Impact of Ice-Storms and Subsequent Salvage Logging on the Productivity of <i>Cunninghamia lanceolata</i> (Chinese Fir) Forests

The impacts of ice-storms on forests have received growing attention in recent years. Although there is a wide agreement that ice-storms significantly affect forest structure and functions, how frequent ice-storms and subsequent salvage logging impact productivity of subtropical coniferous forests i...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yu Zhu, Shuguang Liu, Wende Yan, Deming Deng, Guangyi Zhou, Meifang Zhao, Fei Gao, Liangjun Zhu, Zhao Wang, Menglu Xie
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-02-01
Series:Forests
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/13/2/296
Description
Summary:The impacts of ice-storms on forests have received growing attention in recent years. Although there is a wide agreement that ice-storms significantly affect forest structure and functions, how frequent ice-storms and subsequent salvage logging impact productivity of subtropical coniferous forests in the future still remains poorly understood. In this study, we used the Ecosystem Demography model, Version 2.2 (ED-2.2), to project the impact of salvage logging of ice-storm-damaged trees on the productivity of <i>Cunninghamia lanceolata</i>-dominated coniferous forest and <i>C.</i> <i>lanceolata</i>-dominated mixed coniferous and broadleaved forests. The results show that forest productivity recovery is delayed in coniferous forests when there is no shade-tolerant broadleaved species invasion after ice-storms, and <i>C. lanceolata</i> could continue to dominate the canopy in the mixed coniferous and broadleaved forests under high-frequency ice-storms and subsequent salvage logging. The resistance and resilience of the mixed coniferous and broadleaved forests to high-frequency ice-storms and subsequent salvage logging were stronger compared to coniferous forests. Although conifers could continue to dominate the canopy under shade-tolerant broadleaved species invasion, we could not rule out the possibility of a future forest community dominated by shade-tolerant broadleaf trees because there were few coniferous saplings and shade-tolerant broadleaf species dominated the understory. Our results highlight that post-disaster forest management should be continued after high-frequency ice-storms and subsequent salvage logging in <i>C. lanceolata</i> forests to prevent possible shade-tolerant, late successional broadleaf trees from dominating the canopy in the future.
ISSN:1999-4907