Disturbance Processes on the Cumberland Plateau

A common way to subdivide disturbance processes is by the type of disturbance agent. At a broad level, disturbances are caused by either abiotic or biotic agents. Abiotic disturbances are caused by nonliving agents, while biotic disturbance events are caused by living organisms. Each disturbance mechanism modifies forests in different ways. Some preferentially target one species or genus, some  remove only trees of a certain size or crown position, and others may kill trees across a range of size and age classes and from a number of different species.