Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Shifts of forest resilience after seismic disturbances in tectonically active regions

Nature Geoscience volume 17, pages 189–196 (2024)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Forests in tectonically active regions are disturbed by earthquakes. Besides direct injuries to trees, earthquakes also induce stand-wide changes in hydrological conditions, whose effects on long-term forest growth and resilience remain unknown. Here we establish spatio-temporal links between global tree-ring width series and earthquakes after 1900, disentangle seismic signals from climate-induced variations in ring width series, test growth changes using superposed epoch analysis and quantify post-earthquake resilience shifts along environmental gradients in seven regions around the world. We found sites with enhanced resilience locate in relatively dry areas of temperate regions, where the response of tree growth to growing-season precipitation also increased after earthquakes. Our results provide evidence that earthquake-induced soil cracks and fractures increased precipitation infiltration to deeper soil layers and enhanced the use of water and nutrients by trees. In contrast, reduced post-earthquake resilience in regions with abundant precipitation can be explained by increased soil erosion and nutrient leaching. We conclude that seismic disturbances cause decadal-scale shifts in forest resilience under specific environmental conditions, disentangling complex interactions between lithosphere, biosphere and atmosphere. These findings can contribute to a better understanding of how the Earth system functions.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Number of catalogued earthquakes in tree-ring sites since 1900.
Fig. 2: Environmental features of tree-ring sites with positive and negative disturbance legacies in various regions.
Fig. 3: Tree-ring growth response to seismic disturbances along environmental gradients in various regions.
Fig. 4: Forest resilience shifts after seismic disturbances along environmental gradients in different regions.
Fig. 5: Response changes of tree growth to monthly precipitation after earthquakes.
Fig. 6: Schematic of the growth resilience enhancement due to changes in soil and hydrological conditions after seismic disturbances in relatively dry conditions.

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

The reformatted dataset of the International Tree-Ring Data Bank was obtained from https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.kh0qh06. The updated raw chronologies were obtained from the International Tree-Ring Data Bank (ITRDB) (https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/paleoclimatology/tree-ring). Tree-ring width data from the ITPCAS tree-ring group are available from https://doi.org/10.11888/Terre.tpdc.271925. Historic earthquake data were obtained from the US Geological Survey (USGS) (https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/search/). Climate data were obtained from the Climate Research Unit TS v. 4.05 (https://crudata.uea.ac.uk/cru/data//hrg/). Elevation and slope data were obtained from the EarthEnv project (http://www.earthenv.org/topography). Water table depth data were obtained from http://thredds-gfnl.usc.es/thredds/catalog/GLOBALWTDFTP/catalog.html. Data on global mountain ranges were obtained from https://www.earthenv.org/mountains. Source data are provided with this paper.

Code availability

Statistical analysis in this study were performed with publicly available packages in R (version 3.6.2) and Python (version 3.8), and the figures were produced using Python. The custom code for the analysis of the data is available from https://doi.org/10.11888/Terre.tpdc.300925.

References

  1. Jacoby, G. J., Sheppard, P. R. & Sieh, K. E. Irregular recurrence of large earthquakes along the San Andreas Fault: evidence from trees. Science 241, 196–199 (1988).

    ADS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Allen, R. B. et al. Tree survival and growth responses in the aftermath of a strong earthquake. J. Ecol. 108, 107–121 (2019).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Frith, N. V. et al. Carbon export from mountain forests enhanced by earthquake-triggered landslides over millennia. Nat. Geosci. 11, 772–776 (2018).

    ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Price, M. F. et al. (eds) Mountain Forests in a Changing World—Realizing Values, Addressing Challenges (FAO/MPS & SDC, 2011).

