Abstract
The importance of natural disturbances for biodiversity is well-documented in the disturbance ecology literature. Natural disturbances such as fire, wind, and flooding strongly influence ecosystems by creating short and long-term ecological processes. Conservation management of protected areas should consider the importance of natural disturbances since natural shifts in ecosystems are, in a long-term perspective, necessary to maintain high biodiversity. The purpose of this study is to explore how and if natural disturbances are incorporated in the management of Swedish national parks and to identify possible examples of barriers for this incorporation. The design of the study is a multiple comparative case study based on a document study and completed with qualitative interviews. The cases consist of propositions and management plans for 15 Swedish national parks established between 1962 and 2018. The document analysis generated four main categories: historic/future and positive/negative perceptions of natural disturbances. The results indicate that there are positive perceptions concerning the inclusion of disturbance ecology in the management of national parks. However, there are also obstacles and challenges around natural disturbances within Swedish national parks. These obstacles are, in some cases, explained by practical implications such as the closeness to surrounding societies and in others explained by paradoxes such as visitors’ perceptions of national parks and the wilderness.
Highlights
IntroductionNatural disturbances such as fire, wind, flooding, pests, and volcanos strongly influence forest ecosystems by creating spatial patterns of structures, compositions of dead and alive trees, and both short and long-term ecological processes [1]
Due to the importance of natural disturbances within protected areas, this study explores if and how the conservation management of Swedish national parks incorporates disturbance ecology
The second section present the future perspective of natural disturbances and conservation management
Summary
Natural disturbances such as fire, wind, flooding, pests, and volcanos strongly influence forest ecosystems by creating spatial patterns of structures, compositions of dead and alive trees, and both short and long-term ecological processes [1]. These disturbances change the physical environment, the availability of resources, and can disrupt an ecosystem’s structure, population, and community. Disturbances can vary with respect to the size of the disturbed area, intensity (e.g., wind speed) and severity (e.g., the disturbance’s effect on ecosystems), which will affect the number of residuals (organisms) that survive the disturbance event [2]. Fire has the ability to increase the diversity of both flora and fauna species due to mixed-severity regimes in both temporal and spatial variability [3]
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