Professor Zhenzhong Zeng’s research group from the School of Environmental Science and Engineering at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) has recently published a paper highlighting that boreal forest resilience is more sensitive to forest cover losses than to gains, indicating that functional declines due to forest loss outpace improvements following forest recovery.

Their work, entitled “Asymmetric sensitivity of boreal forest resilience to forest gain and loss”, has been published in Nature Ecology & Evolution.

The research team quantified the sensitivities of boreal forest resilience to forest cover gain and loss using a resilience indicator derived from the temporal autocorrelation (TAC) of the kernel Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (kNDVI) from 2000 to 2020. The results reveal an amplified sensitivity to forest loss, in stark contrast with a lower sensitivity to forest gain (Figure 1). Specifically, a 1% decrease in forest cover leads to a substantially greater decline in resilience compared to the increase in resilience resulting from a 1% forest gain. Locally, approximately 73% of boreal forests exhibit negative sensitivity, indicating enhanced resilience with forest cover gain and vice versa.

Figure 1. Asymmetric sensitivity of resilience to boreal forest gain and loss

Within the boreal region, the dynamics of forest cover change are profoundly influenced by management practices, particularly clear-cut harvesting. This study further analyzes the responses of forest resilience to forest cover changes across various forest types. Intact forests exhibit the highest sensitivity of resilience to forest cover change, with the most pronounced asymmetry in responses to forest cover gain and loss. In contrast, managed forests, such as regenerating and planted forests, demonstrated lower sensitivity of resilience to forest cover changes, highlighting the discernible imprint of human influence on forest resilience dynamics.

Figure 2. Sensitivity of forest resilience to forest cover change across different forest types

The asymmetry in the sensitivity of resilience to forest loss and gain stems primarily from temporal asynchrony in the recovery rates of various ecosystem functions, carrying profound implications for effective forest management. Due to the prolonged restoration of critical ecological functions during forest regrowth, even prompt afforestation following deforestation cannot entirely offset previous resilience loss. This highlights the critical importance of safeguarding forests before loss occurs, emphasizing the need to prioritize conservation over reactive management strategies.

Master’s student Xiaoye Liu from the School of Environmental Science and Engineering at SUSTech is the first author of this paper. Professor Zhenzhong Zeng and Research Assistant Professor Dashan Wang from SUSTech are the corresponding authors. Other collaborators to this study include Professor Anping Chen from Colorado State University.