Towards a causal understanding of the relationship between structural complexity, productivity, and adaptability of forests based on principles of thermodynamics
Dominik Seidel, Christian Ammer
Abstract
Managing forests for increased structural complexity as well as acknowledging them as ‘complex adaptive systems’ has become a paradigm in modern silviculture. Despite this, managed forests are mostly less complex in structure than primary forests, partly because management often aims at specific structures for the production of desired wood assortments. However, the question why natural forests seem to gravitate towards large above-ground structural complexity in the first place remains unanswered. Here, we argue that the consideration of thermodynamic theory in forest ecosystem research holds great potential for a deeper understanding as to why structural complexity is a consequence of natural selection and beneficial to forests. We bring together several existing theories and highlight how structural complexity relates to basic thermodynamic principles. Correspondingly, we suggest a causal link between structural complexity, productivity, and forests’ adaptive capacity.