Table of Contents

1. Overview of ecological studies on forest disturbance 1
1.1 Disturbance and disturbance ecology 1
1.2 Forest disturbance types 5
1.3 Forest disturbance characteristics 10
1.4 Forest disturbance degree 14
1.5 Effects of disturbance on forest ecosystems 21
1.6 Main contents of forest disturbance ecology 25

2. Disturbance, forest degradation/decline, and secondary forests 29
2.1 Forest disturbance and concepts of secondary forest 31
2.2 Questions about the concept of secondary forest 37
2.3 Forest degradation and forest decline 42
2.4 Disturbance, forest decline, and prevention measures 52

3. Wind disturbance processes in forests 61
3.1 Forest and wind disturbance 62
3.2 Probability distribution of maximal wind speed 76
3.3 Estimation of relative wind speed within the forest 85
3.4 Estimation of wind disturbance risk 97

4. Forest snow (snow/wind) disturbance processes 110
4.1 Overview of forest snow damage disturbance 111
4.2 Overview of the study area and data sources 122
4.3 Meteorological conditions triggering forest snow (snow/wind) damage 126
4.4 Topographic factors of blizzard damage 132
4.5 Snow damage, tree species and stand characteristics 136
4.6 Forest snow damage, forest type and stand characteristics 148
4.7 Effect of snow/wind on plant diversity in secondary forest ecosystems 161

5. Disturbance processes of low-temperature frost in forest 172
5.1 Overview of low-temperature frost disturbances inforests 173
5.2 Spatial and temporal distribution of the first and last frost periods in Liaoning Provinc 186
5.3 Analysis of interannual variation characteristics of frost in Qingyuan 199
5.4 Analysis of topographic variation characteristics of frost in Qingyuan 206

6. Long-term effects of fire disturbance on forest landscape 219
6.1 Forest fire disturbance model 220
6.2 The components of LANDIS 222
6.3 Parameterization of LANDIS 229
6.4 Landscape simulation 235
6.5 Fire dynamics in the Great Hing'an Mountains 236
6.6 Spatial distribution of species 239
6.7 Species age structure 244
6.8 Species aggregation 250
6.9 Forest succession with fire disturbance in the Great Hing'an Mountains 251

7. Forest gap disturbance and methods for determining gap characteristics 254
7.1 Definition of forest gap 254
7.2 Basic characteristics of forest gaps 255
7.3 Causes of forest gap disturbance and its impact on forest ecosystems 258
7.4 Main topics of forest gap research 260
7.5 Methods for determining forest gap characteristics 263

8. Effects of forest gap disturbance on forest environmental factors 289
8.1 Overview of the effects of forest gap disturbance on forest environmental factors 289
8.2 Forest gap creation 292
8.3 Gap effects on the light environment 292
8.4 Effect of secondary forest gap disturbance on air temperature and humidity 303
8.5 Effect of forest gap disturbance on soil temperature factor 318
8.6 Soil water dynamics in forest gaps 322
8.7 Analysis of soil N availability in forest gaps 331

9. Impacts of disturbance on forest species composition and successional regeneration 340
9.1 Species diversity and research progress 341
9.2 Species composition and diversity analysis in secondary forests 344
9.3 Characteristics of secondary forest ecosystems 358
9.4 Effects of combined anthropogenic disturbances on plant diversity in secondary forest ecosystems 360
9.5 Effects of disturbance on forest community succession 382
9.6 Overview of the effects of forest gap disturbance on plant
communities and regeneration succession 393
9.7 Effects of forest gap disturbance on plant species composition in secondary forest ecosystems 397
9.8 Effects of forest gap disturbance on the regeneration of major tree species 404

10. Effects of thinning on species composition and forest regeneration 411
10.1 Effects of thinning on plant diversity and larch regeneration in larch plantations 411
10.2 Effects of thinning on the regeneration of other tree species in larch plantations 443
10.3 Effects of thinning on the regeneration of tree species in Korean pine stands of the secondary forest ecosystem 455

11. Disturbance and management of forest ecosystems 467
11.1 Philosophy, objectives, and main research methods of sustainable management 467
11.2 Disturbance and forest stability 478
11.3 Disturbance and forest management 488

References 504

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1. Overview of ecological studies on forest disturbance
1.1 Disturbance and disturbance ecology Eighty percent of terrestrial ecosystems have experienced disturbances from nature, humans, or both; forest ecosystems are no exception and even more severely subjected to anthropogenic disturbances (Zhu et al., 2004). Forest disturbances are universal, inherent, and unavoidable, influencing all aspects of forests, especially during anthropogenic disturbances. The history of social development can be regarded as the history of forest disturbance from humans (Liu et al., 1997; Zhu et al., 2004). As an integral part of the natural ecosystem, humans are unmatched by any other organisms and greatly influence their environment through their activities. Due to excessive and predatory exploitation of forest resources (i.e., harmful human disturbance), anthropogenic disturbances are more frequent than natural disturbances (Chokkalingam and Jong, 2001). Forest ecosystem management, which originated from traditional forestry resource management, was initially more concerned with the damage and destruction of disturbances and how to prevent them (Zhu et al., 2004). However, in recent years, with the development of forest science theories and technologies that enable multidisciplinary, large-scale, and long-term monitoring studies, the ecological significance of various disturbances in forest ecosystem management has been gradually recognized, and the importance of human activities as a reasonable disturbance has been emphasized. As one of the main driversof forest ecosystem succession, natural disturbance plays a critical role in maintaining species diversity, community stability, and landscape heterogeneity in forest ecosystems. Natural disturbance is a kind of normal behavior and an essential feature of forest ecosystems (Schroeder and Ajith, 2002), and even one of the mechanisms of population maintenance (White, 1979; Shugart and West, 1980; Pickett and White, 1985; Attiwill, 1994; Oliver and Larson, 1996; Qiu Yang et al. 1997; Xu Huacheng et al. 1997). Therefore, forest ecosystem management should be based on the principle of natural disturbance ecology, and the role of natural disturbance in forest management should be fully considered (Attiwill, 1994).
1.1.1 The concept of disturbance As people's understanding of nature advances and society develops, there are different definitions of disturbance. White (1979) considered that any community and ecosystem is dynamically variable and spatially heterogeneous, and disturbance is the primary source of spatial and temporal heterogeneity in natural communities. Sousa (1984) defined disturbance as a sudden event with disruptive or destructive effects on an individual or group. Pickett and White (1985) defined disturbance (here, refer to a natural disturbance) as a discrete event that disrupts the structure of an ecosystem, community, or species, resulting in a significant change in the effectiveness of the substrate and physical environment. Forman (1995) defined disturbance as an event that significantly alters the regular pattern of a system. Forman (1995) also compared the differences between disturbance and stress with particular emphasis on the spacing and severity of disturbance, claiming that wildfires occurring every few years in ecosystems such as grasslands and coniferous forests should not be considered as a disturbance; instead, fire prevention is a disturbance (Forman 1995). Li et al. (1997) considered disturbance as a discontinuous event that interrupts the ecological processes of a pre-existing biological system, which alters or damages the composition and structure of an ecosystem,community, or population and alters the resources and environmental conditions of a habitat. ……