Page 65 - LAS CIENCIAS AMBIENTALES EN EL ANTROPOCENO - DIGITAL(1)

IMPACT OF DISTURBANCE AGENTS

ON ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IN PINUS

PINASTER STANDS IN THE CENTRAL

REGION OF PORTUGAL

Eje Temático Biodiversidad y Servicios Ecosistémicos

n the current context of climate change, forest disturbances regimes have recently
intensified in Europe, and as future climate changes are expected to expand, it can
Iincrease the frequency of climate accidents such as storms, and the intensity of Raúl Salas González , Beatriz
1
pests and diseases. In the Central region of Portugal, forests have suffered several Fidalgo 2
disturbance events in the last ten years; on the one hand, by the occurrence of storms
(Cyclone Gong and Hurricane Leslie) and on the other hand, by the presence of the Keywords: Forest-
wood nematode in stands of Pinus pinaster, consequently, there has been loss of disturbances; Pinus-pinaster;
the volume produced and profound alterations in the structure and composition of Ecosystem-services;
these forests. This work proposes a methodology to characterize the structure and Mediterranean-forest
composition of stands in the Central region of Portugal, before and after the presence
of these disturbances. For this purpose, temporary plots were used, in which it is Institution: Instituto
also possible to reconstitute the characteristics of the stands in a short period of Politécnico de Coimbra 1,2
time (5-10 years) before the disturbances. This study was conducted on pure adult
stands of P. pinaster and on mixed stands, dominated by P. pinaster and associated Country: Portugal
with other species such as Cupressus lusitanica and Pinus sylvestris, these stands
are located in the Serra da Lousã. In this study, undergrowth biodiversity and natural E-mail: [email protected],
regeneration were also evaluated. Therefore, this work estimates the impacts on [email protected]
ecosystem services such as wood production, carbon storage and biodiversity on
these stands. The results show that the continuous action of these events causes
changes in the structure of Pinus pinaster stands, with tree losses in all classes of
DAP, with more significant losses in the major diametric classes in P. pinaster and C.
lusitanica, in which the loss of wood production attained 44%. In turn, this represents
a decrease in stored carbon ranging from 21 to 57%. Biodiversity indices reveal low
values at this initial stage of plant succession. Similarly, the values observed in the affect the ability to produce goods and
natural regeneration of Pinus pinaster, Castanea sativa, Pinus sylvestris, Quercus services from the stands under study,
robur and Cupressus lusitanica are low, with the first two species being the ones and suggest the need for changes in
that regenerate the most. The results indicate that the disturbances negatively traditionally applied silvicultural models.

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