Process-based model in Eucalyptus plantation management:reality and perspectives

Yield prediction in commercial forestry has been dominated by empirical modelling. Increasingly, however, process-based models are finding application either in support or instead of these traditional models. In this paper we draw the new forestry demands and how these models can answer different kinds of questions such as forest productivity in planted areas and new plantation, water-use, carbon sequestration and effects of climate change on forest production. In this paper we review current performance against management needs, concentrating in particular on the application of the 3-PG (Landsberg and Waring, 1997) and CABALA (Battaglia et al., 2004) process-based models. In general we find that process-based models have met many of the expectations of a decade ago. The paper briefly indicates new opportunities of process-based models in the area of wood properties and wood products prediction and in the area of forest health assessment.