Driver Of Disturbance Research Articles

Shifting agriculture is the dominant driver of forest disturbance in threatened forest species’ ranges

Forest disturbance, including deforestation, is a major driver of global biodiversity decline. Identifying the underlying socioeconomic drivers can help guide interventions to halt biodiversity decline. Here, we quantified spatial overlaps between the distributions of 6164 globally threatened terrestrial vertebrate species and five major forest disturbance drivers at the global scale: commodity-driven deforestation, shifting agriculture, forestry, wildfire, and urbanization. We find that each driver has a distinct relative importance among species groups and geographic regions with, for example, the dominant disturbance drivers being forestry in northern regions and shifting agriculture in the tropics. Overall, shifting agriculture was more prevalent within threatened forest species’ ranges in the tropics, and some temperate nations. Our findings suggest that, globally, threatened forest species are exposed to a disproportional decrease in habitat area. Combining forest disturbance maps and species ranges can help evaluate agricultural landscape management and prioritize conservation efforts to reduce further biodiversity loss.

Behavioral responses to predatory sounds predict sensitivity of cetaceans to anthropogenic noise within a soundscape of fear

SignificanceAcoustic signals travel efficiently in the marine environment, allowing soniferous predators and prey to eavesdrop on each other. Our results with four cetacean species indicate that they use acoustic information to assess predation risk and have evolved mechanisms to reduce predation risk by ceasing foraging. Species that more readily gave up foraging in response to predatory sounds of killer whales also decreased foraging more during 1- to 4-kHz sonar exposures, indicating that species exhibiting costly antipredator responses also have stronger behavioral reactions to anthropogenic noise. This advance in our understanding of the drivers of disturbance helps us to predict what species and habitats are likely to be most severely impacted by underwater noise pollution in oceans undergoing increasing anthropogenic activities.

Identification of Flux Rope Orientation via Neural Networks

Geomagnetic disturbance forecasting is based on the identification of solar wind structures and accurate determination of their magnetic field orientation. For nowcasting activities, this is currently a tedious and manual process. Focusing on the main driver of geomagnetic disturbances, the twisted internal magnetic field of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs), we explore a convolutional neural network’s (CNN) ability to predict the embedded magnetic flux rope’s orientation once it has been identified from in situ solar wind observations. Our work uses CNNs trained with magnetic field vectors from analytical flux rope data. The simulated flux ropes span many possible spacecraft trajectories and flux rope orientations. We train CNNs first with full duration flux ropes and then again with partial duration flux ropes. The former provides us with a baseline of how well CNNs can predict flux rope orientation while the latter provides insights into real-time forecasting by exploring how accuracy is affected by percentage of flux rope observed. The process of casting the physics problem as a machine learning problem is discussed as well as the impacts of different factors on prediction accuracy such as flux rope fluctuations and different neural network topologies. Finally, results from evaluating the trained network against observed ICMEs from Wind during 1995–2015 are presented.

Rapid remote monitoring reveals spatial and temporal hotspots of carbon loss in Africa\u2019s rainforests

Spatially explicit monitoring of tropical forest aboveground carbon is an important prerequisite for better targeting and assessing forest conservation efforts and more transparent reporting of carbon losses. Here, we combine near-real-time forest disturbance alerts based on all-weather radar data with aboveground carbon stocks to provide carbon loss estimates at high spatial and temporal resolution for the rainforests of Africa. We identified spatial and temporal hotspots of carbon loss for 2019 and 2020 for the 23 countries analyzed, led by different drivers of forest disturbance. We found that 75.7% of total annual carbon loss in the Central African Republic happened within the first three months of 2020, while 89% of the annual carbon loss in Madagascar occurred within the last five months of 2020. Our detailed spatiotemporal mapping of carbon loss creates opportunities for much more transparent, timely, and efficient assessments of forest carbon changes both at the level of specific activities, for national-level GHG reporting, and large area comparative analysis.

