Forest Succession Research Articles

Control of bracken by promoting regeneration of woody vegetation in the Yucatan Peninsula

In the tropical dry forest of the Yucatan Peninsula in southern Mexico, as in many parts of the Neotropics, deforested areas have been colonized by the highly competitive invasive bracken (Pteridium arachnoideum), which inhabits naturally regenerated and successional forests on abandoned farmland. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficiency of different treatments for the control of ferns through the mechanical removal of their fronds in rocky soils of the Yucatan Peninsula. In 2013, we implemented an experiment using different frequencies of cutting of ferns (cutting ferns every 30, 60, 90, and 120 days and control). One year after establishing experiment, data was gathered regarding bracken rhizome biomass, basal area, height, density, and species richness of naturally regenerating vegetation for all treatments. As expected, the lowest rhizome biomass was achieved with the 30- and 60-day cutting treatments and the fern control had a positive effect on the regeneration of woody species. We conclude that promotion of natural regeneration following agricultural land use may be essential for long-term elimination of bracken.

Correction to “Beyond species richness and community composition: Using plant functional diversity to measure restoration success in jarrah forest” [Applied Vegetation Science, 24(3), e12607

Correction to “Beyond species richness and community composition: Using plant functional diversity to measure restoration success in jarrah forest” [<i>Applied Vegetation Science</i>, 24(3), e12607

Changes in ectomycorrhizal and saprophytic fungal communities during a secondary succession of temperate forests

Changes in ectomycorrhizal and saprophytic fungal communities during a secondary succession of temperate forests

Biological Productivity of the Post-Fire Larch Forests in the Mountain Regions of Krasnoyarsk Krai

Peculiarities of the compositionally pure larch stands formation following forest fires were studied in the northern (Evenkia, middle course of the Nizhnyaya Tunguska river, geographic coordinates 64°03′ N 101°10′ E) and southern (Ermakovskiy district, geographic coordinates – 52°23′ N, 93°33′ E) areas of Krasnoyarsk Krai. The structure, growth and biological productivity of the forest restoration successions were analyzed based on the materials from the sample plots. The highest value of phytomass (in terms of total productivity) in larch stands registered was 1055.5 t abs. dry substances/ha at the age of 93 years. The structural ratio of the forest stands phytomass fractions naturally changes with an increase in their average age and density. With an increase in the average age of a stand, its above-ground and root phytomasses increase; at the same time, the relative share of crown and needle wood mass in the total above-ground phytomass of a stand decreases. In 38-year-old larch forests, the share of crown mass is 18%, and the share of stems is 82%. In 60-year-old forest stands, crown wood with needles accounts for 14%, and the rest 86% are stem weight. In the 93-year-old larch forest, the proportion of stem phytomass increases to 89%, and the proportion of crown wood with needles falls up to a minimum share of 11%. The maximum growth potential of the 56-year old larch stands, according to the current increase in phyomass (in terms of total productivity), is realised at about 14.69 t abs. dry substances/ha per year. The young and middle-aged larch forests formed on the burnt areas have higher rates of growth and phytomass accumulation; in terms of the amount of fixed atmospheric carbon, they exceed the mature and overmature stands by more than two times.

The REBURN model: simulating system-level forest succession and wildfire dynamics

BackgroundHistorically, reburn dynamics from cultural and lightning ignitions were central to the ecology of fire in the western United States (wUS), whereby past fire effects limited future fire growth and severity. Over millennia, reburns created heterogenous patchworks of vegetation and fuels that provided avenues and impediments to the flow of future fires, and feedbacks to future fire event sizes and their severity patterns. These dynamics have been significantly altered after more than a century of settler colonization, fire exclusion, and past forest management, now compounded by rapid climatic warming. Under climate change, the area impacted by large and severe wildfires will likely increase — with further implications for self-regulating properties of affected systems. An in-depth understanding of the ecology of reburns and their influence on system-level dynamics provides a baseline for understanding current and future landscape fire-vegetation interactions.ResultsHere, we present a detailed characterization of REBURN — a geospatial modeling framework designed to simulate reburn dynamics over large areas and long time frames. We interpret fire-vegetation dynamics for a large testbed landscape in eastern Washington State, USA. The landscape is comprised of common temperate forest and nonforest vegetation types distributed along broad topo-edaphic gradients. Each pixel in a vegetation type is represented by a pathway group (PWG), which assigns a specific state-transition model (STM) based on that pixel’s biophysical setting. STMs represent daily simulated and annually summarized vegetation and fuel succession, and wildfire effects on forest and nonforest succession. Wildfire dynamics are driven by annual ignitions, fire weather and topographic conditions, and annual vegetation and fuel successional states of burned and unburned pixels.ConclusionsOur simulation study is the first to evaluate how fire exclusion and forest management altered the active fire regime of this landscape, its surface and canopy fuel patterns, forest and nonforest structural conditions, and the dynamics of forest reburning. The REBURN framework is now being used in related studies to evaluate future climate change scenarios and compare the efficacy of fire and fuel management strategies that either enable the return of active fire regimes or depend on fire suppression and wildfire effects on forest burning.

