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Patterns and drivers of recent disturbances across the temperate forest biome

Authors:

Andreas Sommerfeld

Cornelius Senf

Brian Buma

Anthony D'Amato

Tiphaine Després

Ignacio Díaz-Hormazábal

Shawn Fraver

Lee Frelich

Álvaro Gutiérrez

Sarah Hart

Brian Harvey

Hong He

Tomáš Hlásny

Andrés Holz

Thomas Kitzberger

Dominik Kulakowski

David Lindenmayer

Akira Mori

Jörg Müller

Juan Paritsis

George Perry

Scott Stephens

Miroslav Svoboda

Monica Turner

Thomas Veblen

Rupert Seidl

+21 more
Publication Type:
Journal Article
Year of Publication:
2018
Secondary Title:
Nature Communications
DOI:
10.1038/s41467-018-06788-9
Volume:
9
Year:
2018
Date:
Jan-12-2018

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.