Automatic Identification of Forest Disturbance Drivers Based on Their Geometric Pattern in Atlantic Forests

Monitoring forest disturbances has become essential towards the design and tracking of sustainable forest management. Multiple methodologies have been developed to detect these disturbances. However, few studies have focused on the automatic detection of disturbance drivers, an essential task as each disturbance has different implications for the functioning of the ecosystem and associated management actions. Wildfires and harvesting are two of the major drivers of forest disturbances across different ecosystems. In this study, an automated methodology is presented to automatically distinguish between the two once the disturbance is detected, using the properties of its geometry and shape. A cluster analysis was performed to automatically individualize each disturbance and afterwards calculate its geometric properties. Using these properties, a decision tree was built that allowed for the distinction between wildfires and harvesting with an overall accuracy of 91%. This methodology and further research relating to it could pose an essential aid to national and international agencies for incorporating forest-disturbance-driver-related information into forest-focused reports.

Decreased resting and nursing in short-finned pilot whales when exposed to louder petrol engine noise of a hybrid whale-watch vessel

Vessel noise is a primary driver of behavioural disturbance in cetaceans, which are targeted during whale-watch activities. Despite the growing, global effort for implementing best-practice principles, to date, there are no regulations on whale-watch vessel noise levels. Here, we test the hypothesis that a whale-watch vessel with a low noise emission will not elicit short-term behavioural responses in toothed whales compared to a vessel with a louder engine. We measured behavioural responses (n = 36) of short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) to whale-watch vessel approaches (range 60 m, speed 1.5 kn). Treatment approaches with a quieter electric engine (136–140 dB) compared to the same vessel with a louder petrol engine (151–139 dB) (low-frequency–mid-frequency weighted source levels, re 1 µPa RMS @ 1 m) were examined. Focal whales were resting mother and calves in small group sizes. During petrol engine treatments, the mother’s mean resting time decreased by 29% compared to the control (GLM, p = 0.009). The mean proportion of time nursing for the calf was significantly influenced by petrol engine vessel passes, with a 81% decrease compared to the control (GLM, p = 0.01). There were no significant effects on behaviour from the quieter electric engine. Thus, to minimise disturbance on the activity budget of pilot whales, whale-watch vessels would ideally have source levels as low as possible, below 150 dB re 1 µPa RMS @ 1 m and perceived above ambient noise.

Mapping the probability of forest snow disturbances in Finland.

The changing forest disturbance regimes emphasize the need for improved damage risk information. Here, our aim was to (1) improve the current understanding of snow damage risks by assessing the importance of abiotic factors, particularly the modelled snow load on trees, versus forest properties in predicting the probability of snow damage, (2) produce a snow damage probability map for Finland. We also compared the results for winters with typical snow load conditions and a winter with exceptionally heavy snow loads. To do this, we used damage observations from the Finnish national forest inventory (NFI) to create a statistical snow damage occurrence model, spatial data layers from different sources to use the model to predict the damage probability for the whole country in 16 x 16 m resolution. Snow damage reports from forest owners were used for testing the final map. Our results showed that best results were obtained when both abiotic and forest variables were included in the model. However, in the case of the high snow load winter, the model with only abiotic predictors performed nearly as well as the full model and the ability of the models to identify the snow damaged stands was higher than in other years. The results showed patterns of forest adaptation to high snow loads, as spruce stands in the north were less susceptible to damage than in southern areas and long-term snow load reduced the damage probability. The model and the derived wall-to-wall map were able to discriminate damage from no-damage cases on a good level (AUC > 0.7). The damage probability mapping approach identifies the drivers of snow disturbances across forest landscapes and can be used to spatially estimate the current and future disturbance probabilities in forests, informing practical forestry and decision-making and supporting the adaptation to the changing disturbance regimes.

Populations in stable and variable habitats: Green and common sandpiper in a beaver-influenced landscape

Stability of breeding habitat use and population variability was studied in two common wader species: green sandpiper Tringa ochropus and common sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos in a boreal lake area in southern Finland. The main natural driver of habitat disturbance in the area is an ecosystem engineer, the North American beaver Castor canadensis. We also studied the presence and abundance of green sandpipers before, during and after beaver-induced floods.In the studied landscape, the variable habitat created by beaver flooding appeared to have carrying capacity for a larger green sandpiper population than the more stable habitat for that of the common sandpiper. Common sandpipers made much use of the same lakes from year to year whereas the occupation of wetlands by the green sandpiper was more variable. The population of common sandpipers fluctuated more, although they inhabited the more stable environment. Green sandpiper pair numbers increased during beaver flooding, which suggests that they adapt rapidly to changes in breeding site availability. Some of the facilitating effects of the beaver appeared to remain 1–2 years after the flooding.

