Abstract
Isaac Newton's approach to developing theories in his book Principia Mathematica proceeds in four steps. First, he defines various concepts, second, he formulates axioms utilising the concepts, third, he mathematically analyses the behaviour of the system defined by the concepts and axioms obtaining predictions and fourth, he tests the predictions with measurements. In this study, we formulated our theory of boreal forest ecosystems, called NewtonForest, following the four steps introduced by Newton. The forest ecosystem is a complicated entity and hence we needed altogether 27 concepts to describe the material and energy flows in the metabolism of trees, ground vegetation and microbes in the soil, and to describe the regularities in tree structure. Thirtyfour axioms described the most important features in the behaviour of the forest ecosystem. We utilised numerical simulations in the analysis of the behaviour of the system resulting in clear predictions that could be tested with field data. We collected retrospective time series of diameters and heights for test material from 6 stands in southern Finland and five stands in Estonia. The numerical simulations succeeded to predict the measured diameters and heights, providing clear corroboration with our theory.
Highlights
The development of a Scots pine dominated forest ecosystem is highly regular following a stand-replacing disturbance
Our aim is to develop a theory for the boreal forest ecosystem, and to discover the regularities in the metabolism of trees, ground vegetation and microbes and in the structure of trees that explain the regular development of boreal forest ecosystems
We found that the simulated behaviour of ground vegetation underestimated the utilization of the nitrogen released in decomposition resulting in to high nitrogen availability to trees and too large growth
Summary
The development of a Scots pine dominated forest ecosystem is highly regular following a stand-replacing disturbance. Tree seedlings start growing slowly and eventually overcome the ground vegetation. Forest ecological and physiological research has resulted in valuable results on the metabolism and growth of trees and ground vegetation and of the decomposition of organic matter in the soil, to a large extent thanks to the development of measurement techniques such as chamber techniques and subsequent advances in eddy covariance measurements.
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