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Dear Colleagues,

The magnitude and frequency of climate-related extreme events are increasing as CO₂ levels continue to rise and the climate continues to warm. Climate warming is a fundamental cause of increasing extreme climate events, as predicted by the first and second laws of thermodynamics, as a consequence of warmer air being able to hold more water molecules. Forest resilience in the face of increasing extreme events has become a global concern. In this Special Issue, we invite the submission of the latest research related to measuring forest resilience, resistance, recovery, vulnerability, sustainability, and the study of forest stability in extreme events, particularly including climate-induced forest mortality from drought stress, insect attachment, forest fires, and other related climate changes by using various approaches, e.g., sap flow measurements, tree-ring data, manipulative experiments, remote sensing images, physiological modeling, and ecosystem–climate modeling.

Prof. Dr. Chuixiang Yi
Prof. Dr. Shuli Niu
Dr. Jingfeng Xiao
Guest Editors

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Keywords

forest resilience
forest recovery
forest resistance
forest fire
drought
insect attachment and disease
tipping point
remote sensing
vulnerability
forest stability
modeling

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

24 pages, 9487 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Plant Ontogeny Strongly Influences SO₂ Stress Resistance in Landscape Tree Species Leaf Functional Traits

by Aru Han, Yongbin Bao, Xingpeng Liu, Zhijun Tong, Song Qing, Yuhai Bao and Jiquan Zhang

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(8), 1857; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs14081857 - 12 Apr 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1582

Abstract

Sulfur dioxide (SO₂) is a major atmospheric pollutant and abiotic stressor. Although physiological studies on abiotic stressors have focused on fully expanded leaves, the resistance of leaf functional traits to SO₂ during individual leaf development has not been studied. Thus, this study aimed to conduct SO₂ static artificial fumigation experiments to evaluate changes in leaf functional traits and resistance to SO₂ for three common landscape tree species (Syringa oblata Lindl. (S. oblata), Prunus cerasifera var. atropurpurea Jack. (P. cerasifera), and Ulmus pumila ‘Jinye’ (U. pumila)) in Changchun City and ontogeny under SO₂ stress. Samples were collected on three days in autumn (1 September, 9 September, and 19 September 2019) for two different leaf stages (10 days and 40 days). In addition, remote sensing data were combined to explore the resistance mechanisms of broadleaf forests to different SO₂ concentration classes during different seasons on a large scale. The results showed that the chlorophyll content, leaf temperature, green-peak reflectance, and Fv/Fm (maximal photochemical efficiency) at 10 days were significantly lower than that at 40 days, regardless of sampling date or SO₂ concentration. Additionally, in general the SO₂ resistance for 10 days leaves was consistently smaller than those for 40 days leaves in 3 tree species. On 9 September, 10 days leaves of the three tree species showed different leaf resistance performances under different SO₂ concentrations in the order: P. cerasifera > S. oblata > U. pumila. Lastly, the extent of resistance decreased with increasing ρ(SO₂) classes in different seasons, and the SO₂ resistance was affected by season. We conclude that mature leaves are more resistant to SO₂ stress than young leaves are. These results will provide scientific guidance on artificial plant community construction and prevention of future vegetation degradation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Resilience to Extreme Events)

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19 pages, 3865 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Monitoring Forest Resilience Dynamics from Very High-Resolution Satellite Images in Case of Multi-Hazard Disaster

by Reza Rezaei and Saman Ghaffarian

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(20), 4176; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs13204176 - 19 Oct 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2484

Abstract

Typhoons strongly impact the structure and functioning of the forests, especially in the coastal areas in which typhoon-induced flooding imposes additional stress on the ecosystem via physical destruction and rising soil salinity. The impact of typhoons on forest ecosystems is becoming even more significant in the changing climate, which triggers atmospheric mechanisms that increase their frequency and intensity. This study investigates the resiliency of the Philippines’ forest areas (i.e., two selected forestry areas in Tacloban and Guiuan) in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Haiyan, which was followed by coastal flooding, as well as changes in ecosystem and biomass content using remote sensing. For this, we first evaluated the sensitivity of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), green normalized difference vegetation index (GNDVI), and enhanced vegetation index (EVI) in detecting temporal changes in biomass content using very high-resolution satellite images. Then, employing three resilience concepts: amplitude, malleability, and elasticity, the most sensitive biomass index (i.e., NDVI) and digital elevation model (DEM) data were used to measure the resiliency of the Guiuan and Tacloban sites. We also applied a mean-variance analysis to extract and illustrate the shifts in the ecosystem status. The results show that despite a considerable biomass loss (57% in Guiuan and 46% in Tacloban), the Guiuan and Tacloban sites regained 80% and 70% of their initial biomass content within a year after the typhoon, respectively. However, the presence of canopy gaps in the Tacloban site makes it vulnerable to external stressors. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate that the study areas return to their initial states within two years. This indicates the high resiliency of those areas according to elasticity results. Moreover, the evaluation of typhoon impacts according to the elevation demonstrates that the elevation had a substantial impact on both damage severity and biomass recovery. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Resilience to Extreme Events)

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