Broadening the scope of forest transition inquiry: What does China's experience suggest?

Ballantyne

et al. 2023

Commun Earth Environ

Human activities have altered disturbance patterns in many parts of world, but there is no quantitative information on patterns and trends of forest disturbance regimes in China. We applied a spectral-temporal segmentation approach over all available Landsat data to map individual disturbance patches and characterize the patterns and trends in disturbance rate, size, frequency, and severity across China’s forests. From 1986 to 2020, about 39.7% of China’s forests were disturbed with an annual rate of 1.16 ± 0.41% yr−1. The disturbance decreased at a rate of −390 ± 142 km2 yr−1, primarily driven by the effective implementation of forest protection policy since 2000s. The rate, frequency, and size of disturbance generally intensified in Southeast, but weakened in Northeast China. Our high-quality, spatially explicit disturbance map provides an essential data layer to understand the landscape-scale drivers of forest dynamics and functions for important but less understood pan-temperate forest regions.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forest disturbance decreased in China from 1986 to 2020 despite regional variations

Liu

Ballantyne

et al. 2023

Commun Earth Environ

“…To improve the quality of planted forests, we need to know the relationship among biodiversity, productivity, and ecosystem stability (Domínguez‐García et al, 2019). Because planted forests are thought to have lower diversity, productivity, and ecological stability compared with natural forests during the long‐term recovery process (Ke et al, 2020; Zhang et al, 2020). Previous experiments have shown that more tree species can increase productivity and provide more ecosystem services than monoculture (Aussenac et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An exploration of sustainability versus productivity and ecological stability in planted and natural forests in Sichuan, China

Liu³

et al. 2022

Land Degrad Dev

Implementation of the Natural Forest Protection Project and Grain‐for‐Green Program in China has promoted forest restoration, increased productivity, and enhanced carbon stocks. However, few studies have characterized temporal and spatial variation in productivity and ecological stability in planted and natural forests and evaluated the factors driving such variation. In this study, we used 1399 permanent forest plots to identify change patterns in the productivity and temporal stability of above‐ground biomass (AGB), and evaluate the factors driving these changes in planted and natural forests in Sichuan Province, China. The mean temporal stability of AGB was higher for natural forests than for planted forests from 1979 to 2017; While the productivity of planted forests was higher. The stability decreased at a rate of −0.013 yr−1 in entire natural forests and −0.011 yr−1 in planted forests, and the productivity of natural forests decreased significantly over time, with a slope of −0.0065 Mg ha−1 yr−1. Altitude, latitude, annual precipitation, and stand age dominated variability in the productivity and AGB stability of natural forests. Richness, tree density, and stand age were the determinants of productivity and stability in the planted forest. Our results suggest that selective thinning, enriching species richness, and forest stand age can effectively balance the productivity and biomass temporal stability of planted forests. Due to climate change, older natural forests should be strictly protected.

“…To improve the quality of planted forest, we need to know what are relationship among biodiversity, productivity and ecosystem stability (Domínguez-García et al, 2019). Because planted forests are thought to have lower diversity, productivity, and ecological stability compared with natural forests during the long-term recovery process (Ke et al, 2020;Zhang et al, 2020). Previous experiments have shown that more tree species can increase productivity and provide more ecosystem services than monoculture (Aussenac et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An exploration of sustainability between productivity and ecological stability in montane planted and natural forests in Sichuan, China

Yang³

et al. 2022

Preprint

Implementation of the Natural Forest Protection Project and Grain for Green Programme in China has promoted forest restoration, increased productivity, and enhanced the carbon stocks. However, few studies have characterized temporal and spatial variation in productivity and ecological stability in planted and natural forests and evaluated the factors driving such variation. In this study, we used 1399 permanent forest plots to identify change patters in the productivity and temporal stability of above-ground biomass (AGB) and evaluated the factors driving these changes in planted and natural forests in Sichuan Province, China. The mean temporal stability of AGB was higher for natural forest than for planted forest from 1979 to 2017; While, the productivity of planted forest was higher. The stability decreased at a rate of -0.013 yr-1 in entire natural forest and -0.011 yr-1 in planted forests, and the productivity of natural forest decreased significantly over time, with a slope of -0.0065 Mg ha-1 yr-1 per calendar year. Altitude, latitude, annual precipitation, and stand age dominated variability in the productivity and AGB stability of natural forest. Richness, tree density, and stand age were the determinants of productivity and stability in planted forest. Our results suggest that selective thinning and enriching species richness and forest stand age can effectively balance the productivity and biomass temporal stability of planted forests. Older natural forests still need to be strictly protected under climate change.