Gastvortrag Prof. Dr. Rupert Seidl (BOKU Wien)

Gastvortrag von
Prof. Dr. Rupert Seidl
(https://boku.ac.at/wabo/waldbau/personen/seidl)
zum Thema:

Disturbances in a changing world:
Measurement, Modeling, Impacts

Abstract: Disturbances are discrete events in time and space that result in the loss of live biomass, disrupting the structure and composition of ecosystems and altering environmental conditions and resource availability. Disturbances are ubiquitous in ecosystems around the world, and agents such as wildfires, storms, and insect outbreaks are key drivers of natural ecosystem dynamics. Disturbances contribute to the renewal of natural ecosystems and are an important process in their adaptation to changing environmental conditions. At the same time, disturbances are highly climate sensitive, and future disturbance regimes are projected to intensify in many regions of the globe. This poses considerable challenges for ecosystem management, as disturbances can have detrimental impacts on the provisioning of ecosystem services to society. Here I will provide a short synopsis on current developments in measuring and modeling natural disturbances in order to assess their impacts on forest ecosystems. Remote sensing has recently improved the availability of consistent disturbance data, enabling the application of advanced computational approaches from network theory and machine learning. In  addition, a new generation of process-based disturbance models is emerging, driven by novel insights from large-scale experiments and empirical studies. Such approaches are increasingly incorporated into dynamic vegetation models, which serve as powerful platforms for an integrated modeling of disturbance regimes. An improved capacity to project future disturbance regimes is an important element in increasing the robustness of simulations informing future ecosystem management and climate policy.