The amount of undisturbed forest in proximity of severe disturbance patches enhances their recovery in temperate Europe

Abstract Context Forest recovery following disturbances is essential for maintaining ecosystem services, especially after large-scale events where regeneration is limited by seed availability. Understanding how environmental and biotic factors influence regeneration across spatial scales is fundamental for landscape-scale management, yet the importance and spatial extent of landscape-scale effects on local recovery remains uncertain. Objectives We aimed to assess the relative influence of recovery drivers at plot, patch, and landscape scales on post-disturbance forest regeneration. Specifically, we investigated how local topography, disturbance characteristics, and the spatial arrangement of undisturbed forests affect tree regeneration after severe disturbances, namely windthrows, fires, and bark beetle outbreaks. Methods Our study combines a comprehensive ground-based dataset of post-disturbance regeneration from temperate European forests with Landsat-derived maps of forest cover. We applied a distance-weighted regression approach to evaluate the effect of landscape (i.e., undisturbed forest in proximity of disturbance patches) on recovery, improving upon traditional buffer-based approaches. Results We found that ¾ of the landscape influence on forest regeneration occurred within 112 m from plot centers, with undisturbed forests nearby positively enhancing regeneration, likely due to increased seed availability. In contrast, plot-level factors, namely disturbance severity and elevation, negatively impacted regeneration, suggesting that regeneration success can be hindered by severe disturbances reducing living biological legacies, as well as harsher local climatic conditions, associated with higher elevations. Conclusions Our findings underline the importance of integrating landscape-scale management with targeted local interventions to promote post-disturbance forest recovery. Management strategies should consider spatially explicit planning to enhance seed source availability and mitigate severe disturbance impacts.

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Publication Details

Journal
Landscape Ecology
Published
2025-10-21
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-025-02231-9
Citations
3
Primary Topic
Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
5.02

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article

The amount of undisturbed forest in proximity of severe disturbance patches enhances their recovery in temperate Europe

Floortje Vodde, Srđan Keren, Jurij Diaci, Bohdan Konôpka et al.
3 citations
Landscape Ecology
Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies
5.02
article

The amount of undisturbed forest in proximity of severe disturbance patches enhances their recovery in temperate Europe

Floortje Vodde, Srđan Keren, Jurij Diaci, Bohdan Konôpka, Martin Macek, Vladimír Šebeň, Stanislav Kucbel, Māra Kitenberga, Emanuele Lingua, Jan Wild, Marek Metslaid, Ján Pittner, Lisa Mandl, J Bruna, Matija Klopčić, Dorota Dobrowolska, Gal Fidej, Kajar Köster, Johannes H.C. de Koning, Nickolay Tsvetanov, Matteo Cerioni, Momchil Panayotov, Raffaella Marzano, Ewa Chećko, Matteo Garbarino, Thomas A. Nagel, Alessandro Vitali, Carlo Urbinati, Cornelius Senf, Jaroslav Vencúrik, Martin Kopecký, Āris Jansons, Miroslav Svoboda, Jarosław Socha, Jerzy Szwagrzyk, Andrej Bončina, Radek Bače
article en
3 citations

Abstract

Abstract Context Forest recovery following disturbances is essential for maintaining ecosystem services, especially after large-scale events where regeneration is limited by seed availability. Understanding how environmental and biotic factors influence regeneration across spatial scales is fundamental for landscape-scale management, yet the importance and spatial extent of landscape-scale effects on local recovery remains uncertain. Objectives We aimed to assess the relative influence of recovery drivers at plot, patch, and landscape scales on post-disturbance forest regeneration. Specifically, we investigated how local topography, disturbance characteristics, and the spatial arrangement of undisturbed forests affect tree regeneration after severe disturbances, namely windthrows, fires, and bark beetle outbreaks. Methods Our study combines a comprehensive ground-based dataset of post-disturbance regeneration from temperate European forests with Landsat-derived maps of forest cover. We applied a distance-weighted regression approach to evaluate the effect of landscape (i.e., undisturbed forest in proximity of disturbance patches) on recovery, improving upon traditional buffer-based approaches. Results We found that ¾ of the landscape influence on forest regeneration occurred within 112 m from plot centers, with undisturbed forests nearby positively enhancing regeneration, likely due to increased seed availability. In contrast, plot-level factors, namely disturbance severity and elevation, negatively impacted regeneration, suggesting that regeneration success can be hindered by severe disturbances reducing living biological legacies, as well as harsher local climatic conditions, associated with higher elevations. Conclusions Our findings underline the importance of integrating landscape-scale management with targeted local interventions to promote post-disturbance forest recovery. Management strategies should consider spatially explicit planning to enhance seed source availability and mitigate severe disturbance impacts.

Landscape EcologyVol. 40(11)
Marche Polytechnic University (IT), University of Padua (IT), University of Ljubljana (SI), University of Forestry (BG), University of Eastern Finland (FI), Copenhagen Business School (DK), Estonian University of Life Sciences (EE), Czech Academy of Sciences (CZ), Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZ), University of Agriculture in Krakow (PL), Institute of Botany of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SK), Technická univerzita vo Zvolene (SK), National Forest Centre (SK), Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Botany (CZ), Latvian State Forest Research Institute "Silava" (LV), Instytut Badawczy Leśnictwa (PL), University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn (PL), University of Turin (IT), Technical University of Munich (DE)
ReCor Medical, European Commission, Eesti Teadusagentuur, Ministerstvo školstva, vedy, výskumu a športu Slovenskej republiky, Akademie Věd České Republiky, Javna Agencija za Raziskovalno Dejavnost RS, Agentúra na Podporu Výskumu a Vývoja, Vedecká Grantová Agentúra MŠVVaŠ SR a SAV
Openalex Percentile: Top 5%
Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies
5.02
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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