Forest Ecology and Conservation Group

Changing the Landscape of Conservation

Publications 2000 – 2009

  • Spatially explicit models to analyze forest loss and fragmentation between 1976 and 2020 in southern Chile

    Identification of the geophysical variables (“pattern drivers”) that explain the spatial patterns of forest loss and fragmentation between 1976 and 1999 using both a GIS-based land-use change model (GEOMOD) and spatially explicit logistic regression. Includes projections where and how much forest fragmentation will occur in the future by extrapolation of the current rate of deforestation…

  • RE-ANALYSIS OF GROWTH–SIZE SCALING RELATIONSHIPS OF WOODY PLANT SPECIES

    A corrigendum of the Russo et al. 2007 paper ‘Growth–size scaling relationships of woody plant species differ from predictions of the Metabolic Ecology Model’. Russo, S.E.; Wiser, S.K.; Coomes, D.A. 2008 PDF

  • Monocot Leaves are Eaten Less than Dicot Leaves in Tropical Lowland Rain Forests: Correlations with Toughness and Leaf Presentation

    An investigation into whether the differing toughness and levels of leaf presentation between monocots and dicots correlates with the different levels of herbivory to which they are subject. Grubb, P.J. et al. 2008 PDF

  • NEOENDEMISM IN MADAGASCAN SCALY TREE FERNS RESULTS FROM RECENT, COINCIDENT DIVERSIFICATION BURSTS

    The evolution of Madagascan tree ferns as a rainforest-specific model family, integrating results from bioclimatic niche analysis with a dated phylogenetic framework, and proposal of an evolutionary scenario of large island endemic clades. Showing that Madagascar’s extant tree fern diversity springs from three distinct ancestors independently colonising Madagascar during the Miocene. Janssen, J.; Bystriakova, N.;…

  • Intraspecific changes in forest canopy allometries during self-thinning

    An investigation of variations in leaf allometry, stand LAI and other canopy properties along a developmental sequence of naturally occurring mono-specific self-thinning stands of mountain beech. Holdaway, R. J.;Allen, R. B. ; Clinton, P. W. ; Davis,M. R.; Coomes, D.A. 2008 PDF

  • Global meta-analysis of wood decomposition rates: a role for trait variation among tree species?

    The first global analysis attempting to explicitly investigate the contribution of wood quality to decomposition. Under a common climate interspecific differences in wood traits are found to affect woody debris decomposition patterns. Weedon, J.T.; Cornwell, W.K.; Cornelissen, J.H.C.; Zanne, A.; Wirth, C.; Coomes, D.A. 2008 PDF

  • Scaling of xylem vessels and veins within oak leaves

    An examination of the scaling of the leaf xylem in ten temperate oak species to test general models of plant vascular architecture, based on scaling of pipe diameters in order to minimize hydraulic resistance within the xylem, which have neglected to consider the variations in leaf hydraulic properties. Coomes, D.A.; Heathcote, S.; Godfrey, E.R.; Shepherd,…

  • How spatial structure alters population and community dynamics in a natural plant community

    Quantification of the effects of spatial structure on individual, population and community biomass within a natural community of annuals for two years (1994 and 1996) in which competition operated differently. TURNBULL, L.A.; COOMES, D.A.; PURVES, D.W.; REES, M. 2007 PDF

  • Tree fern trunks facilitate seedling regeneration in a productive lowland temperate rain forest

    An exploration of the competitive and facilitative effects of two tree fern species, Cyatheasmithii and Dicksoniasquarrosa, on the epiphytic regeneration of tree species in nutrient-rich alluvial forests in New Zealand as an alternative to forest floor regeneration where competition is greater. Gaxiola, A.; Burrows, L.E.; Coomes, D.A. 2007 PDF