Self-organized criticality in rainforest dynamics

The dynamical properties of a cellular automata model of forest growth are studied. It is shown that fractal and multifractal structures, as well as power-laws (linked to both spatial and temporal variables) are generated, involving the appearance of a self-organized critical state. An extensive study of a real rainforest has been performed, and it is found that the model recovers very well the results of the real case. Some theoretical consequences are outlined.