  5. Allen, C. D. et al. A global overview of drought and heat-induced tree mortality reveals emerging climate change risks for forests. For. Ecol. Manage. 259, 660–684 (2010).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Jacoby, G. C. Application of tree ring analysis to paleoseismology. Rev. Geophys. 35, 109–124 (1997).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Garwood, N. C., Janos, D. P. & Brokaw, N. Earthquake-caused landslides: a major disturbance to tropical forests. Science 205, 997–999 (1979).

    ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Meisling, K. E. & Sieh, K. E. Disturbance of trees by the 1857 Fort Tejon Earthquake, California. J. Geophys. Res. 85, 3225–3238 (1980).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Stoffel, M. & Bollschweiler, M. Tree-ring analysis in natural hazards research—an overview. Nat. Hazard. Earth Syst. 8, 187–202 (2008).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Fan, J. et al. Response of tree rings to earthquakes during the past 350 years at Jiuzhaigou in the eastern Tibet. Sci. Total Environ. 731, 138714 (2020).

    ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Jacoby, G. C. in Tree Rings and Natural Hazards: A State-of-the-Art. (eds Markus S. et al.) 399–416 (Springer, Dordrecht, 2010).

  12. Fu, T. et al. Tree growth responses and resilience after the 1950-Zayu-Medog earthquake, southeast Tibetan Plateau. Dendrochronologia 62, 125724 (2020).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Bekker, M. F., Metcalf, D. P. & Harley, G. L. Hydrology and hillslope processes explain spatial variation in tree-ring responses to the 1983 earthquake at Borah Peak, Idaho, USA. Earth Surf. Processes Landforms 43, 3074–3085 (2018).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. Mohr, C. H. et al. Trees talk tremor—wood anatomy and content reveal contrasting tree‐growth responses to earthquakes. J. Geophys. Res. Biogeosci. 126, e2021JG006385 (2021).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. Atkinson, G. M. & Wald, D. J. ‘Did you feel it?’ Intensity data: a surprisingly good measure of earthquake ground motion. Seismol. Res. Lett. 78, 362–368 (2007).

    Google Scholar 

  16. Cook, E. R. The decomposition of tree-ring series for environmental studies. Tree-Ring Bull. 47, 37–59 (1987).

    Google Scholar 

  17. Hosono, T., Yamada, C., Manga, M., Wang, C. & Tanimizu, M. Stable isotopes show that earthquakes enhance permeability and release water from mountains. Nat. Commun. 11, 2776 (2020).

    ADS  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  18. Rojstaczer, S. & Wolf, S. Permeability changes associated with large earthquakes—an example from Loma-Prieta, California. Geology 20, 211–214 (1992).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. Wang, C. & Manga, M. New streams and springs after the 2014 Mw 6.0 South Napa earthquake. Nat. Commun. 6, 7597 (2015).

    ADS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Wang, C. Y., Wang, C. H. & Manga, M. Coseismic release of water from mountains: vidence from the 1999 (Mw = 7.5) Chi-Chi, Taiwan, earthquake. Geology 32, 769–772 (2004).

    ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Montgomery, D. R. & Manga, M. Streamflow and water well responses to earthquakes. Science 300, 2047–2049 (2003).

    ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Ingebritsen, S. E. & Manga, M. Earthquake hydrogeology. Water Resour. Res. 55, 5212–5216 (2019).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. Rymer, M. J. et al. Surface Fractures Formed in the Potrero Canyon, Tapo Canyon, and McBean Parkway Areas in Association with the 1994 Northridge, California, Earthquake (USGS, 2001).

  24. Rojstaczer, S., Wolf, S. & Michel, R. Permeability enhancement in the shallow crust as a cause of earthquake-induced hydrological changes. Nature 373, 237–239 (1995).

    ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Elkhoury, J. E., Brodsky, E. E. & Agnew, D. C. Seismic waves increase permeability. Nature 441, 1135–1138 (2006).

    ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Manga, M. et al. Changes in permeability caused by transient stresses: field observations, experiments, and mechanisms. Rev. Geophys. 50, 2011RG000382 (2012).

