More sophisticated statistical tools promote expanding of the disciplines of forest ecology / forestry in number and scope?

Forests habitats are critical for biodiversity, ecosystem services, human livelihoods, and well-being. Capacity to conduct theoretical and applied forest ecology research addressing direct (e.g., deforestation) and indirect (e.g., climate change) anthropogenic pressures has benefited considerably from new field- and statistical- techniques.

A new study published in the journal Forest Ecosystems has revealed that the disciplines of forest ecology / forestry are expanding in number and scope. Articles published in eight ecology and five forestry journals per year increased from 820 in 2010 to 2,354 in 2021, shifting toward more applied topics.

“Publications from North America, Europe, and China dominated, with relatively fewer articles from West and Central Africa and West Asia, despite globally important forest resources.” said the author Dr. Jin Zhao from China Three Gorges University. “Most study sites were in North America, Central Asia, South America, and Australia.”

“R statistical software predominated articles, and was more often used in forest ecology than applied forestry articles.” added corresponding author Dr. You-bing Zhou from China Three Gorges Univeristy. “This is indicative of the degree to which more sophisticated analyses have permeated forest ecology and forestry, requiring superior computational and statistical resources.”

While the increase in forest ecology / forestry research publications over the last 12 years is encouraging, it is vital that interdisciplinary forest management actually benefits from this enhanced knowledge base.

See the article:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fecs.2024.100233