UH Hilo Center for Maunakea Stewardship - Research Library

Stand-level dieback in New Zealand forests and the theory of cohort senescence

Author:
Mueller-Dombois, Dieter
Title:
Stand-level dieback in New Zealand forests and the theory of cohort senescence
Periodical:
Newsletter of Hawaiian Botanical Society
Year:
1983
Volume:
22
Pages:
p. 33-42
Subject:
Canopy dieback Forest ecology
Summary:
When whole tree stands lose their canopy foliage permanently, could this phenomenon have a common functional basis or is every situation different? This is the question that was asked when one considered that whole forest stands lost their canopy foliage over large acreages on the windward slopes of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa as was discussed on many occasions in Honolulu newspapers and based on this question, several theories have formed as follows: 1) that stand-level die backs are the result of diseases, 2) that stand-level dieback in industrialized regions around the Atlantic is the result of air pollution and environmental toxification due to acid rain, nitrous oxide, and/or heavy metal contamination, 3) that forests die due to climatic changes such as drought and 4) that dieback is due to cohort senescence -- a result of life stages, (from full maturity to death), or a result of environmental chain reactions.
Label:
Ecology
Collection:
Periodicals