QUANTIFICATION OF HERB LAYER DYNAMICS UNDER TREE CANOPY

A simple model describing herb layer dynamics under the tree canopy wa s developed to quantify the forage supply of the herb layer to ungulat es in forests. The basic principle of this forage supply model is that the herb layer biomass can be described by a logistic curve. The rate of development and the maximally attainable biomass are assumed to de pend on the relative light level that reaches the forest floor. Biomas s growth is derived from functions describing monthly relative growth rate under open field light conditions in combination with light respo nse curves.