Structure, Production and Diversity of the Oak-Pine Forest at Brookhaven, New York

The oak-pine forest at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Long Island, is the subject of continuing ecological study. Our objectives have included measurement of a number of attributes of the forest that integrate structure and function at the ecosystem level; among these are biomass, organic production and respiration, surface areas of leaves and of bark, nutrient inventory and turnover, and species-diversity. In addition, the forest is the subject of long-term studies of the effects of ionizing radiation. The system of techniques of 'dimension analysis' developed at Brookhaven for intensive study of forests and shrub communities was discussed in the preceding paper (Whittaker & Woodwell 1968). The measurements which result are used in this paper to describe and interpret the structure, production and species composition of the Brookhaven Forest.