Droughty times in mesic places: factors associated with forest mortality vary by scale in a temperate subalpine region

AbstractUnderstanding how drivers of ecological disturbance operate across scales is important in an era of increasing disturbance activity. Severe and extensive Dendroctonus bark beetle outbreaks across western North America have left in their wake dominance by shade‐tolerant and commonly late‐seral trees such as subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa), which can foster resilience of forest cover. However, subalpine fir decline (SFD) is a poorly understood phenomenon that has killed trees across millions of hectares in western North America with unknown consequences for future forest resilience. How different factors (e.g., climate, topography, host‐tree characteristics, and abundance) govern SFD presence and severity across spatial scales from individual trees to a subcontinental scale has not been explored in a single framework. Here, we combine broad‐scale geospatial data on SFD occurrence, stand‐scale field data on SFD severity, and fine‐scale individual tree data on mortality to test the relative importance of factors related to SFD across spatial scales spanning >10 orders of magnitude (<1 m to >10 M hectares). At the broadest scale (subcontinental, ~25 M ha), annual areal extent of SFD over time increased sharply with antecedent drought. At regional‐ (~6 M ha) and stand‐ (0.1–0.25 ha) scales, the occurrence and severity of SFD were spatially associated with more mesic topographic positions and greater host‐tree abundance. Finally, at the individual tree‐ and tree‐neighborhood‐ (<1 m) scale, the probability of mortality increased for larger trees and trees closer to dead conspecific neighbors. The positive temporal association of SFD with drought at broad scales versus the positive spatial association of SFD with mesic sites at fine scales suggests strong importance of local biotic processes in mediating drought‐driven forest decline and highlights the need for understanding multi‐scale drivers of ecological disturbance.

Neighborhood context mediates probability of host tree mortality in a severe bark beetle outbreak

AbstractUnderstanding drivers of disturbances across scales is critical as environmental constraints change in a warming climate. Outbreaks of native bark beetles (Curculionidae: Scolytinae) are key natural disturbances that shape the structure and function of conifer forests across the northern hemisphere. While drivers of bark beetle outbreaks have been studied extensively at spatial scales ranging from stands to continents, within‐stand processes governing individual tree mortality in an outbreak are less well understood. Here, we use a spatially explicit long‐term monitoring dataset of a lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) forest (>9000 individually mapped trees in three 2‐ha plots) impacted by a severe mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) outbreak to explore interactions among fine scale drivers of beetle‐caused tree mortality. Using a Bayesian spatial modeling approach, we evaluated how tree scale and tree neighborhood scale characteristics interact with tree size to mediate host tree susceptibility to mountain pine beetle outbreak in the Southern Rocky Mountains (USA). We found evidence that both tree growth rate preceding the outbreak and neighborhood structure (within a 10 meter radius of the host tree) mediate the effect of tree size, and that the direction and magnitude of these mediating effects vary with tree size. Tree scale mortality probability increased with pre‐outbreak growth rate for small to medium sized host trees (~10–25 cm diameter), but that same effect was not detected for large trees. Conversely, tree scale mortality probability increased with greater neighborhood density, with the most pronounced effects for medium to large sized host trees (~15–30 cm diameter). Within‐stand topographic variability was not an important predictor of mortality probability; among stands, however, the stand in the driest topographic position experienced the greatest overall mortality. By explicitly considering how within‐stand heterogeneity mediates individual tree scale susceptibility to bark beetle outbreak, our findings bridge an important gap in understanding multi‐scale drivers of disturbance dynamics.

Vessel noise levels drive behavioural responses of humpback whales with implications for whale-watching.

