Complex mountain terrain and disturbance history drive variation in forest aboveground live carbon density in the western Oregon Cascades, USA.

ABSTRACT: Forest carbon (C) density varies tremendously across space due to the inherent heterogeneity of forest ecosystems. Variation of forest C density is especially pronounced in mountainous terrain, where environmental gradients are compressed and vary at multiple spatial scales. Additionally, the influence of environmental gradients may vary with forest age and developmental stage, an important consideration as forest landscapes often have a diversity of stand ages from past management and other disturbance agents. Quantifying forest C density and its underlying environmental determinants in mountain terrain has remained challenging because many available data sources lack the spatial grain and ecological resolution needed at both stand and landscape scales. The objective of this study was to

SUBMITTER: Zald HS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4816204 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature