In forest management the traditional concept of stability
focuses upon the trees and is defined mainly in
relation to catastrophic events such as damage by snow
and wind. Thus it lacks an ecological basis. The compartment
‘trees’ should not be considered in isolation
but must be viewed as part of a complex interacting system of autotrophs, heterotrophs, and the physical
environment. Hence the concept of forest stability must
be expanded to embrace the general framework of ecological
stability in order to recognize and solve ecosystem
problems posed by present and future
anthropogenic impacts.