Disturbance from whale-watching can cause significant behavioural changes with fitness consequences for targeted whale populations. However, the sensory stimuli triggering these responses are unknown, preventing effective mitigation. Here, we test the hypothesis that vessel noise level is a driver of disturbance, using humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) as a model species. We conducted controlled exposure experiments (n = 42) on resting mother-calf pairs on a resting ground off Australia, by simulating whale-watch scenarios with a research vessel (range 100 m, speed 1.5 knts) playing back vessel noise at control/low (124/148 dB), medium (160 dB) or high (172 dB) low frequency-weighted source levels (re 1 μPa RMS@1 m). Compared to control/low treatments, during high noise playbacks the mother's proportion of time resting decreased by 30%, respiration rate doubled and swim speed increased by 37%. We therefore conclude that vessel noise is an adequate driver of behavioural disturbance in whales and that regulations to mitigate the impact of whale-watching should include noise emission standards.

Extensive recent wildfires demand more stringent protection of critical old growth forest

Old growth forests have many key values, but temporal changes across their spatial extent are poorly understood. This includes large parts of Australia and is a major knowledge gap given the extent of human and natural disturbances in the Australian forest estate over past decades. We integrated spatial data on the timing and extent of fire and logging across mapped forest and woodland cover in different Ecological Vegetation Class (EVC) groups to quantify disturbance of the old growth forest and woodland estate in Victoria since 1995, including after the 2019–20 wildfires. We found ~77% of old growth forest and woodlands have been disturbed by fire and logging over the past 25 years. Disturbance was particularly marked in some EVCs, such as the Wet and Damp Forest and the Subalpine Woodlands. In contrast, relatively little of the Modelled Old Growth Forest and Woodland has been disturbed between 1995 and 2020 in other EVCs such as in Plains Woodlands and Heathy Woodlands. Wildfire was the primary driver of disturbance in Modelled Old Growth Forest and Woodland. We argue that a range of strategies is critical to increase protection of undisturbed old growth forest. These include re-assessing disturbance data layers to ensure that areas of old growth that have been burned at low severity are protected, and reducing the size of old growth patches to be conserved. There is also a need to increase levels of protection of young forests to enable them to grow through to an old growth state.

Harvesting of forest products and implications for Afrotemperate bird communities in a montane forest of the Eastern Cape, South Africa

BackgroundHarvesting of forest products is a widespread driver of disturbance in developing nations, where policies are increasingly aimed at managing natural forests for sustainable use. There is thus need for research aimed at understanding the impact of resource use on forest habitats and concomitant effects on biodiversity. Afromontane forests in the Eastern Cape, South Africa are harvested informally for poles and medicinal bark and occur along elevational gradients of 800–1600 m above sea level. Patterns of spatial diversity and human disturbance are expected to be affected by elevation. Furthermore, species’ responses to disturbance are expected to vary depending on their level of habitat specialisation. Understanding harvest impacts on forest biodiversity thus requires disentangling the separate effects of elevation and disturbance, and considering forest-specialist and forest-generalist species separately. This study comprises two components. First, harvest activities, resultant harvest-mediated habitat heterogeneity, and avifaunal species richness, composition and beta-diversity were compared across two elevational zones in a harvested forest. Second, the role of harvest-mediated habitat heterogeneity in driving patterns of avifaunal diversity were assessed, while controlling for elevation, and considering forest-specialist and forest-generalist species separately.ResultsHarvest rates were higher, and activities more varied in the lower elevation zone, with significant impacts of harvesting on habitat features resulting in higher harvest-mediated habitat heterogeneity at lower elevations. Harvest-mediated increases in habitat heterogeneity positively affected forest-generalist species richness, while forest-specialist richness was negatively affected. While species composition of both groups differed across elevational zones, variation in harvest-mediated habitat heterogeneity did not fully account for this, suggesting that factors other than disturbance shape avifaunal communities along the elevation gradient. However, variation in harvest-mediated habitat heterogeneity accounted for the amount of beta-diversity attributed to species turnover in the forest-specialist assemblage, indicating that harvest disturbances affect the mechanisms driving beta-diversity of this group.ConclusionSpatial patterns of avifaunal diversity are affected by elevation over a 300-m gradient. Harvesting results in increased habitat heterogeneity, which variably affects avifaunal communities at the forest-scale, with positive effects for forest generalists and negative effects for forest-specialists.

