The characteristics of regeneration failure and their potential to shift wet temperate forests into alternate stable states

Bowd, Elle; McBurney, Lachlan; Lindenmayer, David B.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2022.120673

Cited by 14 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 104 publications

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“…In recent years, the frequency and severity of large‐scale disturbances have increased globally (Patacca et al, 2023; Seidl et al, 2017; Westerling, 2016). While natural disturbances have historically impacted biomes and can contribute to the maintenance of biodiversity (Schowalter, 2012), recent changes in disturbance regimes may result in unprecedented biodiversity loss (Bowd et al, 2023; Johnstone et al, 2016). However, our understanding of the general principles governing the responses of ecological communities to the recent large‐scale disturbances remains incomplete.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A large‐scale field experiment of artificially caused landslides with replications revealed the response of the ground‐dwelling beetle community to landslides

Furusawa

Makoto

Utsumi

2023

Ecology and Evolution

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Precipitation-induced landslides, which are predicted to increase under the changing climate, may have large impacts on insect community properties. However, understanding of how insect community properties shift following landslides remains limited because replicated research involving landslides, which are large-scale disturbances with stochastic natural causes, is difficult. To tackle this issue, we conducted a large-scale field experiment by artificially causing landslides at multiple sites. We established 12 landslide sites, each 35 m × 35 m, and 6 undisturbed sites in both planted and natural forests and collected ground-dwelling beetles 1 year later. We found that forest type (i.e., pre-disturbance vegetation) did not affect the structure of a grounddwelling beetle community disturbed by a landslide (landslide community), but the structure of an undisturbed community was affected by forest type. Moreover, the structures of landslide and undisturbed communities were completely different, possibly because landslides create harsh environments that act as an ecological filter.Thus, a niche-selection process may have a critical role in community assembly at landslide sites. There were no significant differences in species diversity between undisturbed and landslide communities, suggesting that landslides to not reduce species richness overall. However, among-site variability in species composition was much greater at landslide sites than at undisturbed sites. This result suggests that stochastic colonization predominated at the landslide sites more than undisturbed sites. Synthesis and applications. Overall, our results suggest that both deterministic and stochastic processes are critical in community assembly, at least in the early postlandslide stage. Our large-scale manipulative field experiment with replications has thus resulted in new insights into biological community properties after a landslide.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A large‐scale field experiment of artificially caused landslides with replications revealed the response of the ground‐dwelling beetle community to landslides

Furusawa

Makoto

Utsumi

2023

Ecology and Evolution

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“…The underlying aim of this practice is to speed the growth of overstorey trees so that they become larger more quickly. However, such activities may not result in thinned forests becoming more open but could trigger the germination of a new cohort of dense understorey plant species in response to an increase in light and space (Bowd et al., 2023; Bowd, McBurney, & Lindenmayer, 2021; Smith et al., 2014). Indeed, germination is relatively rare in mature stands of Mountain Ash forests unless “gaps” are created in the canopy by fallen trees or branches (Bowd et al., 2023; Fedrigo et al., 2019; Lindenmayer, Cunningham, et al., 2000), which may trigger the germination of species characterized by a persistent soil‐stored seed bank including Acacia spp., Olearia spp.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This can result in Mountain Ash forests being replaced by Acacia spp. woodland (Bowd et al., 2023), with increased fire frequency being one of the factors contributing to this so‐called interval squeeze problem (Enright et al., 2015). These ecological dynamics suggest that the presence of fire‐sensitive Mountain Ash forests at the time of the British invasion is, in itself, evidence that they were not managed by frequent, recurrent low‐severity fire across the majority of these areas.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Disturbance by fire and logging can be stand‐replacing events, with subsequent cohorts of trees becoming distinct successional stages in Mountain Ash stands. Natural regeneration following wildfire in Mountain Ash forests occurs via seed released from the canopy of mature burned trees with en‐masse germination (Smith et al., 2014), triggering the regrowth of a new, largely even‐aged cohort of trees (Ashton, 1981a; Bowd et al., 2023; Singh et al., 2021; Trouvé et al., 2021). Young Mountain Ash trees exhibit rapid rates of growth and may reach 50 m in height within 35 years of germination (Ashton, 1975).…”

Section: Background – Ecology Of Mountain Ash Forests In Victioriamentioning

confidence: 99%

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What did it used to look like? A case study from tall, wet mainland Mountain Ash forests prior to British invasion

