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Updated: Apr 2, 2026

Evaluating Dryocosmus Kuriphilus-induced Damage on Castanea Sativa

Evaluating Dryocosmus Kuriphilus-induced Damage on Castanea Sativa

Published on: August 30, 2018

Conceptualizing Forest Degradation.

Jaboury Ghazoul¹, Zuzana Burivalova¹, John Garcia-Ulloa¹

¹Institute for Terrestrial Ecosystems, Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Universitaetstrasse 16, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland.

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

|September 29, 2015

Summary

Forest degradation is defined as arrested ecological succession caused by humans, hindering natural forest recovery. This new definition, focusing on ecological resilience, offers a clearer framework for understanding and managing degraded forests globally.

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Area of Science:

Environmental Science
Ecology
Forestry

Background:

Defining forest degradation is challenging due to ambiguities in reference states, timescales, and values.
Existing definitions often lack a clear ecological basis for understanding forest dynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

To propose a novel, ecologically grounded definition of forest degradation.
To reframe forest degradation within the context of ecological resilience and forest dynamics.

Main Methods:

Interpreting forest degradation through the lens of ecological resilience.
Defining degradation as anthropogenically induced arrested succession.
Identifying metrics reflecting diminished ecological processes, such as plant regeneration.

Main Results:

Forest degradation is defined as a state where human activities arrest natural ecological succession.
Ecological processes fundamental to forest dynamics are diminished or constrained.
Metrics like plant regeneration can indicate arrested succession and degradation.

Conclusions:

The proposed definition clarifies forest degradation by focusing on arrested succession and ecological resilience.
This framework is applicable across diverse forest ecosystems and potentially other ecosystems.
Management intervention is implied as necessary to restore successional trajectories in degraded forests.