    Google Scholar 

  27. Mohr, C. H. et al. Shaking water out of soil. Geology 43, 207–210 (2015).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  28. Roeloffs, E. A. Persistent water level changes in a well near Parkfield, California, due to local and distant earthquakes. J. Geophys. Res. 103, 869–889 (1998).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  29. Fang, H., Cui, P., Pei, L. Z. & Zhou, X. J. Model testing on rainfall-induced landslide of loose soil in Wenchuan earthquake region. Nat. Hazard. Earth Syst. 12, 527–533 (2012).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  30. Sheppard, P. R. & White, L. O. Tree-ring responses to the 1978 earthquake at Stephens Pass, northeastern California. Geology 23, 109–112 (1995).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  31. Qiu, H. et al. Response mechanism of post-earthquake slopes under heavy rainfall. J. Seismol. 21, 869–884 (2017).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  32. Nimmo, J. R. The processes of preferential flow in the unsaturated zone. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 85, 1–27 (2021).

    ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Yang, Z. et al. Unsaturated hydro-mechanical behaviour of rainfall-induced mass remobilization in post-earthquake landslides. Eng. Geol. 222, 102–110 (2017).

    Google Scholar 

  34. Ren, P. et al. Growth rate rather than growing season length determines wood biomass in dry environments. Agr. For. Meteorol. 271, 46–53 (2019).

    Google Scholar 

  35. Breen, S., Zhang, Z. & Wang, C. Shaking water out of sands: an experimental study. Water Resour. Res. 56, e2020WR028153 (2020).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  36. Sehler, R. et al. Investigating relationship between soil moisture and precipitation globally using remote sensing observations. J. Contemp. Water Res. Ed. 168, 106–118 (2019).

    Google Scholar 

  37. Lin, W., Lin, C. & Chou, W. Assessment of vegetation recovery and soil erosion at landslides caused by a catastrophic earthquake: a case study in Central Taiwan. Ecol. Eng. 28, 79–89 (2006).

    Google Scholar 

  38. Di, B. et al. Quantifying the spatial distribution of soil mass wasting processes after the 2008 earthquake in Wenchuan, China. Remote Sens. Environ. 114, 761–771 (2010).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  39. Cheng, S., Yang, G., Yu, H., Li, J. & Zhang, L. Impacts of Wenchuan earthquake-induced landslides on soil physical properties and tree growth. Ecol. Indic. 15, 263–270 (2012).

    Google Scholar 

  40. Zhang, Y., Stoffel, M., Liang, E., Guillet, S. & Shao, X. Centennial-scale process activity in a complex landslide body in the Qilian Mountains, northeast Tibetan Plateau, China. Catena 179, 29–38 (2019).

    Google Scholar 

  41. Paredes, A. et al. Modeling landslide activity and sediment connectivity after eruptions: insights from the Blanco River (Chile). Sci. Total Environ. 883, 163745 (2023).

    ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Geli, L., Bard, P. & Jullien, B. The effect of topography on earthquake ground motion; a review and new results. Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 78, 42–63 (1988).

    Google Scholar 

  43. Mohr, C. H., Manga, M., Wang, C. & Korup, O. Regional changes in streamflow after a megathrust earthquake. Earth Planet. Sc. Lett. 458, 418–428 (2017).

    ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. Johnstone, J. F. et al. Changing disturbance regimes, ecological memory, and forest resilience. Front. Ecol. Environ. 14, 369–378 (2016).

    Google Scholar 

  45. Turner, M. G. Disturbance and landscape dynamics in a changing world. Ecology 91, 2833–2849 (2010).

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  46. Gao, J., Barzel, B. & Barabási, A. Universal resilience patterns in complex networks. Nature 530, 307–312 (2016).

    ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. Yi, C. & Jackson, N. A review of measuring ecosystem resilience to disturbance. Environ. Res. Lett. 16, 53008 (2021).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  48. Anderegg, W. R. L. et al. Pervasive drought legacies in forest ecosystems and their implications for carbon cycle models. Science 349, 528–532 (2015).

    ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  49. Jiang, P. et al. Enhanced growth after extreme wetness compensates for post-drought carbon loss in dry forests. Nat. Commun. 10, 195 (2019).

    ADS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  50. Gao, S. et al. Asymmetric impacts of dryness and wetness on tree growth and forest coverage. Agr. For. Meteorol. 288-289, 107980 (2020).

    Google Scholar 

  51. Wang-Erlandsson, L. et al. A planetary boundary for green water. Nat. Rev. Earth Env. 3, 380–392 (2022).

    Google Scholar 

  52. Gleeson, T. et al. Illuminating water cycle modifications and Earth system resilience in the Anthropocene. Water Resour. Res. 56, e2019WR024957 (2020).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  53. Zhao, S. et al. The International Tree-Ring Data Bank (ITRDB) revisited: data availability and global ecological representativity. J. Biogeogr. 46, 355–368 (2019).

    Google Scholar 

  54. Gao, S. et al. An earlier start of the thermal growing season enhances tree growth in cold humid areas but not in dry areas. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 6, 397–404 (2022).

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  55. Bunn, A. G. A dendrochronology program library in R (dplR). Dendrochronologia 26, 115–124 (2008).

    Google Scholar 

  56. Guy, M. et al. National Earthquake Information Center Systems Overview and Integration. Open-File Report (USGS, 2015).

  57. Harris, I. et al. Version 4 of the CRU TS monthly high-resolution gridded multivariate climate dataset. Sci. Data 7, 109 (2020).

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  58. Gao, S. et al. Dynamic responses of tree-ring growth to multiple dimensions of drought. Glob. Change Biol. 24, 5380–5390 (2018).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  59. Fang, K., Frank, D., Zhao, Y., Zhou, F. & Seppa, H. Moisture stress of a hydrological year on tree growth in the Tibetan Plateau and surroundings. Environ. Res. Lett. 10, 34010 (2015).

    Google Scholar 

  60. Amatulli, G. et al. A suite of global, cross-scale topographic variables for environmental and biodiversity modeling. Sci. Data 5, 180040 (2018).

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  61. Fan, Y., Li, H. & Miguez-Macho, G. Global patterns of groundwater table depth. Science 339, 940–943 (2013).

    ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  62. Snethlage, M. A. et al. A hierarchical inventory of the world’s mountains for global comparative mountain science. Sci. Data 9, 149 (2022).

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  63. Snethlage, M. A. et al. GMBA Mountain Inventory v2. (GMBA-EarthEnv, 2022).

  64. Yao, P. et al. A long term global daily soil moisture dataset derived from AMSR-E and AMSR2 (2002–2019). Sci. Data 8, 143 (2021).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  65. Rao, M. P. et al. A double bootstrap approach to Superposed Epoch Analysis to evaluate response uncertainty. Dendrochronologia 55, 119–124 (2019).

    Google Scholar 

  66. Adams, B. J., Mann, M. E. & Ammann, C. M. Proxy evidence for an El Nino-like response to volcanic forcing. Nature 426, 274–278 (2003).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  67. Dee, S. G. et al. No consistent ENSO response to volcanic forcing over the last millennium. Science 367, 1477 (2020).

    ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  68. Liang, E. et al. Strong link between large tropical volcanic eruptions and severe droughts prior to monsoon in the central Himalayas revealed by tree-ring records. Sci. Bull. 64, 1018–1023 (2019).

    Google Scholar 

  69. Gao, S. et al. Global tree growth resilience to cold extremes following the Tambora volcanic eruption. Nat. Commun. 14, 6616 (2023).

    ADS  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  70. Kannenberg, S. A. et al. Drought legacies are dependent on water table depth, wood anatomy and drought timing across the eastern US. Ecol. Lett. 22, 119–127 (2018).

