Using sphere packing models to explain the structure of forests
Thursday, November 26, 2015 - 15:00
in Biology & Nature
Explaining the complex structure of tropical forests is one of the great challenges in ecology. An issue of special interest is the distribution of different sizes of trees, something which is of particular relevance for biomass estimates. A team of modellers has now developed a new method that can be used to explain the tree size distribution in natural forests. To do so, the scientists use principles from stochastic geometry. Using this approach, it is possible to assess the structure of natural forests across the world more quickly, and produce more accurate biomass estimates.