Čada Vojtěch, Trotsiuk Volodymyr, Janda Pavel, Mikoláš Martin, Bače Radek, Nagel Thomas A, Morrissey Robert C, Tepley Alan J, Vostarek Ondřej, Begović Krešimir, Chaskovskyy Oleh, Dušátko Martin, Kameniar Ondrej, Kozák Daniel, Lábusová Jana, Málek Jakub, Meyer Peter, Pettit Joseph L, Schurman Jonathan S, Svobodová Kristýna, Synek Michal, Teodosiu Marius, Ujházy Karol, Svoboda Miroslav
Department of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, Praha 6 - Suchdol, Prague, 165 00, Czech Republic.
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, Birmensdorf, CH-8903, Switzerland.
Ecol Appl. 2020 Dec;30(8):e02189. doi: 10.1002/eap.2189. Epub 2020 Sep 4.
Estimates of historical disturbance patterns are essential to guide forest management aimed at ensuring the sustainability of ecosystem functions and biodiversity. However, quantitative estimates of various disturbance characteristics required in management applications are rare in longer-term historical studies. Thus, our objectives were to (1) quantify past disturbance severity, patch size, and stand proportion disturbed and (2) test for temporal and subregional differences in these characteristics. We developed a comprehensive dendrochronological method to evaluate an approximately two-century-long disturbance record in the remaining Central and Eastern European primary mountain spruce forests, where wind and bark beetles are the predominant disturbance agents. We used an unprecedented large-scale nested design data set of 541 plots located within 44 stands and 6 subregions. To quantify individual disturbance events, we used tree-ring proxies, which were aggregated at plot and stand levels by smoothing and detecting peaks in their distributions. The spatial aggregation of disturbance events was used to estimate patch sizes. Data exhibited continuous gradients from low- to high-severity and small- to large-size disturbance events. In addition to the importance of small disturbance events, moderate-scale (25-75% of the stand disturbed, >10 ha patch size) and moderate-severity (25-75% of canopy disturbed) events were also common. Moderate disturbances represented more than 50% of the total disturbed area and their rotation periods ranged from one to several hundred years, which is within the lifespan of local tree species. Disturbance severities differed among subregions, whereas the stand proportion disturbed varied significantly over time. This indicates partially independent variations among disturbance characteristics. Our quantitative estimates of disturbance severity, patch size, stand proportion disturbed, and associated rotation periods provide rigorous baseline data for future ecological research, decisions within biodiversity conservation, and silviculture intended to maintain native biodiversity and ecosystem functions. These results highlight a need for sufficiently large and adequately connected networks of strict reserves, more complex silvicultural treatments that emulate the natural disturbance spectrum in harvest rotation times, sizes, and intensities, and higher levels of tree and structural legacy retention.
历史干扰模式的估计对于指导旨在确保生态系统功能和生物多样性可持续性的森林管理至关重要。然而，在长期历史研究中，管理应用所需的各种干扰特征的定量估计却很少见。因此，我们的目标是：（1）量化过去的干扰严重程度、斑块大小和受干扰林分比例；（2）检验这些特征在时间和次区域上的差异。我们开发了一种综合的树木年代学方法，以评估中欧和东欧剩余的原始山地云杉林中大约两个世纪的干扰记录，在这些地区，风灾和树皮甲虫是主要的干扰因素。我们使用了一个前所未有的大规模嵌套设计数据集，该数据集包含位于44个林分和6个次区域内的541个样地。为了量化单个干扰事件，我们使用了树木年轮代理指标，通过对其分布进行平滑和检测峰值，在样地和林分水平上进行汇总。干扰事件的空间聚集用于估计斑块大小。数据显示出从低严重程度到高严重程度、从小规模到大规模干扰事件的连续梯度。除了小干扰事件的重要性外，中等规模（林分受干扰面积的25 - 75%，斑块大小>10公顷）和中等严重程度（树冠受干扰面积的25 - 75%）的事件也很常见。中等干扰占总干扰面积的50%以上，其周转期从一年到几百年不等，这在当地树种的寿命范围内。干扰严重程度在次区域之间存在差异，而受干扰林分比例随时间有显著变化。这表明干扰特征之间存在部分独立的变化。我们对干扰严重程度、斑块大小、受干扰林分比例以及相关周转期的定量估计，为未来的生态研究、生物多样性保护决策以及旨在维持本地生物多样性和生态系统功能的造林学提供了严格的基线数据。这些结果凸显了需要足够大且连接良好的严格保护区网络、更复杂的造林处理措施，这些措施要在采伐周转时间、规模和强度上模拟自然干扰谱，以及更高水平的树木和结构遗产保留。