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  71. McDowell, N. G. et al. Mechanisms of a coniferous woodland persistence under drought and heat. Environ. Res. Lett. 14, 45014 (2019).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  72. Holling, C. S. Resilience and stability of ecological systems. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 4, 1–23 (1973).

    Google Scholar 

  73. Ludwig, D., Walker, B. & Holling, C. S. Sustainability, stability, and resilience. Conserv. Ecol. 1, 7 (1997).

  74. Gunderson, L. H. Ecological resilience–in theory and application. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 31, 425–439 (2000).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge all contributors to the International Tree-Ring Data Bank for providing tree-ring data and X. Chen for helpful discussions. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41988101), the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (STEP) (2019QZKK0301) and the Science and Technology Major Project of Tibetan Autonomous Region of China (XZ202201ZD0005G02).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources (TPESER), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Shan Gao, Eryuan Liang, Ruishun Liu, Xiaoming Lu, Haifeng Zhu & Shilong Piao

  2. Département des Sciences Fondamentales, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi, Quebec, Canada

    Sergio Rossi

  3. CREAF, Cerdanyola del Valles, Barcelona, Spain

    Josep Peñuelas

  4. CSIC, Global Ecology Unit CREAF-CSIC-UAB, Barcelona, Spain

    Josep Peñuelas

  5. Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología (IPE-CSIC), Zaragoza, Spain

    J. Julio Camarero

Authors
  1. Shan Gao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Eryuan Liang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ruishun Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Xiaoming Lu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Sergio Rossi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Haifeng Zhu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Shilong Piao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Josep Peñuelas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. J. Julio Camarero
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

E.L. proposed the idea, S.G. and E.L. designed the research, S.G. and R.L. performed the analysis and S.G. drafted the paper. All authors contributed ideas, interpreted the results and were involved in the editing and writing of the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eryuan Liang.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Geoscience thanks Michael Manga, Mukund Rao and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Primary Handling Editors: Alireza Bahadori and Xujia Jiang, in collaboration with the Nature Geoscience team.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 The dominant climate driver in tree-ring sites that underwent earthquakes with a minimum intensity of 4 MMI.

The dominant climate driver is the climate variable (that is, T, mean temperature or P, total precipitation) with a specified time scale (1 to 18 months) that has the maximum correlation with the site-level ring-width index chronology. Only positive correlations are presented in this figure. Global mountain ranges were obtained from the Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment (GMBA) Mountain Inventory v2 data set62,63.

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 2 Growth resilience shifts after seismic disturbances at a period of 3 to 30 years in western North America.

a) Distribution of tree-ring sites within different precipitation gradients. b) Mean disturbance legacies of sites within the same precipitation gradient for 5 to 15 years after different intensities of earthquakes. Error bars represent standard deviation. c) Number of tree-ring sites that underwent different intensities of earthquakes within different precipitation gradients. The dashed horizontal line indicates the position on the y axis of 5 sites. We presented the distribution of pre- and post-earthquake disturbance legacies in certain environmental gradients with a minimum site number of 5. d) Comparison of the distribution of pre- and post-earthquake disturbance legacies (represented by averaged standardized residuals) for all sites in the region over time. e) Comparison of the distribution of pre- and post-earthquake disturbance legacies (represented by averaged standardized residuals) for tree-ring sites with a 30-yr mean precipitation < 400 mm in the region over time. Lines within violin plots indicate the 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles.

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 3 Growth resilience shifts after seismic disturbances at a period of 3 to 30 years in northwestern North America.

a) Distribution of tree-ring sites within different elevational gradients. b) Mean disturbance legacies of sites within the same elevational gradient for 5 to 15 years after different intensities of earthquakes. c) Number of tree-ring sites that underwent different intensities of earthquakes within different elevational gradients. The dashed horizontal line indicates the position of 5 sites on the y axis. We presented the distribution of pre- and post-earthquake disturbance legacies in certain environmental gradients with a minimum site number of 5. d) Comparison of the distribution of pre- and post-earthquake disturbance legacies (represented by averaged standardized residuals) for all sites in the region over time. e) Comparison of the distribution of pre- and post-earthquake disturbance legacies for tree-ring sites with elevation ≥ 1000 m in the region over time. Lines within violin plots indicate the 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles.

