Landslide age, elevation and residual vegetation determine tropical montane forest canopy recovery and biomass accumulation after landslide disturbances in the Peruvian Andes

Landslides are common natural disturbances in tropical montane forests. While the geomorphic drivers of landslides in the Andes have been studied, factors controlling post-landslide forest recovery across the steep climatic and topographic gradients characteristic of tropical mountains are poorly understood.

Here we use a LiDAR-derived canopy height map coupled with a 25-year landslide time series map to examine how landslide, topographic, and biophysical factors, along with residual vegetation, affect canopy height and heterogeneity in regenerating landslides. We also calculate aboveground biomass accumulation rates and estimate the time for landslides to recover to mature forest biomass levels.

We find that age and elevation are the biggest determinants of forest recovery, and that the jump-start in regeneration that residual vegetation provides lasts for at least 18 years. Our estimates of time to biomass recovery (31.6-37.1 years) are surprisingly rapid, and as a result we rec...