The Changes in the Forest Vegetation on the Danube River Aggradation Mound Affected by Water Regime Changes

Abstract This article is focused on the specific vegetation, which has formed from the floodplain forests on the aggradation mound (elevated sediment deposition) along the original Danube river in Slovakia in the part affected by Gabčíkovo waterworks that was put in operation in 1992. As a result of water regime changes, when a major part of the Danube water flow was redirected to the Gabčíkovo hydroelectric power plant, original floodplain forests on the aggradation mound began to suffer from a water deficit, which is also supported by shallow soils formed mostly on the gravel sediments with limited capillary rise of groundwater. It has triggered successional processes leading to the degradation of forest with changes in all layers. To identify these changes and development trends, we analyzed vegetation data from 2002, 2012, and 2022. The results indicate that the process of secondary succession of the original floodplain forest continues. This includes mainly an increase in the number of species, especially those typical for grasslands and synanthropic habitats. From an environmental point of view, the spread of some invasive species is striking. Ordination method (canonical-correlation analysis [CCA]) confirmed light, moisture, number of species, and Shannon–Wiener index as the main factors determining relevés’ variability.

Asian elephants as ecological filters in Sundaic forests

Megaherbivores exert strong top-down influence on the ecosystems they inhabit, yet little is known about the foraging impacts of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) on the structure of Southeast Asia’s rainforests. Our goal was to document Asian elephants’ dietary composition, selectivity, and foraging impacts in a Sundaic rainforest and test whether these differed between habitats. We conducted controlled direct observations of five wild-born captive elephants feeding on six plant types (bamboo, grass, monocot herbs, palms, lianas, and trees) of different age 2 in two habitats (mature vs. early successional forest) in Krau, Peninsular Malaysia. Palms, trees, and lianas formed the bulk of the elephants’ diet. In the mature forest, elephants showed a strong preference for monocots (preference ratio, PR = 5.1), particularly large palms (PR = 5.4), while trees were negatively selected (PR = 0.14). Conversely, in early successional habitats, large tree saplings were positively selected (PR = 1.6). Elephants uprooted (30%) and broke the main stem (30%) of the dicot trees, mainly large saplings, that they handled. Tree saplings broken by elephants had an average diameter of 1.7 ± 1.1 cm (up to 7 cm), with breaks happening at 1.1 ± 0.5 m of height. We estimated that, in a year, an elephant could damage (i.e., either uproot or break) around 39,000 tree saplings if it fed entirely in mature forest, and almost double the number (73,000) if it fed solely in early successional habitats. Assuming a density of 0.05–0.18 elephants/km2, elephant foraging could damage 0.2–0.6% of the tree sapling population per year. Slow growth rates of understory plants in mature forests could result in negative feedbacks, whereby elephants suppress palms, other monocots, and highly preferred tree species. Alternatively, elephants may initiate positive feedbacks by impeding succession along forest edges and in semi-open environments, thereby increasing the size of gaps and the availability of their preferred foodplants. Overall, our results show that Asian elephants act as ecological filters by suppressing the plants they prefer in Southeast Asia’s rainforests.

Altitudinal Differentiation of Forest Resilience to Drought in a Dryland Mountain

