Seed Harvesting and Climate Change Interact to Affect the Natural Regeneration of Pinus koraiensis

Abstract

The poor natural regeneration of Pinus koraiensis is a key limitation for restoring the primary mixed Pinus koraiensis forests. Seed harvesting and climate change are the important factors that influence the natural regeneration of Pinus koraiensis; however, it is hard to illustrate how, in synergy, they affect its regeneration at the landscape scale. In this study, we coupled an ecosystem process model, LINKAGES, with a forest landscape model, LANDIS PRO, to evaluate how seed harvesting and climate change influenced the natural regeneration of Pinus koraiensis over large temporal and spatial scales. Our results showed that seed harvesting decreased the abundance of Pinus koraiensis juveniles by 1, 14, and 18 stems/ha under the historical climate, and reduced by 1, 17, and 24 stems/ha under the future climate in the short- (years 0–50), medium- (years 60–100), and long-term (years 110–150), respectively. This indicated that seed harvesting intensified the poor regeneration of Pinus koraiensis, irrespective of climate change. Our results suggested that seed harvesting diminished the generation capacity of Pinus koraiensis over the simulation period. Seed harvesting reduced the abundance of Pinus koraiensis at the leading edge and slowed down its shift into high-latitude regions to adapt to climate change. Our results showed that the effect magnitudes of seed harvesting, climate change, their interaction and combination at the short-, medium- and long-term were −61.1%, −78.4%, and −85.7%; 16.5%, 20.9%, and 38.2%; −10.1%, −16.2% and −32.0%; and −54.7%, −73.8%, and −79.5%, respectively. Seed harvesting was a predominant factor throughout the simulation; climate change failed to offset the negative effect of seed harvesting, but the interactive effect between seed harvesting and climate change almost overrode the positive effect of climate change. Seed harvesting, climate change, and their interaction jointly reduced the natural regeneration of Pinus koraiensis. We suggest reducing the intensity of seed harvesting and increasing silvicultural treatments, such as thinning and artificial plantation, to protect and restore the primary mixed Pinus koraiensis forests.

Forest Functioning under Climate Warming and Future Perspectives on Forest Disturbances

“…Their results indicated a reduction in highly suitable areas under future climate conditions and acknowledged the importance of identifying viable habitats to conserve vulnerable species and prevent local extinctions. Other papers published in this Special Issue have shown that climate changes affect vegetation phenology [12], tree growth [13] and stand productivity [14] but also the reproductivity rate [15] or stand regeneration [16]. Using remote sensing data, such as MODIS together with vegetation indices and vegetation gross primary productivity [12,14], allows the identification of changes in vegetation changes and the link to climate change.…”

Projecting the future redistribution of Pinus koraiensis (Pinaceae: Pinoideae: Pinus) in China using machine learning

“…In addition, the migration ability of P. koraiensis is limited due to its phenotypic plasticity, seed dispersal ability, reproductive capacity, and degree of range fragmentation, making it unable to occupy new ecological niches, resulting in a serious decline in these population. Consequently, the populations in these isolated patches are difficult to recover through natural regeneration (Liang et al, 2018;Liu et al, 2023). In addition, climate-induced changes in the location of suitable habitats may cause the distribution of P. koraiensis to deviate from existing protected areas, and the reduction in the P. koraiensis population caused by human destruction in nonprotected areas must also be carefully considered (Araújo et al, 2004;Heller and Zavaleta, 2009).…”