Figure 1 . Key pools and flows of carbon in a forest ecosystem. The models are structured to simulate a disturbance that kills all the vegetation. Depending on the parameters that are used, the disturbance can remove some or all of the detritus. Other pools such as soil carbon and forest products are assumed not to be influenced by disturbances.
Carbon also flows from detritus to soil to simulate the effects of extensive decomposition.
Whenever a disturbance occurs time is reset to 0 so that live biomass will decrease to 0 as well. Where m is the mortality rate-constant. Where h is the fraction of live vegetation that is removed by harvest. Forest products are input from living vegetation periodically by harvest. The amount of harvest that ends up in forest products after manufacturing is variable, as is the longevity of the products themselves.