On the causes of rising gross ecosystem productivity in a regenerating clearcut environment: leaf area vs. species composition.

Clearcutting a forest ecosystem can result in a drastic reduction of stand productivity. Despite the severity of this disturbance type, past studies have found that the productivity of young regenerating stands can quickly rebound, approaching that of mature undisturbed stands within a few years. One of the obvious reasons is increased leaf area (LA) with each year of recovery.