This study shows that forests in New Zealand facing in the direction of westerly storms are shorter and store less carbon than more sheltered forests. However, these forests develop the highest carbon density for a given height when compared with 14 other tropical forests studied using the same approach, suggesting that although wind kept these forests short, it has not impeded basal area growth. The study also found that models based on top-of-canopy height are almost as accurate as complex tree-centric approaches in estimating forest carbon.
Coomes, D.A.; Šafka, D.; Shepherd, J.; Dalponte, M.; Holdaway, R.
Forest Ecosystems 5 (1), 10
2018
Forest Ecology and Conservation Group 