Lindenmayer,

Taylor,

Bowd

et al. 2024

Austral Ecology

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There has been extensive commentary about historical First Nations' land management in Australia, including in tall, wet forests, and therefore their condition at the time of the British invasion in 1788. Popular texts have interpreted records kept by early British invaders to argue that extensive areas of tall, wet forest were kept open through frequent burning by the First Peoples. However, these interpretations conflict with historical and ecological evidence, which is rarely acknowledged in public discourse. Here, we present evidence about what Victorian Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans) forests were like at the time of the British invasion. We show that at the time of the British invasion, most areas of mainland Mountain Ash forests were likely to have been naturally dense and wet, with: (1) overstorey trees spaced relatively widely; and (2) an understorey consisting of a cool temperate rainforest mesic layer. Ecological and physiological evidence suggests that Mountain Ash forests evolved under conditions where high‐severity wildfire was comparatively rare, leading to patterns of landscape‐level cover dominated by relatively mature forests. This is broadly consistent with reports from the First Peoples, early historical accounts, paintings, and photographs. These forests were not open or park‐like, as may have been the case in some other Australian vegetation types. However, these forests were not wilderness, but places of significance to the First Peoples. Understanding forest structure at the time of the British invasion is critically important in establishing historical reference conditions for guiding appropriate restoration programmes, especially the reinstatement of traditional ecological knowledge, after long periods of post‐British invasion disturbance and degradation. Notably, the dense, wet understorey that characterizes Mountain Ash forests should be recognized as an inherent and entirely natural part of the ecological dynamics of this ecosystem, with approaches to thin, burn, or remove it highly likely to be counterproductive and have a range of detrimental environmental effects.

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“…The erosion of resilience caused by regeneration failures after large and severe disturbances has been reported in temperate forests around the world (Bowd et al, 2023;Moser et al, 2010;Stevens-Rumann & Morgan, 2019;Turner et al, 2019). In European temperate forests, the regeneration of dominant tree species is well adapted to the historical range of disturbance variability, which is generally characterized by frequent, low-severity gap-scale events and periodic intermediate-and high-severity disturbances caused by wind, insect outbreaks, fire, and other agents (Adámek et al, 2016;Čada et al, 2016;Frankovič et al, 2021;Nagel et al, 2021;Schurman et al, 2018;Svoboda et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recovery and resilience of European temperate forests after large and severe disturbances

Cerioni,

Brabec,

Bače

et al. 2024

Global Change Biology

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Recent observations of tree regeneration failures following large and severe disturbances, particularly under warm and dry conditions, have raised concerns about the resilience of forest ecosystems and their recovery dynamics in the face of climate change. We investigated the recovery of temperate forests in Europe after large and severe disturbance events (i.e., resulting in more than 70% canopy loss in patches larger than 1 ha), with a range of one to five decades since the disturbance occurred. The study included 143 sites of different forest types and management practices that had experienced 28 disturbance events, including windthrow (132 sites), fire (six sites), and bark beetle outbreaks (five sites). We focused on assessing post‐disturbance tree density, structure, and composition as key indicators of forest resilience. We compared post‐disturbance height‐weighted densities with site‐specific pre‐disturbance densities to qualitatively assess the potential for structural and compositional recovery, overall and for dominant tree species, respectively. Additionally, we analyzed the ecological drivers of post‐windthrow tree density, such as forest management, topography, and post‐disturbance aridity, using a series of generalized additive models. The descriptive results show that European temperate forests have been resilient to past large and severe disturbances and concurrent climate conditions, albeit with lower resilience to high‐severity fire compared with other disturbance agents. Across sites and disturbance agents, the potential for structural recovery was greater than that of compositional recovery, with a large proportion of plots becoming dominated by early‐successional species after disturbance. The models showed that increasing elevation and salvage logging negatively affect post‐windthrow regeneration, particularly for late‐successional species, while pioneer species are negatively affected by increasing summer aridity. These findings provide a key baseline for assessing future recovery and resilience following the recent occurrence of widespread disturbance in the region and in anticipation of future conditions characterized by increasing heat and drought stress.

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The characteristics of regeneration failure and their potential to shift wet temperate forests into alternate stable states

Cited by 14 publications

References 104 publications

A large‐scale field experiment of artificially caused landslides with replications revealed the response of the ground‐dwelling beetle community to landslides

A large‐scale field experiment of artificially caused landslides with replications revealed the response of the ground‐dwelling beetle community to landslides

What did it used to look like? A case study from tall, wet mainland Mountain Ash forests prior to British invasion

Recovery and resilience of European temperate forests after large and severe disturbances

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