Quantifying the temporal dynamics of the protective effect of forests against rockfall after disturbances

Quantifying the temporal dynamics of the protective effect of forests against rockfall after disturbances | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Quantifying the temporal dynamics of the protective effect of forests against rockfall after disturbances Christine Moos, Dominik May, Luuk Dorren, Christian Temperli, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-1921048/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Increasing disturbances may significantly impact the long-term protective effect of forests against natural hazards. Quantifying the temporal evolution of the protection service of forests after disturbances is thus crucial for finding optimal management strategies. In this study, we quantified the long-term protective effect of spruce, beech and fir forests against rockfall after severe disturbances based on a straightforward modeling approach. We therefore modelled stand growth of the three tree species based on data of the Swiss National Forest Inventory (NFI) and parameterized the potential rockfall energy dissipation capacity of these stands as a function of their age. We then quantified the evolution of their protective effect for varying rockfall dispositions. The recovery of the protective effect mainly depends on the increase in basal area of a stand, the block volume and the forested slope length. While maximum protection against small blocks is guaranteed after only 10 to 50 yr, 50-150 yr are necessary to regain the maximum possible protective effect against blocks $\ge 1$ m\textsuperscript{3}. The here presented approach can serve practitioners to forecast the recovery of the protection provided by forest stands. As a next step, the proposed model should be adapted to future climate conditions. protective forest stand growth rockfall disturbances inventory data Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-1921048","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":126066106,"identity":"974311d9-5132-482d-8763-90bff2caa70d","order_by":0,"name":"Christine Moos","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA3klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCQaGA2ASAmwS2GcwMDAT1pIA15KWwHODCC0MDAlw7mHCWvhn9z48+POHRR4/A3figw9/zufxSDcwfi7AZ8md4waHeRIkiiUbeDcbzmy7Xcwjc4BZegYeLQYSaQyHgX5J3HCAd5s0b8PtxP0SCWzMPAS0HPwB1LIfpIXnz7nEHmK0HOAB2cIA0sJ2gLAWiRtAh/GkSSTOOAz2S3Ixj0RiszQ+Lfwz0pg//rCpS+xv790IDDG7PB6J5IOf8WlBAERcMDYQpWEUjIJRMApGAW4AAJ1oSM3JAyZHAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Bern University of Applied Sciences","correspondingAuthor":true,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Christine","middleName":"","lastName":"Moos","suffix":""},{"id":126066108,"identity":"0a6dd0fd-9e30-4a34-a148-571a02eba389","order_by":1,"name":"Dominik May","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Bern University of Applied Sciences","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Dominik","middleName":"","lastName":"May","suffix":""},{"id":126066110,"identity":"466352ea-73ed-4a57-9e51-4e16658095f4","order_by":2,"name":"Luuk Dorren","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Bern University of Applied Sciences","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Luuk","middleName":"","lastName":"Dorren","suffix":""},{"id":126066112,"identity":"2a5b8311-4efc-464b-8cd0-2011dd1d9bc4","order_by":3,"name":"Christian Temperli","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Christian","middleName":"","lastName":"Temperli","suffix":""},{"id":126066113,"identity":"910ccc76-29d3-4a24-9db3-c8c2dc528a19","order_by":4,"name":"Massimiliano Schwarz","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Bern University of Applied Sciences","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Massimiliano","middleName":"","lastName":"Schwarz","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2022-08-02 09:44:43","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-1921048/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1921048/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":24799730,"identity":"79c7d804-d361-4bc2-9d7c-d7ead82a3b66","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2022-08-04 18:09:09","extension":"pdf","order_by":8,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":2890662,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Moosetal.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-1921048/v1_covered.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Quantifying the temporal dynamics of the protective effect of forests against rockfall after disturbances","fulltext":[{"header":"Full Text","content":"This preprint is available for \u003ca href='/article/rs-1921048/latest.pdf' target='_blank'\u003edownload as a PDF\u003c/a\u003e."}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"protective forest, stand growth, rockfall, disturbances, inventory data","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-1921048/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1921048/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Increasing disturbances may significantly impact the long-term protective effect of forests against natural hazards. Quantifying the temporal evolution of the protection service of forests after disturbances is thus crucial for finding optimal management strategies. In this study, we quantified the long-term protective effect of spruce, beech and fir forests against rockfall after severe disturbances based on a straightforward modeling approach. We therefore modelled stand growth of the three tree species based on data of the Swiss National Forest Inventory (NFI) and parameterized the potential rockfall energy dissipation capacity of these stands as a function of their age. We then quantified the evolution of their protective effect for varying rockfall dispositions. The recovery of the protective effect mainly depends on the increase in basal area of a stand, the block volume and the forested slope length. 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