Simulating forest landscape change under Larch caterpillar and fire disturbance in Great Xing'an Mountains, Northeastern China

We used the LANDIS model to evaluate the effects of fire and Larch caterpillar disturbance on species abundance, age structure, spatial pattern, and age structure of two main species(LAGM(Larix gmlinii) and BEPL(Betula platyphylla)) in Huzhong forest bereau on the north slops of Great Xing'an Mountains, Northeastern China. We compared the change of forest in ND(no disturbance) and BF(budworm and fire) scenarios. The results showed that fire and Larch caterpillar disturbance increased the abundance of BEPL, and increased seedling and middle-aged class of BEPL, however, decreased the aggregation index of BEPL cohorts significantly. Both Larch caterpillar and fire disturbance only increased the abundance of LAGM in later simulations lightly, and have no significantly effects on the aggregation index of LAGM, in the BF scenario, the proportion of seedling cohorts and Middle-aged cohorts under BF scenario higher than ND scenario in the middle of simulation years. Therfore, it is necessary to consider the influences of Larch caterpillar and fire diaturbance on forest in the future.