Evaluation of landscape restoration in the northern slopes of Great Xing''an Mountains after the 1987 catastrophic fire
1987年大兴安岭特大火灾后北坡森林景观生态恢复评价

We used the LANDIS model to study the effects of two management scenarios(current restoration strategy and natural regeneration) on the long-term forest dynamics in the northern slopes of Great Xing'an Mountains after the catastrophic fire in 1987.The results showed that current restoration strategy increased the abundance of coniferous species(larch(Larix gmelinii) and Mongolian Scotch pine(Pinus sylvestris var.mongolica)) in the study landscape due to large quantity of coniferous seedlings planted,and the amount of broad-leaved species(white birch(Betula platyphylla)) decreased.Under current restoration strategy,plenty of matured coniferous forest was harvested within 10 years after the 1987 fire,which resulted in significant decline in the timber volume.As these coniferous seedlings planted soon after the 1987 fire grew older with simulation years,the total volume of coniferous species increased and exceeded that under natural regeneration after about 60-80 years.In addition,white birch(B.platyphylla) had a similar proportion in the early stage of succession under the two management scenarios.However,the abundance was lower under current restoration strategy than that under the natural regeneration strategy in the later stage of succession.Furthermore,vegetation dynamics differed significantly between the severely burned areas and other areas.In severely burned areas,since coniferous seedlings were planted under the current restoration strategy,the abundance of larch(L.gmelinii) and Mongolian Scotch pine(P.sylvestris var.mongolica) was higher than that under the natural regeneration strategy.Conversely,the abundance of white birch(B.platyphylla) was lower under the current restoration strategy.In other areas,due to timber harvesting under current strategy,the abundance of larch and Mongolian Scotch pine was lower than that under the natural regeneration strategy in the first 100 simulation years,and then became slightly higher than that under natural regeneration.However,white birch was more abundant in the early stage of simulation and less abundant in the later stage under the current restoration strategy than that under the natural regeneration strategy in other areas.In addition,the current restoration strategy not only changed species abundance,but also had great influence on species distribution.