Climate to Forest Productivity: Implication of Paterson's CVP Index

Abstract

Climate is the prime factor that influences forest growth, composition and distribution. There are many ways to determine forest productivity in terms of climatic factors like temperature, precipitation, length of growing season, effective sun hour etc. When edaphic and topographic factors remain constant, climatic factors become more prominent for forest growth and productivity. Among many methods of assessment of forest productivity, Paterson’s Climate Vegetation Productivity (CVP) index-requires less efforts and fieldwork to determine productive potential of any forest land. The index is not stand and species specific, hence, it can be put in use for overall assessment of the forest and vegetation productivity in any country, region and continent or even for the globe. This index may be used for comparison of forest lands, even non-forested lands with higher index value that may be established as a productive forest.