Drought is one of the major climate disasters leading to forest degradation in dryland mountains. Hence, revealing the response of forest resilience to drought is crucial to predict forest succession in dryland mountains under future global warming. Here, we chose the Qilian Mountains as the study area and calculated the recovery time and drought intensity along elevation from 1982 to 2020 using the Leaf Area Index (LAI) and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI). Then, the forest resilience to drought was calculated using the area of an exponentially fitted curve between drought intensity and corresponding recovery time. Finally, the dominant climate factors underlying altitude differentiation of forest resilience were analyzed using a random forest (RF) regression model, and correlations were determined based on a generalized additive model (GAM). The results indicate that forests in the elevation range of 2600–3900 m exhibited faster recovery rates and greater resilience compared to those in 1700–2600 m. The attributional analysis shows that altitudinal differentiation of forest resilience to drought was mainly constrained by precipitation with a non-monotonic correlation, and resilience was strongest when monthly precipitation reaches 30 mm. In terms of the occurrence of historical drought events, increased potential evapotranspiration improved resilience in the elevation range of 2600–3900 m and enhanced cloud cover initially enlarged the resilience and then decreased it in the elevation range of 3000–3400 m and 3400–3900 m, with resilience being strongest when cloud cover reached 24% and 33%, respectively. Under future climate change, global warming will further exacerbate the drought impact in arid regions, increasing the risk of primary forest collapse. The results of this study provide a scientific basis for predicting the potential changes in vegetation resilience and developing policies for ecological protection in dryland mountains, and we will take addressing the difficult study of the quantitative effects of tree species on resilience altitude differentiation based on ecosystem scales as our future direction.

Seedlings of shade-tolerant tree species are more vulnerable to chilling rain under a forest gap

The manner in which tree species differ in their responses to chilling rain in warm and species-rich (sub-)tropical forests is not well understood. Understanding this variation between species is essential for linking the responses of individual plants to chilling rain with ecological consequences at the forest community and ecosystem levels. We hypothesized that chilling rain can induce detrimental effects on leaf photochemical processes, and the negative impacts are more evident for shade-tolerant species than light-demanding species. This trade-off between species' tolerance to shade and chilling rain may depend on the light environment to which plants are exposed. To test these hypotheses, we conducted two sequential experiments with five subtropical tree species, measuring their leaf photochemical processes during the phases of a chilling rain event and assessing their resistance and recovery. We determined species shade tolerance by integrating their functional traits associated with resource acquisition in a shade environment. Our results showed that Fv/Fm, a measure of maximum quantum yield of photosystem II, was co-determined by the plant's exposure to light and chilling rain. Seedlings exposed to a gap before the chilling rain generally had lower Fv/Fm than those exposed to shade before the rain treatment. Chilling rain, relative to ambient rain, significantly reduced Fv/Fm during the cold and sunny phase. However, the effects of chilling rain were only evident for shade-tolerant species with gap-exposure history. The reduction in Fv/Fm induced by chilling rain led to higher resistance of Fv/Fm to chilling rain for light-demanding species than shade-tolerant species, leading to a trade-off between species' tolerances to shade and chilling rain for plants with gap-exposure history, thus supporting the hypotheses. This trade-off was primarily due to variation in functional traits related to light-use strategy, such as specific leaf area, leaf area ratio, leaf thickness, relative volume growth rate, and root-shoot ratio. As light availability and species' tolerance to shade are critical abiotic and biotic factors determining forest community succession, respectively, these findings may improve the scalability of the physiological responses of individual plants to chilling rain to the dynamics of forest communities. Our results suggest that frequent chilling rain events and canopy disturbances may favor light-demanding species and alter the species composition of subtropical forests.

Characterizing Post-Fire Forest Structure Recovery in the Great Xing’an Mountain Using GEDI and Time Series Landsat Data

Understanding post-fire forest recovery is critical to the study of forest carbon dynamics. Many previous studies have used multispectral imagery to estimate post-fire recovery, yet post-fire forest structural development has rarely been evaluated in the Great Xing’an Mountain. In this study, we extracted the historical fire events from 1987 to 2019 based on a classification of Landsat imagery and assessed post-fire forest structure for these burned patches using Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI)-derived metrics from 2019 to 2021. Two drivers were assessed for the influence on post-fire structure recovery, these being pre-fire canopy cover (i.e., dense forest and open forest) and burn severity levels (i.e., low, moderate, and high). We used these burnt patches to establish a 25-year chronosequence of forest structural succession by a space-for-time substitution method. Our result showed that the structural indices suggested delayed recovery following the fire, indicating a successional process from the decomposition of residual structures to the regeneration of new tree species in the post-fire forest. Across the past 25-years, the dense forest tends toward greater recovery than open forest, and the recovery rate was faster for low severity, followed by moderate severity and high severity. Specifically, in the recovery trajectory, the recovery indices were 21.7% and 17.4% for dense forest and open forest, and were 27.1%, 25.8%, and 25.4% for low, moderate, and high burn severity, respectively. Additionally, a different response to the fire was found in the canopy structure and height structure since total canopy cover (TCC) and plant area index (PAI) recovered faster than relative height (i.e., RH75 and RH95). Our results provide valuable information on forest structural restoration status, that can be used to support the formulation of post-fire forest management strategies in Great Xing’an Mountain.