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 4 Growth resilience shifts after seismic disturbances at a period of 3 to 30 years in the Mediterranean region.

a) Distribution of tree-ring sites within different environmental gradients. b) Mean disturbance legacies of sites within the same environmental gradient for 5 to 15 years after different intensities of earthquakes. c) Number of tree-ring sites that underwent different intensities of earthquakes within different environmental gradient. The dashed horizontal line indicates the position of 5 sites on the y axis. We presented the distribution of pre- and post-earthquake disturbance legacies in certain environmental gradients with a minimum site number of 5. d) Comparison of the distribution of pre- and post-earthquake disturbance legacies (represented by averaged standardized residuals) for all sites in the region over time. e) Comparison of the distribution of pre- and post-earthquake disturbance legacies for tree-ring sites with a 30-year mean precipitation < 600 mm in the region over time. f) Comparison of the distribution of pre- and post-earthquake disturbance legacies for tree-ring sites with elevation < 600 m in the region over time. Lines within violin plots indicate the 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles.

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 5 Growth resilience shifts after seismic disturbances at a period of 3 to 30 years in the Tibetan Plateau (TIB).

a) Distribution of tree-ring sites within different climatic gradients. b) Mean disturbance legacies of sites within the same climatic gradient for 5 to 15 years after different intensities of earthquakes. c) Number of tree-ring sites that underwent different intensities of earthquakes within each climatic gradient. The dashed horizontal line indicates the position of 5 sites on the y axis. We presented the distribution of pre- and post-earthquake disturbance legacies in certain environmental gradients with a minimum site number of 5. d) Comparison of the distribution of pre- and post-earthquake disturbance legacies (represented by averaged standardized residuals) for tree-ring sites with precipitation < 400 mm in westerly controlled TIB. e) Comparison of the distribution of pre- and post-earthquake disturbance legacies for tree-ring sites with precipitation ≥ 1600 mm in westerly-controlled TIB over time. f) Comparison of the distribution of pre- and post-earthquake disturbance legacies for tree-ring sites in monsoon-controlled TIB over time. Lines within violin plots indicate the 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles.

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 6 Growth resilience shifts after seismic disturbances at a period of 3 to 30 years in the Mongolian Plateau.

a) Distribution of tree-ring sites within different precipitation gradients. b) Mean disturbance legacies for sites within the same precipitation gradient for 5 to 15 years after different intensities of earthquakes. c) Number of tree-ring sites that underwent different intensities of earthquakes within different precipitation gradients. The dashed horizontal line indicates the position of 5 sites on the y axis. We presented the distribution of pre- and post-earthquake disturbance legacies in certain environmental gradients with a minimum site number of 5. d) Comparison of the distribution of pre- and post-earthquake disturbance legacies (represented by averaged standardized residuals) for tree-ring sites with a 30-year mean precipitation < 350 mm in the region over time. e) Comparison of the distribution of pre- and post-earthquake disturbance legacies (represented by averaged standardized residuals) for tree-ring sites with a 30-year mean precipitation ≥ 350 mm in the region over time. Lines within violin plots indicate the 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles.