Parametric Study of ICME Properties Related to Space Weather Disturbances via a Series of Three-Dimensional MHD Simulations

Interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) are important drivers of space-weather disturbances observed at the Earth. We use a parameterized ICME model to investigate the relation between the physical properties of an ICME and these disturbances. Compared to those studies focused on deriving a best set of ICME parameter values matched with observed disturbances, this study is aimed at investigating the role of each parameter in producing space-weather disturbances. Toward this end, we performed a series of three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations with different sets of ICME parameter values. These parameters are the location, speed, mass, magnetic field strength, and magnetic field orientation of a spheromak-shaped ICME, which is injected into the solar wind reconstructed from near-Sun data and interplanetary scintillation (IPS) data via an MHD-IPS tomography method. By comparing simulation results to in situ observations near the Earth we discuss how the physical properties of an ICME affect space-weather disturbances at the Earth.

Complex disturbance‐driven reactivation of near‐surface sediments in the largest dunefield in North America during the last 200 years

AbstractUnderstanding the historical activity of desert dune systems is important for identifying both the palaeoenvironmental drivers of change and the likelihood of future reactivation. Dating dune sediments in the Nebraska Sandhills has identified regional‐scale dune activity over centennial and millennial timescales during the Holocene, occurring at 9.6–6.5, 3.8 and 2.5 ka, and most recently spanning the Medieval Climatic Anomaly 1050–650 years BP. These periods have been interpreted as palaeoclimatic evidence of intense aridity lasting decadal and centennial timescales. A detailed record of dune activity in the historical period, since EuroAmerican arrival, is lacking however, yet important for interpreting the role of human agency amongst the factors influencing disturbance. Without a high‐resolution record of short‐term, historical, local sediment mobilization, it is not possible to distinguish the environmental factor(s) responsible for local reactivation. In this paper, the individual drivers of vegetation disturbance are reviewed and presented alongside a luminescence‐dated reconstruction of dune sediment deposition ages. This allows an integrated assessment of the relationship between drivers and environmental response over a recorded period. We focused our investigation on the aeolian reactivations of surface dune sediments and blowout features around the Niobrara Valley Preserve in the northern limits of the Nebraska Sandhills. Results show a near‐continuous (within uncertainties) timeline of local reactivation across the sites studied, with variation between the individual features indicating that both regional (i.e. climatic) and local (i.e. land use) forcings contribute to surface disturbance. © 2019 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. © 2019 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress: A Critical Molecular Driver of Endothelial Dysfunction and Cardiovascular Disturbances Associated with Diabetes.

Physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyle contribute to the widespread epidemic of obesity among both adults and children leading to rising cases of diabetes. Cardiovascular disease complications associated with obesity and diabetes are closely linked to insulin resistance and its complex implications on vascular cells particularly endothelial cells. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is activated following disruption in post-translational protein folding and maturation within the ER in metabolic conditions characterized by heavy demand on protein synthesis, such as obesity and diabetes. ER stress has gained much interest as a key bridging and converging molecular link between insulin resistance, oxidative stress, and endothelial cell dysfunction and, hence, represents an interesting drug target for diabetes and its cardiovascular complications. We reviewed here the role of ER stress in endothelial cell dysfunction, the primary step in the onset of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. We specifically focused on the contribution of oxidative stress, insulin resistance, endothelial cell death, and cellular inflammation caused by ER stress in endothelial cell dysfunction and the process of atherogenesis.

Oilfield Reclamation Recovers Productivity but not Composition of Arthropod Herbivores and Predators.

