of forests, there is only a limited number of studies, which examine the influence of forest management on biodiversity of e.g. plants. Sustainable forest management represents how high biodiversity can be achieved together with high wood production. This type of management maintains forests and forest soil in order to secure biodiversity, productivity, regeneration capacity, vitality, and abilities to fulfill all ecological, economic, and social functions today and in future on any spatial scale (local, regional, national) without the drawback on other ecosystems.
This book describes critical stages of ecosystem dynamics and management under global change and forest observational studies for sustainable use of natural resources. The book opens with a review of the current state of the art of plant diversity assessment and examined the relationship of plant diversity to main forestry issues, namely forest management, productivity, stability, and naturalness. It indicates that for the proper utilization of biodiversity measures, their values should always refer to the area they represent. Further, it mentions the functional biodiversity of arthropods and nematodes in forest ecosystems. It highlights the ecological and environmental dimensions of Cameroon Mangrove forest. It presents an emphasis on patterns of species dominance, diversity and dispersion in a forest ecosystem in Italy and Northeast India’s perspective.
The book takes a global perspective approach on deadwood in forest ecosystems; forest biodiversity, relationships to structural and functional attributes, and stability in new England forests; land cover dynamics in the Kirisia forest ecosystem; relationship between exotic plant species richness, native vegetation and climate in forest ecosystems of Chile; species diversity and structure of an intact freshwater swamp forest in the Niger delta. The intended book will be of value to the students, scientists, researchers, and other stakeholders associated with the subject area.
