Abstract

Increasing evidence indicates that forest disturbances are changing in response to global change, yet local variability in disturbance remains high. We quantified this considerable variability and analyzed whether recent disturbance episodes around the globe were consistently driven by climate, and if human influence modulates patterns of forest disturbance. We combined remote sensing data on recent (2001–2014) disturbances with in-depth local information for 50 protected landscapes and their surroundings across the temperate biome. Disturbance patterns are highly variable, and shaped by variation in disturbance agents and traits of prevailing tree species. However, high disturbance activity is consistently linked to warmer and drier than average conditions across the globe. Disturbances in protected areas are smaller and more complex in shape compared to their surroundings affected by human land use. This signal disappears in areas with high recent natural disturbance activity, underlining the potential of climate-mediated disturbance to transform forest landscapes.

Details

Title
Patterns and drivers of recent disturbances across the temperate forest biome
Author
Sommerfeld, Andreas 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Senf, Cornelius 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Buma, Brian 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Anthony W D’Amato 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Després, Tiphaine 5   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Díaz-Hormazábal, Ignacio 6 ; Fraver, Shawn 7 ; Frelich, Lee E 8   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Gutiérrez, Álvaro G 6   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Hart, Sarah J 9 ; Harvey, Brian J 10 ; He, Hong S 11 ; Hlásny, Tomáš 12 ; Holz, Andrés 13   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Kitzberger, Thomas 14 ; Kulakowski, Dominik 15   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Lindenmayer, David 16   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Mori, Akira S 17 ; Müller, Jörg 18 ; Paritsis, Juan 14   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Perry, George L W 19   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Stephens, Scott L 20 ; Svoboda, Miroslav 12 ; Turner, Monica G 21   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Veblen, Thomas T 22 ; Seidl, Rupert 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) Vienna, Institute of Silviculture, Wien, Austria 
 University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) Vienna, Institute of Silviculture, Wien, Austria; Geography Department, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany 
 Dept. of Integrative Biology, University of Colorado, Denver, CO, USA 
 University of Vermont, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, Burlington, VT, USA 
 Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, Prague 6, Czech Republic; Institut de Recherche sur les Forêts, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Rouyn-Noranda, QC, Canada 
 Facultad de Ciencias Agronómicas, Departamento de Ciencias Ambientales y Recursos Naturales Renovables, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile 
 University of Maine, School of Forest Resources, Maine, USA 
 Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St.Paul, MN, USA 
 Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA 
10  School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA 
11  School of Geographical Sciences, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China 
12  Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, Prague 6, Czech Republic 
13  Department of Geography, Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA 
14  INIBIOMA, CONICET-Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Rio Negro, Argentina 
15  Clark University, Graduate School of Geography, Worcester, MA, USA 
16  Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia 
17  Graduate School of Environment and Information Sciences, Yokohama National University, Yokohama, Japan 
18  Field Station Fabrikschleichach, Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Rauhenebrach, Germany; Bavarian Forest National Park, Grafenau, Germany 
19  School of Environment, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand 
20  Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA 
21  Department of Integrative Biology, Birge Hall, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA 
22  Department of Geography, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA 
Pages
1-9
Publication year
2018
Publication date
Oct 2018
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20411723
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2123042575
Copyright
© 2018. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.