Sustainable Forest Management: Growth Models for Europe

There is a strong movement towards uneven-aged forest management based on the idea that such stand increase or at least maintain soil fertility, increase biodiversity and improve stand resilience. This shift in forest management practice renders existing yield tables increasingly unreliable. One potential alternative are tree growth models because they predict the growth of each tree within a forest stand.

This book summarizes three years of work related to this topic. The work presented was carried out as a joint effort of leading tree growth modellers across Europe together with forest companies. A total of 45 individuals have contributed to the success of the result presented. The book is intended to demonstrate the problem solving potential of tree growth modelling theory as it is requested by various end user groups.

Nine specific examples were selected for demonstration purposes.