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Forest Ecosystems 2014, 1(2): 8 https://doi.org/10.1186/2197-5620-1-8
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Forest observational studies-an essential infrastructure for sustainable use of natural resources

Show Author's Information XiuHai Zhao1,  Javier Corral-Rivas2,  ChunYu Zhang1,  Hailemariam Temesgen3,  Klaus v Gadow4,5
Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China
Universidad Autonóma de Nuevo León, Durango, México
Oregon State University, Corvallis, USA
Burckhardt Institute, Georg-August University, Göttingen, Germany
Institute of Forestry and Wood Science, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Keywords:
Longitudinal, Experiment, India, China, Mexico, Cross-sectional, Interval study, Social media surveillance
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Zhao X, Corral-Rivas J, Zhang C, et al. Forest observational studies-an essential infrastructure for sustainable use of natural resources. Forest Ecosystems, 2014, 1(2): 8. https://doi.org/10.1186/2197-5620-1-8
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Abstract Full text About this article

This contribution complements Forest Ecosystems' Thematic Series on "Forest Observational Studies". We provide essential clarification regarding the definition and purpose of long-term field studies, review some of the extensive literature and discuss different approaches to collecting field data. We also describe two newly established forest observational networks that serve to illustrate the scope and diversity of forest field studies. The first is a large-scale network of forest observational studies in prominent natural forest ecosystems in China. The second example demonstrates observational studies in mixed and uneven-aged pine-oak forests which are selectively managed by local communities in Mexico. We summarize the potential for analysing and modeling forest ecosystems within interdisciplinary projects and provide argumentation in favour of long-term institutional commitment to maintaining forest observational field studies.


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Forest observational studies-an essential infrastructure for sustainable use of natural resources

Show Author's information XiuHai Zhao1, Javier Corral-Rivas2, ChunYu Zhang1, Hailemariam Temesgen3, Klaus v Gadow4,5
Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China
Universidad Autonóma de Nuevo León, Durango, México
Oregon State University, Corvallis, USA
Burckhardt Institute, Georg-August University, Göttingen, Germany
Institute of Forestry and Wood Science, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa

Abstract

This contribution complements Forest Ecosystems' Thematic Series on "Forest Observational Studies". We provide essential clarification regarding the definition and purpose of long-term field studies, review some of the extensive literature and discuss different approaches to collecting field data. We also describe two newly established forest observational networks that serve to illustrate the scope and diversity of forest field studies. The first is a large-scale network of forest observational studies in prominent natural forest ecosystems in China. The second example demonstrates observational studies in mixed and uneven-aged pine-oak forests which are selectively managed by local communities in Mexico. We summarize the potential for analysing and modeling forest ecosystems within interdisciplinary projects and provide argumentation in favour of long-term institutional commitment to maintaining forest observational field studies.

Keywords: Longitudinal, Experiment, India, China, Mexico, Cross-sectional, Interval study, Social media surveillance

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Publication history

Received: 30 December 2013
Accepted: 24 February 2014
Published: 11 April 2014
Issue date: June 2014

Copyright

© 2014 Zhao et al.; licensee Springer.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgement

We greatly appreciate the constructive comments received from three anonymous reviewers which resulted in an extensive revision of the original submission. We thank the Forest Modeling Research Cooperative, and Harold Burkhart and Ralph Amateis at Virginia Tech, for providing material for this paper.

Individual author contributions: Zhao and Zhang (Section 2.2); Corral Rivas (Section 2.3); Temesgen (contributions to other sections): Gadow (Sections 1 and 3).

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This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.

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