Abstract
Assessing the role of tropical forests in biogeochemical cycles is one of the greatest scientific challenges of the century. The impact of climate change could increase the mortality of tropical forests and decrease their ability to store atmospheric carbon dioxide. Efforts to model the forest dynamics in these regions are hindered by the lack of ground measurements and the spatial-temporal overlap of function management processes. Some of the models developed attempt to show the environment’s influence on forest dynamics, particularly by studying the capacity for canopy deformation (plasticity of the crown), as explained in Purves et al. The models allow us to better understand the development of intertree competition, the capacity of species to adapt to changes and how the forest functions as a whole.