Modelling growth in managed forests — realism and limits of lumping

The level of detail of forest growth models differs greatly. Individual tree models deal with morphological details of branching, stem form and root growth. Forest models produce aggregate information about the development of a population of trees with a given set of environmental conditions. Different levels of resolution are discussed using examples of modelling site and competition, intermittent modification of stand structure through thinning, tree geometry and regeneration and mortality.