Environmental heterogeneity on landslide slopes affects the long-term recoveries of forest ecosystem components

Landslides are a common disturbance in mountainous areas of the world. Transporting and accumulating landslide debris, i.e., disturbance legacies, such as coarse woody debris (CWD), vegetation patches, and surface soils, generate a heterogeneous environment along slopes (zones), which are suggested to affect forest recovery. However, the long-term changes in forest ecosystems after landslides remain unknown, particularly zone-dependent change patterns. We aimed to reveal the differences in the changes in live trees, understory vegetation, CWD, and soils among zones by surveying forests with landslide ages (years since the landslide) ranging from 3 to 74 years and reference stands. The increase in live tree aboveground biomass occurred at a faster rate at the lower part of the slopes where the disturbance legacies were rich and surface soils were stabilized due to the smaller slope angle. Chronological patterns of understory vegetation amounts were determined by the differences in distur...

滑坡是全球山地环境中常见的干扰类型。滑坡所搬运并堆积的碎屑物质（即干扰遗留物），包括粗木质残体（coarse woody debris, CWD）、植被斑块与表层土壤等，会沿坡面形成异质性生境（区域），已有研究提示这类生境会对森林恢复过程产生影响。然而，滑坡发生后森林生态系统的长期动态仍有待探明，尤其是不同坡面区域的变化模式差异。本研究通过调查滑坡发生年限（滑坡后时长）为3至74年的森林样地与对照林分，旨在揭示不同区域内活立木、林下植被、粗木质残体与土壤的变化差异。在干扰遗留物丰富、因坡度较小而表层土壤趋于稳定的坡下部，活立木地上生物量的增长速率更快。林下植被总量的时序变化模式则由……