ASSESSMENT OF RARE EPIPHYTIC LIVERWORT TRANSPLANTATION METHOD IN POPULUS TREMULA FOREST

Epiphytic bryophytes are important biodiversity elements in forest ecosystems globally. In addition, bryophytes take part in ecosystem functioning and are excellent environmental indicators. Almost half of the red-listed bryophyte distribution in Latvia is related to forest habitats. However, despite the increasing knowledge about epiphyte ecology, we are lacking information about individual rare species environmental demands. The present study aimed to evaluate the transplant disc method in rare liverwort transplantation success in aspen forest. As a result, we found that the transplant disc method can be used in epiphytic liverwort studies, but improvements are recommended in sealant selection for transplantation. Liverwort transplants were sensitive to changed substrate quality. Although transplant physiological stress during the transplantation experiment could be important. Epiphyte transplantation studies could help to test epiphyte sensitivity to global climate change in the future.

Drivers of soil organic carbon stock during tropical forest succession

Abstract Soil organic matter contributes to productivity in terrestrial ecosystems and contains more carbon than is found in the atmosphere. Yet, there is little understanding of soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration processes during tropical forest succession, particularly after land abandonment from agriculture practices. Here, we used vegetation and environmental data from two large‐scale surveys covering a total landscape area of 20,000 ha in Southeast Asia to investigate the effects of plant species diversity, functional trait diversity, phylogenetic diversity, above‐ground biomass and environmental factors on SOC sequestration during forest succession. We found that functional trait diversity plays an important role in determining SOC sequestration across successional trajectories. Increases in SOC carbon storage were associated with indirect positive effects of species diversity and succession age via functional trait diversity, but phylogenetic diversity and above‐ground biomass showed no significant relationship with SOC stock. Furthermore, the effects of soil properties and functional trait diversity on SOC carbon storage shift across elevation. Synthesis. Our results suggest that reforestation and restoration management practices that implement a trait‐based approach by combining long‐lived and short‐lived species (conservative and acquisitive traits) to increase plant functional diversity could enhance SOC sequestration for climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts, as well as accelerate recovery of healthy soils.

Linking winter severity to space use of European bison around feeding sites in Białowieża Primeval Forest (NE Poland)

Supplementary feeding is a commonly used wildlife management practice, but while it may bring benefits and fulfil management goals, it can also result in unintended negative consequences. In the temperate zone, winter supplementary feeding may reduce movement of some ungulate species, leading to increased utilization of feeding sites by individuals and, consequently, animal aggregation. However, the intensity of feeding site utilization can vary depending on various extrinsic factors, e.g. habitat type, population density or weather conditions. Here, we predicted that the index of feeding sites utilization, expressed as the distance of European bison (Bison bonasus) to feeding sites, would be positively associated with the severity of winter conditions; thus, bison will be closer to feeding sites on colder days and in the presence of snow cover. We analysed winter (December to March) tracking data of 43 VHF- and GPS-collared European bison (24 males and 19 females) collected from 2005 to 2012 in Białowieża Primeval Forest (NE Poland), where bison are supplementally fed with different intensity throughout winter. Female bison were closer to feeding sites than males throughout winter, and regardless of sex, bison were the closest to feeding sites in mid-winter (January to February) and on colder days independently of the time of the season. Additionally, the distances of bison to feeding sites were significantly related to snow cover and depth; i.e. bison were closer to the feeding sites on days with present snow cover and deeper snow. Hence, the winter area occupied by bison differed with changing weather severity — being 4 and 28 times larger in the warmest periods compared to the coldest days with snow cover (for females and males, respectively). This may have direct and indirect ecological consequences for the ecosystem due to potential impact on nutrient cycling, seed dispersal, interspecific competition, vegetation growth, forest succession and carrion distribution. Given these ecological impacts of bison and weather-dependent utilization of supplementary fodder, we recognize the possible need in the future to revise and adapt winter supplementary feeding to annual and seasonal variation in winter severity to meet management goals while optimizing the costs.

