历史变域描述了自然干扰下生态系统条件和过程的变化范围,能够使人们认识现代生态系统如何变化,为生态系统的有效管理提供了重要的参照和目标,使管理者能够制定有效措施最终使生态系统达到可持续状态.近年来,历史变域在森林生态系统管理中发挥着越来越重要的作用,已成功用于揭示生态系统变化的原因、保护生物多样性和濒危物种及恢复生态系统功能等多个领域.本文介绍了历史变域的概念并对其在森林生态系统管理中的应用及所面临的挑战(数据缺乏、环境变化和人类影响等)进行了论述.加大数据解译和分析的研究力度、注重自然环境和人类社会变化的研究及加强对公众的宣传力度可以更好地认识研究区的生态环境及其主要干扰机制,有利于提高历史变域在生态系统管理中的应用效率,使森林生态系统最终达到可持续的状态.
Historical range of variability (HRV) characterizes the fluctuations of ecosystem structure and processes under natural disturbances,and is helpful in understanding the causes and consequences of ecosystem change,providing the researchers and managers a reference to evaluate the present status of ecosystems and guiding managers to develop effective management strategies to ultimately drive ecosystems to a sustainable state.In recent years,HRV has played an increasingly important role in forest ecosystem management,and has been successfully used in indicating the causes of ecosystem change,conservation of biological diversity and endangered species,and restoration of ecosystem function,etc.This paper outlined the concept of HRV,and discussed the applications,limitations (lack of data,environmental change,and human impacts,etc.),and challenges of applying HRV in forest ecosystem management.Strengthening data mining,focusing on the changes of natural environment and human society,and increasing the public’s recognition of HRV would benefit the improvement of the application efficacy of HRV in forest ecosystem management,and make the forest ecosystem ultimately achieve a sustainable state.