Same, but different: similar states of forest structure in temperate mountain regions of Europe despite different social-ecological forest disturbance regimes
Ana Stritih, Cornelius Senf, Tobias Kuemmerle, Catalina Munteanu, Lasha Dzadzamia, Jernej Stritih, Dragan Matijašić, Owen Cortner, Rupert Seidl
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Context
Ecosystem services provided by mountain forests are critically linked to forest structure. Social-ecological disturbance regimes (i.e., the rate, frequency, and patch size distribution of disturbances driven by interacting natural and anthropogenic processes) and land use affect forest structure, but their specific impacts are not fully understood.
Objectives
We examine how differences in disturbance regimes affect patterns of forest structure across three European mountain ranges with similar vegetation types but different land-use histories: the European Alps, the Carpathians, and the Caucasus.
Methods
We related data on horizontal and vertical forest structure, measured by spaceborne lidar (GEDI), with Landsat-derived information on forest disturbances (1986–2020) and topographic, climatic, and anthropogenic predictors.
Results
We found similar social-ecological disturbance regimes in the Alps and Carpathians (average annual disturbance rates of 0.34% and 0.39%, respectively, and median patch size < 0.5 ha), yet much lower disturbance rates and patch sizes in the Caucasus (0.08% yr−1 and < 0.2 ha). Despite different disturbance regimes, we found similar patterns of forest structure. Two alternative states emerged consistently across all mountain ranges: a tall and closed-canopy state in 74–80% of forests and a low and open-canopy state (< 50% canopy cover) in the rest. While forest structure responded consistently to abiotic drivers such as topography and climate, its association with anthropogenic pressures differed between mountain ranges. Stand-replacing disturbances played an important role in the Carpathians, while forest structure in the Caucasus was related to proximity to settlements, reflecting local forest use.
Conclusions
Different social-ecological contexts in mountain regions can produce markedly different forest disturbance regimes. Despite these differences, similar states of forest structures emerge, suggesting strong attractors of structure in temperate mountain forests.
期刊介绍:
Landscape Ecology is the flagship journal of a well-established and rapidly developing interdisciplinary science that focuses explicitly on the ecological understanding of spatial heterogeneity. Landscape Ecology draws together expertise from both biophysical and socioeconomic sciences to explore basic and applied research questions concerning the ecology, conservation, management, design/planning, and sustainability of landscapes as coupled human-environment systems. Landscape ecology studies are characterized by spatially explicit methods in which spatial attributes and arrangements of landscape elements are directly analyzed and related to ecological processes.