《A review of the roles of forest canopy gaps》.pdfVIP

Journal of Forestry Research (2014) 25(4): 725−736 DOI 10.1007/s11676-014-0521-7 REVIEW ARTICLE A review of the roles of forest canopy gaps Adele Muscolo • Silvio Bagnato • Maria Sidari • Roberto Mercurio. Received: 2014-05-19; Accepted: 2014-06-20 © Northeast Forestry University and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014 Abstract: Treefall gap, canopy opening caused by the death of one or and influencing ecosystems is now well recognized in ecology. more trees, is the dominant form of disturbance in many forest systems Disturbance, defined as “any relatively discrete event in time that worldwide. Gaps play an important role in forest ecology helping to pre- disrupts ecosystem, community or population structure and serve bio- and pedo-diversity, influencing nutrient cycles, and maintain- changes resources, substrate availability, or the physical envi- ing the complex structure of the late-successional forests. Over the last ronment” (White and Pickett 1985), plays an important role in all 30 years, numerous reviews have been written describing gap dynamics. natural ecosystems. Both small-scale (death of one or few trees) Here we synthesize current understanding on gap dynamics relating to and large-scale disturbances (fires, wind storms, insect outbreaks tree regeneration with particular emphasis on gap characteristics consid- and others) can create gaps in forest canopies that are often ideal ered critical to develop ecologically sustainable forest management sys- locations and conditions for rapid plant reproduction and growth. tems and to conserve native biodiversity. Specifically, we addressed the Perhaps the most thoroughly studied impact of gap formation is question: how do gaps influence forest structure? From th