Growth and Allocation of Woody Biomass in Forest Trees Based on Environmental Conditions

Preface to "Growth and Allocation of Woody Biomass in Forest Trees Based on Environmental Conditions" Terrestrial ecosystems and forests in particular, are important components because of their key role in reducing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations by storing a large amount of carbon in biomass and soils. Increasing attention is being paid to forestland area, which accounts for 30% of the total land surface and acts as the main C store in the land system. In their life cycle, plants uptake, process, allocate, and remobilize resources from the environment, including basic materials, such as CO2, water, and nutrients, and other materials, such as sugars, proteins, and defensive chemicals. The relative amount of above- and belowground biomass allocated among leaves, branches, stems, roots, and reproductive tissues is a functional indicator of the forest stand and reflects the material flow, the wood quality, a plant's survival strategy, and the primary production processes. The way in which plants share their labile products across their compartments is influenced by plant size and is not fixed but likely varies over time, across growth environments, and among species. It follows that the whole allocation process would be modulated under strong natural selection. Obtaining a qualitative/quantitative understanding of the influence that these factors have on growth and biomass allocation is of fundamental importance for both understanding plant ecology and evolution and developing environmental policies and forest management practices, such as: - sequestration to increase stocks in more recalcitrant woody carbon pools, characterized by a slow build-up of carbon with a potentially slower release of carbon to the atmosphere; - conservation to prevent emissions from existing forest carbon pools in regions with high C stocks and where natural disturbances are less frequent to cause large immediate reductions in C stocks; - substitution of energy-intensive products with products derived from renewable resources; and - the improvement of practices that aim to increase wood quality for social purposes.