A precise forest spatial structure investigation using the SLAM+AR technology

IntroductionForest spatial structures are the foundations of the structure and function of forest ecosystems. Quantitative descriptions and analyses of forest spatial structure have recently become common tools for digitalized forest management. Therefore, the accuracy and intelligence of acquiring forest spatial structure information are of great significance.MethodsIn this study, we developed a forest measurement system using a mobile phone. Through this system, the following tree measurements can be achieved: (1) point cloud of tree and chest diameter circle to measure tree diameter at breast height (DBH) and position coordinates of tree by using simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technology, (2) virtual boundary creation of the sample plot, and the auxiliary measurement function of tree with the augmented reality (AR) interactive module, and (3) position coordinates and single-tree volume factor to calculate the spatial structural parameters of the forest (e.g., Mingling degree, Dominance index, Uniform angle index, and Crowdedness index).The system was tested in three 32 x 32 martificial forest plots.ResultsThe average DBH estimations showed BIAS of -0.47 to 0.45 cm and RMSEs of 0.57 to 0.95 cm. Its accuracy level met the requirements of forestry sample surveys. The tree position estimates for the three plots had relatively small RMSEs with 0.17 to 0.22 m on the x-axis and 0.16 to 0.26 m on the y-axis. The spatial structural parameters were as follows: the mingling degree of plot 1 was 0.32, and the overall mixing degree of tree species was low. The trees in plots 2 and 3 were all single species, and the mixing degree of both plots was 0. The dominance index of the three plots was 0.56, 0.51, and 0.51, indicating that the competitive advantage of the whole orest species was not obvious. The uniform angle index of the three plots was 0.55, 0.59, and 0.61, indicating that the positions of trees in the three plots were randomly distributed. The crowdedness index of plot 1 was 1.03, indicating that the degree of aggregation of the trees was low and showed a random distribution trend. The crowdedness index of the other plots were 1.36 and 1.40, indicating that the trees in the plots show a trend of uniform distribution, and the uniformity of plot 3 is higher than that of plot 2, but the overall uniformity is relatively weak.DiscussionThe findings of this study provide support for the optimization of forest structures and improve our conceptual understanding of forest community succession and restoration, in addition to the informatization and precision of forest spatial structure surveys.

Soil enzyme activities and microbial nutrient limitation during the secondary succession of boreal forests

Extracellular enzymes are the proximate agents of organic matter decomposition, and its activity can be used as an indicator of microbial nutrient demand. The secondary succession of ecosystem will change the soil properties and microbial community structure, which will affect the nutrient cycle and stability of the ecosystem. However, the research on the changes of soil enzymes during the succession in the boreal forest ecosystems is still lack of insight. Using the method of ‘space-for-time substitution’, we selected four habitats (including grassland, Betula platyphylla forest, Larix gmelinii and Betula platyphylla mixed forest and Larix gmelinii forest) in Greater Khingan Mountains northeastern China to represent the secondary successional sequence of boreal forests, and studied the response mechanism of soil enzyme activities and microbial nutrient limitation to secondary succession of ecosystem after burning. The results showed that during the succession, phosphorus (P) limitation gradually weakened, nitrogen (N) limitation gradually strengthened, and the ratio of carbon (C): N: P of soil enzymes gradually tended to 1: 1: 1. With the progress of succession, C (BG, β-1,4-glucosidase; CBH, β-D-cellobiosidase), N (NAG, β-1,4-N-acetylglucosaminidase; LAP, L-leucine aminopeptidase) related enzyme activity increased and P (AP, acid phosphatase) related enzyme activity did not change significantly. During the secondary succession of ecosystem after burning, the soil microbial community maintains homeostasis, and the nutrient limitation of microorganisms largely depends on the content and stoichiometry of soil nutrients.

Changes in Bacterial Communities and Functions Associated with Litter Degradation During Forest Succession Caused by Forest Disease

Forest succession affects aboveground vegetation and belowground microbial community composition, in which litter degradation plays an important role in nutrient cycling. However, limited information is available on how microbial communities change during litter degradation in forests undergoing succession due to disease. In this study, the bacterial communities and functions in litter degradation during the forest succession from pure Pinus forest (PPF), mixed Pinus and Liquidambar forest (MPF and MLF), and pure Liquidambar forest (PLF) were investigated. The results showed that the bacterial community richness and diversity in both needles or leaves and branch litters increased progressively with forest succession. Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Acidobacteria were the most abundant bacterial phyla in the litter degradation during forest succession. The abundance of Bacteroidetes in branches increased significantly, while the abundance of genus Paraburkholderia decreased during forest succession. The different forests formed distinct bacterial community structures during litter decomposition. Functionally, chemoheterotrophy was the most abundant functional guild, followed by nitrogen fixation, intracellular parasitism, and urealysis. The abundance of nitrogen fixation decreased significantly during forest succession. Similarly, the different forests formed distinct bacterial functional structures in the needle or leaf during the succession. However, only two functional structures were formed in the branch. These results suggest that the bacterial community and its functions undergo significant changes during forest succession, particularly from the pure-pine to mixed-pine forest. These results provide a clear understanding of the changes in bacterial communities and functions during litter degradation in forests undergoing disease-induced succession.

