A Study On Forest Carrying Capacity

Forests, as the maximum ecosystem, are of great significance to human living and development. The sustainable forests are indispensable for social sustainable development. Consequently, to evaluate forest sustainability of a certain region becomes important in sustainable forestry and sustainable development. Forest carrying capacity is an important and key index in evaluating forest sustainability, premise of forest management and decision-making, and an essential component of the theories in sustainable forestry and forest management and forest ecosystem. Therefore, the study on forest carrying capacity has important significance in both theory and practice. Questions related to forest carrying capacity are focused on in this paper. Following results are obtained. (1) The concept of forest carrying capacity is defined in this paper standing from how to distinguish the relationship between human being and forest systemetically. This paper suggests that the carrier of forest carrying capacity is "forest", instead of "forest resources", and the object carried is "human activity", instead of "population quantity". (2) The concept system on forest carrying capacity is framed, and "forest actual carrying capacity"and "forest maximum carrying capacity"and "forest carrying quantity"and "forest carrying index"are defined in this paper. These are the first ever done in studying on forest carrying capacity. (3) A general concept model and a logic framwork are built up, and a basic train of thought for evaluating forest carrying capacity is provided in this paper. (4) Three methods regarding evaluating foress carrying capacity are identified in this paper. They are "energy analysis method"and "system...