Satellite remote sensing reveals overwhelming recovery of forest from disturbances in Asia

Abstract

Forest ecosystems play key roles in mitigating human-induced climate change through enhanced carbon uptake; however, frequently occurring climate extremes and human activities have considerably threatened the stability of forests. At the same time, detailed accounts of disturbances and forest responses are not yet well quantified in Asia. This study employed the Breaks For Additive Seasonal and Trend method—an abrupt-change detection method—to analyze the Enhanced Vegetation Index time series in East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. This approach allowed us to detect forest disturbance and quantify the resilience after disturbance. Results showed that 20 % of forests experienced disturbance with an increasing trend from 2000 to 2022, and Southeast Asian countries were more severely affected by disturbances. Specifically, 95 % of forests had robust resilience and could recover from disturbance within a few decades. The resilience of forests suffering from greater magnitude of disturbance tended to be stronger than forests with lower disturbance magnitude. In summary, this study investigated the resilience of forests across the low and middle latitudes of Asia over the past two decades. The authors found that most forests exhibited good resilience after disturbance and about two-thirds had recovered to a better state in 2022. The findings of this study underscore the complex relationship between disturbance and resilience, contributing to comprehension of forest resilience through satellite remote sensing.

摘要

目前对于亚洲森林在应对气候变化和人类活动干扰方面的研究相对较少. 本研究利用BFAST突变检测方法, 分析了东亚, 南亚和东南亚的增强植被指数 (EVI) 长时间序列中检测到的森林扰动和恢复情况. 结果显示, 2000年至2022年期间, 约20%的森林经历了扰动, 且受到扰动的森林面积呈增加趋势, 东南亚国家受扰动的影响更为严重. 在扰动事件发生后, 95%的森林具有较好的恢复能力, 能够在受到扰动后的一段时间后恢复过来, 其中约有三分之二的森林在2022年时已经恢复到了较扰动前更好的状态.