On the Stability Analysis of the Standing Forest Boundary

Antonovsky, M.Y., Aponina, E.A., & Kuznetsov, Y.A. (1991). On the Stability Analysis of the Standing Forest Boundary. IIASA Working Paper. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: WP-91-010

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Abstract

It is well known that many existing models of forest age structure dynamics describe time dynamics for a local area. However, it is known that real forest areas have age structures that vary from one gap to another. Local gaps are integrated into a joint forest ecosystem by various seed dispersion mechanisms and by the penetration of roots. The work of Antonovsky et al. (1989) was used as a base model for a qualitative description of a spatially distributed monospecies mixed age forest. This phenomenological model employs a diffusion term corresponding to various processes of "young" tree dispersion. The model allows one to predict the possibility of the existence of a stationary or traveling forest boundary. From one side of the boundary, the modeled forest demonstrates an equilibrium state with non-zero age class densities, while from the other side, there are no trees of the studied type. As was shown, the model analyzes the changes in the behavior of the forest boundary caused by an increase in the tree mortality rate due to anthropogenic impacts (from acid rain, for example). The present paper is devoted to studying the ability of the forest to resist the internal "negative" forces of forest ecosystems and external impacts on changes in the standing forest boundary (on a given model level).

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