Surface analysis as a method to reconstruct past and recent dynamics of forest ecosystems

The most direct way of deciphering the dynamics of an ecosystem is to examine its biotic and abiotic components based on analysis of living and dead organisms distributed above ground. The surface analysis method presented here provides a centennial to millennial stand-scale composition and disturbance history and is applicable in any wood-dominated ecosystem. A meticulous analysis of living and dead trees, and macroremains (charcoal, leaves and...