A review of the regeneration dynamics of North American boreal forest treespecies

In this review, we focus on the biotic parameters that are crucial to an un derstanding of the recruitment dynamics of North American boreal tree speci es following natural (fire, budworm infestation, windthrow) or human-induce d (clearcut, partial cut) disturbances. The parameters we emphasize are (i) the production of seeds and asexual stems (both of which, we argue, are a function of basal area density), (ii) the dispersal of seeds by wind (or th e dispersion of asexual stems) as a function of distance from source, (iii) dormant seed bank capacity, (iv) organic layer depth as a determinant of g erminant mortality and asexual bud response, and (v) shade tolerance as a p artial arbiter of the density of advanced regeneration. Having identified t he gaps in our knowledge, we conclude by suggesting a shea term research ag enda whose completion would lead to the parameterized functions that would, constitute the recruitment subroutine in a landscape-scale forest dynamics simulator.