Emulating Natural Forest Landscape Disturbances: Concepts and Applications

An editorial team from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources' Ontario Forest Research Institute and the Canadian Forest Service's Great Lakes Forestry Centre bring together North American forestry and ecology researchers to address questions arising from the debate over the emulation of natural forest disturbances. Twenty-two contributions address conceptual questions such as what emulation involves and the ecological reasons for engaging in emulation; case studies from across North America that detail the characterization of natural disturbances and the development of templates for their emulation through forest management (with a greater focus on fire regimes); and the expectations of stakeholders and economic, planning, and policy feasibility of emulation.