Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 72-10, Section: B, page: 5639.

Adviser: Chadwick Dearing Oliver.

Studies in recent decades have widely recognized the dynamic nature of forests. Stand structures are useful emergent features associated with forest dynamics to characterize forest ecosystems at the stand level; and the classification and measure of stand structures are important for scientific understanding of the forest and for analyzing and managing forest stands for multiple values. The temperate forest in northeastern China has maintained multiple functions such as timber production, watershed protection and wildlife conservation; however, the stand structures have never been investigated and their impact on the animals that live there remains unrealized. This study, for the first time, aims to assess the forest stand structures in northeastern China and discuss their potential effects on many values; it then makes suggestions on the impact of the stand structure distribution of the forest relative to the conservation of an endangered animal, the Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica).

This study develops three independent analytical approaches to evaluate the forest stand structures in northeastern China: (i) general assessment using historical analysis and publicly available geographic information, (ii) forest stand density quantification using relative stand density measures and forest inventory data, and (iii) spatial mapping using an innovative application of statistical methods and integrative application of satellite images.

These approaches all reveal that the majority of the forests in northeastern China are highly crowded in dense structures, which could be the result of the natural regrowth of the forest following the heavy harvest in the last century and the recent passive protection of the forest. Such unbalanced forest stand structure distributions in northeastern China would be expected to influence various values that forest provides.

This study suggests the possible relation of forest stand structures to the Amur tiger's survival, and then estimates the carrying capacity of the Amur tiger and its prey for a variety of stand structures. The next important step---to measure directly the use of the different structures by the Amur tiger and its prey to verify the relationships suggested above---is important but beyond the scope of this dissertation.†

This study further suggests and demonstrates a possible sustainable forest management strategy in northeastern China that could be tested using the scientific data processed from satellite images and field measurements, and the decision-making supporting tool. Landscape Management System (LMS) model (http://lms.cfr.washington.edu/).

†This next step is currently being undertaken by Mr. Ge Sun and his advisor Dr. Shujin Luo at Peking University, whose interest in this subject was stimulated by the present dissertation.