Arthropods are key components of grassland ecosystems. Though arthropod communities are often strongly influenced by plant communities, plants and arthropods may respond differently to disturbance. Studying plant responses alone may, therefore, not fully capture altered ecosystem dynamics; thus multi-trophic approaches are critical to fully understand ecosystem responses to disturbance. Energy development is a large-scale driver of disturbance in northern Great Plains rangelands, and recovery of arthropod communities following reclamation is not well understood. We sampled Orthoptera and spiders in western North Dakota, United States, in 2016. Samples were collected from 14 reclaimed oil well sites ('reclaims') 2-33 yr since reclamation, and native prairie at two distances (50 and 150 m) from reclaim edges. Overall Orthopteran and spider abundances on reclaims and native prairie did not differ; however, Orthopteran community composition and species abundances were distinct on reclaims versus native prairie, including increased abundances of Melanoplus femurrubrum (De Geer) (Orthoptera: Acrididae) (a noted crop pest) on reclaims. In contrast, NMS analyses revealed no differences in spider community composition between reclaims and native prairie, although abundances of one group (Salticidae) strongly decreased on reclaims. We present one of the first studies to investigate impacts of energy development and reclamation on arthropod communities. While reclamation efforts successfully recovered abundances and biomass of arthropod herbivores and predators, Orthopteran (but not spider) community composition on reclaims has not recovered to match that of intact prairie even 30 yr after reclamation. These findings suggest that energy development may have long-term or potentially irreversible impacts to rangeland arthropod communities.

Redefining temperate forest responses to climate and disturbance in the eastern United States: New insights at the mesoscale

AbstractAimClimate and disturbance alter forest dynamics, from individual trees to biomes and from years to millennia, leaving legacies that vary with local, meso‐ and macroscales. Motivated by recent insights in temperate forests, we argue that temporal and spatial extents equivalent to that of the underlying drivers are necessary to characterize forest dynamics across scales. We focus specifically on characterizing mesoscale forest dynamics because they bridge fine‐scale (local) processes and the continental scale (macrosystems) in ways that are highly relevant for climate change science and ecosystem management. We revisit ecological concepts related to spatial and temporal scales and discuss approaches to gain a better understanding of climate–forest dynamics across scales.LocationEastern USA.Time periodLast century to present.Major taxa studiedTemperate broadleaf forests.MethodsWe review regional literature of past tree mortality studies associated with climate to identify mesoscale climate‐driven disturbance events. Using a dynamic vegetation model, we then simulate how these forests respond to a typical climate‐driven disturbance.ResultsBy identifying compound disturbance events from both a literature review and simulation modelling, we find that synchronous patterns of drought‐driven mortality at mesoscales have been overlooked within these forests.Main conclusionsAs ecologists, land managers and policy‐makers consider the intertwined drivers of climate and disturbance, a focus on spatio‐temporal scales equivalent to those of the drivers will provide insight into long‐term forest change, such as drought impacts. Spatially extensive studies should also have a long temporal scale to provide insight into pathways for forest change, evaluate predictions from dynamic forest models and inform development of global vegetation models. We recommend integrating data collected from spatially well‐replicated networks (e.g., archaeological, historical or palaeoecological data), consisting of centuries‐long, high‐resolution records, with models to characterize better the mesoscale response of forests to climate change in the past and in the future.

The role of fire on wolf distribution and breeding-site selection: Insights from a generalist carnivore occurring in a fire-prone landscape

Wildfires are a main driver of habitat disturbance, influencing landscape structure and resource availability. Large carnivores are expected to experience strong effects as recently burned areas influence prey availability and suitable conditions for refuge and breeding. However, there are substantial knowledge gaps regarding the interplay between fire and landscape attributes affecting large carnivore occurrence. In this work, we aim to assess the effects of fire in relation to human density, elevation, and land cover in determining wolf (Canis lupus) occurrence at two spatial scales. A regional scale considering temporal shifts in wolf distribution at country level (Portugal) and a local scale considering breeding-site selection and reuse from 11 packs. We hypothesized that fire disturbance in a human-dominated landscape is a significant factor influencing wolf occurrence. Our results showed that wolves persisted in areas with higher altitudes, lower forest cover and intensive fire regimes. Breeding-sites were located at higher altitudes, in land covers less prone to human activity and disturbance, but subjected to a higher burnt extent, although with no significant association between breeding-site displacement and fire occurrence. The multiple-scale approach demonstrated wolves’ remarkable resilience to fire, persisting and breeding in a human-dominated landscape under intensive fire regimes. However, burnt landscapes may induce higher exposure to human disturbance and persecution due to limited refuge conditions. This study provides valuable insights on the role of fire in the persistence and habitat selection of a large carnivore, an issue with relevant management implications in fire-prone landscapes, predicted to become a common scenario worldwide.

Patterns and drivers of recent disturbances across the temperate forest biome

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.