After 25 years of reclamation project, Fabaceae family in forest succession of the tailing area

Since 1995, PT Freeport Indonesia has been building forest succession in its tailing area. The first vascular plants were ferns. The spermatophyte species, especially grass, were coming later. In 2005, grassland covered all permanent plots, except a few small trees from pioneer species. The Family Fabaceae was one of the plant groups found in the area, with 12 species. Over 15 years later, the grassland area has vanished, replaced by secondary forest. The composition of plants is changing, including the Fabaceae family. In 2021, researchers will investigate what the species is and how it contributed to the succession. The method of the study is a descriptive method with both survey and analysis vegetation techniques using plot samples. About 25 plots were put in every location, including seedling, sapling, pole, and tree plots. The location was about 12 areas in the natural succession forest of the tailing area. The results show that about 25 genera and 40 species under the Fabaceae family occur in the area. The Fabaceae family is a unique species that brings fertilization conditions to plants.

Insights into the Distribution of Soil Organic Carbon in the Maoershan Mountains, Guangxi Province, China: The Role of Environmental Factors

The forest ecosystem is the largest carbon reservoir in the terrestrial ecosystem, with soil organic carbon (SOC) being its most important component. How does the distribution of forest SOC distribution change under the influence of regional location, forest succession, human activities, and soil depth? It is the basis for understanding and evaluating the value of forest SOC reservoirs and improving the function of forest soil carbon sinks. In this paper, soil organic carbon concentrations (SOCCs) and environmental factors were measured by setting 14 experimental plots and 42 soil sampling sites in different forest communities and different elevations in the Maoershan Mountains. The redundancy analysis (RDA) method was used to study the relationship between SOC distribution and external factors. The results show that SOC distribution was sensitive to elevation, forest community, and soil layer. It had obvious surface aggregation characteristics and increased significantly with the increase in elevation. Among them, SOCCs increase by 1.80 g/kg with every 100 m increase in elevation, and that decreased by 5.43 g/kg with every 10 cm increase in soil depth. The SOC distribution in natural forests is greater than that in plantations, and the spatial variation in SOC distribution in plantations is higher due to the effect of cutting and utilization. SOC distribution is the result of many environmental factors. The response of SOC distribution to the forest community indicates that the development of plantations into natural forests will increase SOC, and excessive interference with forests will aggravate SOC emissions. Therefore, strengthening the protection of natural forests, restoring secondary forests, and implementing scientific and reasonable plantation management are important measures for improving the SOC reservoir’s function.

Landscape context importance for predicting forest transition success in central Panama

ContextNaturally recovering secondary forests are frequently re-cleared before they can recover to pre-disturbance conditions. Identifying landscape factors associated with persistence success will help planning cost-efficient and effective forest restoration.ObjectivesThe ability of secondary forest to persist is an often undervalued requisite for long-term ecosystem restoration. Here we identify the landscape context for naturally regenerated forests to persist through time within central Panama.MethodsWe developed a random forest classification (RFC) calibration method to identify areas with high (≥ 90%) and low (< 90%) likelihood of forest persistence success based on their spatial relation with nine landscape explanatory variables.ResultsThe RFC model discriminated between secondary forests areas that persisted and did not persisted with an error rate of 2%. By tuning, we obtained a precision of 0.94 (94%) in the validation test. The two most important explanatory variables involved in the persistence dynamic were elevation and distance to the nearest rural area. Naturally regenerated forests lasted longer in patches that were closer to both Gatun and Alajuela Lakes as to protected areas, but further from rural communities, roads, urban areas and in patches with higher elevation and steeper slopes.ConclusionBy tracking remote sensed, landscape context metrics of easy collection, we developed a prediction map of central Panama areas with high (≥ 90%) and low (> 90%) probability of natural forest regeneration and persistence success within the next 30 years. This map represents a basis for management decisions and future investigations for effective, long-term forest-landscape restoration.

Plant–soil microbe feedbacks drive seedling establishment during secondary forest succession: the ‘successional stage hypothesis’

Plant–soil microbe feedbacks drive seedling establishment during secondary forest succession: the ‘successional stage hypothesis’