Mapping the natural disturbance risk to protective forests across the European Alps

Mountain forests play an essential role in protecting people and infrastructure from natural hazards. However, forests are currently experiencing an increasing rate of natural disturbances (including windthrows, bark beetle outbreaks and forest fires) that may jeopardize their capacity to provide this ecosystem service in the future. Here, we mapped the risk to forests’ protective service across the European Alps by integrating the risk components of hazard (in this case, the probability of a disturbance occurring), exposure (the proportion of forests that protect people or infrastructure), and vulnerability (the probability that the forests lose their protective structure after a disturbance). We combined satellite-based data on forest disturbances from 1986 to 2020 with data on key forest structural characteristics (cover and height) from spaceborne lidar (GEDI), and used ensemble models to predict disturbance probabilities and post-disturbance forest structure based on topographic and climatic predictors. Wind and bark beetles are dominant natural disturbance agents in the Alps, with a mean annual probability of occurrence of 0.05%, while forest fires were less likely (mean annual probability <0.01%), except in the south-western Alps. After a disturbance, over 40% of forests maintained their protective structure, highlighting the important role of residual living or dead trees. Within 30 years after wind and bark beetle disturbance, 61% of forests were likely to either maintain or recover their protective structure. Vulnerability to fires was higher, with 51% of forest still lacking sufficient protective structure 30 years after fire. Fire vulnerability was especially pronounced at dry sites, which also had a high fire hazard. Combining hazard and vulnerability with the exposure of protective forests we identified 186 Alpine municipalities with a high risk to protective forests due to wind and bark beetles, and 117 with a high fire risk. Mapping the disturbance risk to ecosystem services can help identify priority areas for increasing preparedness and managing forests towards lower susceptibility under an intensifying disturbance regime.