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 7 Growth resilience shifts after seismic disturbances at a period of 3 to 30 years in New Zealand (NZ).

a) Distribution of tree-ring sites within different precipitation gradients. b) Mean of disturbance legacies for sites within the same precipitation gradient for 3 to 15 years after different intensities of earthquakes. c) Number of tree-ring sites that underwent different intensities of earthquakes within different precipitation gradients. The dashed horizontal line indicates the position of 5 sites on the y axis. We presented the distribution of pre- and post-earthquake disturbance legacies in certain environmental gradients with a minimum site number of 5. d) Comparison of the distribution of pre- and post-earthquake disturbance legacies (represented by averaged standardized residuals) for tree-ring sites in the North Island of NZ over time. e) Comparison of the distribution of pre- and post-earthquake disturbance legacies (represented by averaged standardized residuals) for tree-ring sites with a 30-year mean precipitation < 2000 mm in the South Island of NZ over time. f) Comparison of the distribution of pre- and post-earthquake disturbance legacies (represented by averaged standardized residuals) for tree-ring sites with a 30-year mean precipitation ≥ 2000 mm in the South Island of NZ over time. Lines within violin plots indicate the 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles.

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 8 Growth resilience shifts after seismic disturbances at a period of 3 to 30 years in southwestern South America.

a) Distribution of tree-ring sites within different environmental gradients. b) Mean disturbance legacies of sites within the same precipitation gradient for 5 to 15 years after different intensities of earthquakes. c) The number of tree-ring sites that underwent different intensities of earthquakes within different precipitation gradients. The dashed horizontal line indicates the position of 5 sites on the y axis. We presented the distribution of pre- and post-earthquake disturbance legacies in certain environmental gradients with a minimum site number of 5. d) Comparison of the distribution of pre- and post-earthquake disturbance legacies (represented by averaged standardized residuals) for tree-ring sites that have more growing than non-growing season precipitation (Pg > Pn) in the region over time. e) Comparison of the distribution of pre- and post-earthquake disturbance legacies for tree-ring sites with more non-growing season precipitation (Pg < Pn) and a water table depth (WTD) < −150 m in the region over time. f) Comparison of the distribution of pre- and post-earthquake disturbance legacies for tree-ring sites with more non-growing season precipitation (Pg < Pn) and WTD ≥ -150 m in the region over time. Lines within violin plots indicate the 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles.

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 9 Surface fractures after the Magnitude 7.8 earthquake on April 25, 2015 in Nepal.

a, b, Investigations on the mountain in the west side of the Nepal's Tatopani border point. Credit: photographs, Xiaoqing Chen.

Extended Data Fig. 10 Comparison of the summer precipitation-soil moisture relationship between the pre- and post-earthquake period.

Locations of earthquake events with a minimum magnitude of 5 during 2015–2019 is given in western North America (a), North Island of New Zealand (b), Turkey (c) and monsoon-controlled Tibetan plateau (d). (e) Comparison of the regression coefficients (Slope) of the summer precipitation-soil moisture relationship between the pre- and post-earthquake period. (f) Comparison of the correlation coefficients (r) of the summer precipitation-soil moisture relationship between the pre- and post-earthquake period. Summer refers to June to August in Northern Hemisphere and December to February in Southern Hemisphere. The size of the markers in (e) and (f) presents the average of annual soil moisture condition from 2013 to 2020.

Source data

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–43.

Source data

Source Data Fig. 1

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 2

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 3

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 4

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 5

Statistical source data.

Source Data Extended Data Fig. 1

Statistical source data.

Source Data Extended Data Fig. 2

Statistical source data.

Source Data Extended Data Fig. 3

Statistical source data.

Source Data Extended Data Fig. 4

Statistical source data.

Source Data Extended Data Fig. 5

Statistical source data.

Source Data Extended Data Fig. 6

Statistical source data.

Source Data Extended Data Fig. 7

Statistical source data.

Source Data Extended Data Fig. 8

Statistical source data.

Source Data Extended Data Fig. 10

Statistical source data.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gao, S., Liang, E., Liu, R. et al. Shifts of forest resilience after seismic disturbances in tectonically active regions. Nat. Geosci. 17, 189–196 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-024-01380-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-024-01380-x

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing