P. BECKSCHÄFER ET AL.
these indices perform at least as well and possibly better in de-
tecting this relationship. Nevertheless, the increase in r2 values
was only moderate, and hence it would be valuable to test the
indices for structural complexity against other data sets from
different geographic regions and taxa and to assess associations
at multiple spatial scales.
Conclusion
The results of this study show that the suggested modifica-
tions to the SCI are valuable improvements that increase the
ability to characterize the structural complexity of forests.
ESCI’ and ESCI allow for a more complete view of a forest
structure than the SCI. This makes these indices relevant to
ecologists, forest scientists, and forest managers who are inter-
ested in the relationship between ecosystem structure and bio-
diversity.
Acknowledgements
Above all, we are indebted to the Advisory Group on Inter-
national Agricultural Research (BEAF) at the German Agency
for International Cooperation (GIZ) within the German Minis-
try for Economic Cooperation (BMZ) for funding this research
(project number 08.7860.3-001.00 “Making the Mekong Con-
nected”—MMC). We are grateful to all members of the
MMC-project for excellent support in coordinating and imple-
menting research and field work, and in particular to the head
of the project Prof. Dr. Xu Jianchu and the “various fathers” of
the project including Dr. Horst Weyerhäuser and Dr. Timm
Tennigkeit.
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