Abstract
Afforestation trends were compared between two continentally-distinct, yet similar ecoregions to characterize similarities or differences in forest advancement due to natural and anthropogenic forcings. Temporal changes in forest cover were analyzed using high resolution aerial and satellite photographs for Southeast Iowa, USA, and satellite photographs for the western Belgorod Oblast, Russia. An increase in forested area was shown to occur over a 44-year period from 1970–2014 in Iowa where afforestation was reflected by the aggregation of smaller forest units. In the Belgorod region the opposite occurred in that there was an increase in the number of smaller forested units. The rate of forest expansion into open grassland areas, previously used as haying lands and pastures, was 14 m decade−1 and 8 m decade−1 in Iowa and the Belgorod Oblast, respectively. Based on current trends, predicted times for complete forest coverage in the study areas was estimated to be 80 years in Iowa and 300 years in the Belgorod Oblast. In both the Iowa and Belgorod Oblast, there was an increase in annual precipitation at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries, thus providing a contributing mechanism to forest advancement in the study regions and implications for future management practices.
Highlights
Investigations of the forested extent of the biosphere and anthropogenic impacts on forest ecosystems are greatly needed given the implications for forest ecosystem and natural resource management, conservation and policy [1]
Oblast of southwest Russia (Figure 1). These regions are situated in different continents, but have similar ecoregion characteristics given that they are mid-latitude forest regions with similar long cool seasons and warm humid summers, are both located in transitional zones between forests and grasslands in moderate climates and were opportunistic research activities for the authors
From 1970–2014, a large increase in forest cover occurred in Johnson County, Iowa, to the east of Coralville Lake reservoir in Iowa, USA, and in Borisovka District of Belgorod Oblast, to the north of Vorskla River, Russia
Summary
Investigations of the forested extent of the biosphere and anthropogenic impacts on forest ecosystems are greatly needed given the implications for forest ecosystem and natural resource management, conservation and policy [1]. Previous studies showed that natural vegetation communities have reacted strongly to changes in climate during the last 10 thousand years (KY) (the Holocene). The climate of the Midwestern States of the USA (e.g., Iowa, Missouri, Kansas) has become warmer and moister since the early 1980s [14,15]. These conditions would seem to favor increased tree growth in the Midwest, as studies have shown that tree growth is positively correlated with precipitation in the mid-latitudes [16,17], but not always in the tropics [18]. With an increase in precipitation over southwestern Russia, many ecosystem processes significantly changed, for example the ground water level increased, and the composition of natural vegetation communities changed sharply
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