Canopy surface topography in a French Guiana forest and the folded forest theory

The canopy surface is an undulating surface that follows the irregular contours of the upper tree crowns and defines the inner and the outer limits of the forest volume. In French Guiana, the height of the canopy surface was surveyed in both a primary and a 20-years old clear-felled secondary forest plot. The topographic surface was displayed in a three-dimensional mesh, where X and Y are horizontal co-ordinates, and Z is the canopy height measured from the ground with an optical telemeter. The statistical dispersion of Z-data, and the spatial tree height variations, are interpreted at different levels of ecosystem organisation, from forest type (primary or secondary forest) to the trees themselves, following the folded forest model theory (Oldeman 1992, 1994). The vertical growth of trees creates a convex pattern in the relief of canopy surface, whereas gaps make concavities which delimit impact of perturbation on the forest structure. These events are either the result of the dynamic of single trees (emergent and decayed trees), or arise from the dynamic of a group of trees working together (group of emergent trees or complex gaps). At the plot scale, the elementary events, convexities and concavities, are gathered on similar topo-sequences, and form canopy units either higher or lower than the average canopy height. This study suggests that the topography of the canopy surface is defined by a complex nested system from trees, to groups of trees, to canopy units, within a delimited floristic and physical environment.