Demographic changes in China's forests from 1998 to 2018

Yanli Dong; Evgenios Agathokleous; Shirong Liu; Zhen Yu

Forest Ecosystems (Jan 2023)

Demographic changes in China's forests from 1998 to 2018

Yanli Dong,
Evgenios Agathokleous,
Shirong Liu,
Zhen Yu

Affiliations

Yanli Dong: Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Carbon Source and Sink, China Meteorological Administration (ECSS-CMA), School of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China
Evgenios Agathokleous: Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Carbon Source and Sink, China Meteorological Administration (ECSS-CMA), School of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China
Shirong Liu: Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Environment of National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Ecology and Nature Conservation Institute, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, 100091, China
Zhen Yu: Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Carbon Source and Sink, China Meteorological Administration (ECSS-CMA), School of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China; Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Environment of National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Ecology and Nature Conservation Institute, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, 100091, China; Research Center for Global Changes and Ecosystem Carbon Sequestration & Mitigation, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China; Institute of Ecology, School of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China; Corresponding author. Institute of Ecology, School of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China.

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 10
p. 100094

Abstract

Read online

Background: Tree demography is an essential indicator of various forest ecosystem services, and understanding its changes is critical for the sustainable management of forests. During the past four decades, China implemented unprecedented forest restoration projects, which altered tree demography by increasing the number of trees and introducing new species. However, it remains unclear how species composition has changed in China in response to the past forest restoration and demographical processes. Methods: We applied Forest Stability Index (FSI) and the relative change of FSI (%FSI) to describe the population dynamics of tree species and structure in China since 1998, using field-survey data collected from over 200,000 plot-records from the 6th to 9th National Forest Inventories (NFIs). Results: The overall populations of both natural and planted forests have grown rapidly from 1998 to 2018, while the range of changes in the relative tree density was more variable for natural forests (ranging from −8.53% to 42.46%) than for planted forests (ranging from −1.01% to 13.31%). The populations declined only in some of the tree species, including Betula platyphylla, Ulmus pumila, and Robinia pseudoacacia. In contrast, the populations of trees in the largest size-class either remained stable or expanded. Conclusions: Tree density of China's forests (both natural and planted forests) generally expanded and the overall populations increased in most size classes, with greater increases occurred in planted forests. In contrasting to the global decline trends of large diameter trees, here we found no apparent decline for trees in the largest size-class in China, highlighting China's success in improving forest health and forest adaptations to climate change. We advocate for more studies to reveal the mechanisms of the changes in tree demography, which will help to improve forest ecosystem services such as the carbon sequestration capacity.

Published in Forest Ecosystems

ISSN: 2095-6355 (Print); 2197-5620 (Online)
Publisher: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
Country of publisher: China
LCC subjects: Science: Biology (General): Ecology
Website: https://www.keaipublishing.com/en/journals/forest-ecosystems/

About the journal

Abstract

Keywords