Jianghua He

Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis) forests, characterized by their rapid growth and clonal reproduction, have emerged as a significant threat to adjacent forest ecosystems. However, in China, the area, speed, and spatial distribution of moso bamboo forest expansion into other types of forests remains poorly understood. In this study, we present a case analysis of moso bamboo forests, employing a decade-long dataset from the forest second type inventory (FSTI) that utilizes transition matrices, neighboring ratio analysis, and spatio-temporal autocorrelation. This comprehensive investigation focuses on the spatio-temporal expansion of moso bamboo forests into diverse types of forests, with the aim of providing science-based recommendations for effective moso bamboo forest management. Our findings reveal that areas of moso bamboo forests have been expanding at an approximate annual rate of 2%, with an average expansion speed (including moso bamboo forests manually planted) of approximately 8 m per year. The length of moso bamboo–woodland ecotones (BWEs) increases as a consequence of moso bamboo forest expansion, indicating a sustained escalation in the extent of this expansion. Coniferous forests and evergreen broad-leaved forests are mainly invaded, accounting for around 58% of all invaded forests. The rate of moso bamboo forest expansion into different types of forests varies, although the rate remains fairly consistent within the same forest type. Moso bamboo forest expansion exhibits significant spatial heterogeneity. Furthermore, the area of moso bamboo forest intrusion into various types of forests in different provinces is notably influenced by the presence of moso bamboo forests and the proportional distribution of different forest types. The factors contributing to bamboo forest expansion encompass stand characteristics, soil attributes, light intensity, moso bamboo afforestation, forestry practices, and human disturbances.

Since the early 1980s, in southern China, evergreen broad-leaved forests have been replaced by Chinese fir plantations on a large scale. By analyzing the dynamic change characteristics of the landscape pattern of Chinese fir plantations in the case study, the paper explored the current status and development trend of the landscape pattern of Chinese fir plantations after 40 years of manual intervention and natural succession. The paper, based on the three-period survey data on forest resources in 2010, 2015, and 2020, analyzed the dynamic changes of the landscape pattern of Chinese fir plantations from 2010 to 2020 and, by using a transition matrix and landscape index, simulated and predicted the landscape pattern of Chinese fir plantations in Jiangle County in 2025 by constructing a CA–Markov model with Jiangle County, Fujian Province, China, as the study area. The results showed that the landscape of Chinese fir plantations is the main component of the forest landscape in southern China, accounting for 12%. The landscape quality of Chinese fir plantations degraded, mainly shown in the facts that the Chinese fir plantations were juvenile from 2010 to 2020, and that the young and middle-aged forests became the main part of the landscape of Chinese fir plantations, accounting for 54.8%. The landscape area of Chinese fir plantations showed an increasing trend, which mainly came from other coniferous forests, other woodlands, non-woodlands and non-wood forests, and the replaced Chinese fir plantations were mainly eroded by bamboo forests. The evergreen broad-leaved forests, a kind of zonal vegetation, have been effectively protected in the past 10 years. In the future, the total area of Chinese fir plantations will continue to expand, and a small part of them will continue to be eroded by bamboo forests. In order to improve the landscape quality of Chinese fir plantations, it is necessary to adjust the age group structure of Chinese fir plantations, expand the proportion of mature forests, and, meanwhile, continue to protect evergreen broad-leaved forests and curb the expansion of bamboo forests.