Data from: Long-term comparison shows protected and non-protected forests differ in harvesting, but not in wildfires or drought-driven dieback
Data files
Jan 09, 2026 version files 895.69 KB
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Data_Tables_S2_S3_S4_S6.xlsx
448.31 KB
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Data_TableS5_.xlsx
441.72 KB
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README.md
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Abstract
While disturbances are essential for biodiversity, their escalation driven by climate change may threaten forest ecosystems. Contrasting approaches to adapt forests to disturbances—intensifying management versus encouraging natural succession towards more mature ecosystems—have sparked a debate about whether protection influences forests' vulnerability to disturbance. This question, however, has barely been investigated. Natura 2000 network is the backbone of biodiversity protection in Europe. We compared the long-term incidence of harvesting, wildfires, and drought-driven forest dieback inside and outside Natura 2000 areas in Catalonia (NE Spain) by combining remote sensing-derived maps of harvesting and wildfires (1985-2023), an exhaustive ground survey on forest dieback (2012-2023), and forest characteristics extracted from 3,400 permanent plots inventoried in 1990, 2000, and 2015.
* The “Data_Tables_S2_S3_S4_S6.xlsx” file contains the raw data for the analyses of the effects of forest protection, bioclimatic region, slope, aspect, forest leaf habit, basal area (in 1990, 2000 and 2015) and % basal area harvested per plot between 2000 and 2015 (only for the analysis of forest dieback) on two dependent variables, i.e: i) the occurrence of an unspecific disturbance, wildfire or harvesting event, ii) the occurrence of a drought-driven forest dieback episode
In the datafile each row corresponds to a permanent plot of the Spanish National Forest inventory.
*Explanation of column headers for the different variables
“SNFI plot id”: Identification code of each permanent plot of the Spanish National Inventory
“longitude”: angular distance of a place east or west of the prime Meridian. (degrees)
“latitude”: angular distance of a place north or south of the Equator. (degrees)
“bioclimatic region”: geographic area defined by similar climate conditions, mainly temperature and rainfall. (mediterranean, supramediterranean, montane)
“aspect”: cardinal directions (north, east, south, west)
“slope”: steepness. (degrees)
“forest protection”: forest protection status according to the inclusion (or not) of the plot in a Natura 2000 area. (Natura 2000, Non-natura 2000)
“forest leaf habit”: leaf behavior and morphology of the dominant tree species in the plot. (Needleaf, Mixed, Broadleaf)
“basal area SNFI2 1990 “: sum of the cross-sectional area of all tree stems larger than 7.5 cm in diameter at breast height within the plot, as recorded during the second Spanish National Forest Inventory in 1990. (m2 ha -1)
“basal area SNFI3 2000“: sum of the cross-sectional area of all tree stems larger than 7.5 cm in diameter at breast height within the plot, as recorded during the third Spanish National Forest Inventory in 2000. (m2 ha -1)
“basal area SNFI4 2015 “: sum of the cross-sectional area of all tree stems larger than 7.5 cm in diameter at breast height within the plot, as recorded during the fourth Spanish National Forest Inventory in 2015. (m2 ha -1)
“basal area harvested between SNFI3 and SNFI4 (%)”: percentage of basal area harvested between the third and the fourth Spanish National Forest Inventories according to the differences in basal area recorded in the two inventories. (%)
“unspecific disturbances (1985-2023)”: occurrence of an unspecific disturbance in the plot (either wildfire or harvesting) from 1985 to 2023 according to the European Forest Disturbance Atlas (EFDA: Viana-Soto & Senf 2025). (0 = no, 1 = yes)
“wildfires (1985-2023)”: occurrence of a wildfire in the plot from 1985 to 2023 according to the European Forest Disturbance Atlas (EFDA: Viana-Soto & Senf 2025). (0 = no, 1 = yes)
“harvesting (1985-2023)”: occurrence of a harvesting event in the plot from 1985 to 2023 according to the European Forest Disturbance Atlas (EFDA: Viana-Soto & Senf 2025). (0 = no, 1 = yes)
“drought driven dieback (2016-2023)”: occurrence of a drought-driven forest dieback event in the plot from 2012 to 2023 according to the DEBOSCAT project (https://laboratoriforestal.creaf.cat/deboscat_app/). (0 = no, 1 = yes)
*The results of the analyses are shown in Tables S2, S3, S4, and S6 in the Supplementary material and in Figure 3 in the main text of the manuscript.
*The “Data_TableS5_.xlsx” file contains the data for the analyses of the effects of forest protection, bioclimatic region, slope, aspect, forest leaf habit, basal area and inventory period on the occurrence of harvesting and the intensity of harvesting.
In the datafile each row corresponds to a permanent plot of the Spanish National Forest inventory.
*Explanation of column headers for the different variables
“SNFI plot id”: Identification code of each permanent plot of the Spanish National Inventory
“bioclimatic region”: geographic area defined by similar climate conditions, mainly temperature and rainfall. (mediterranean, supramediterranean, montane)
“aspect”: cardinal directions (north, east, south, west)
“slope”: steepness. (degrees)
“forest protection”: forest protection status according to the inclusion (or not) of the plot in a Natura 2000 area. (Natura 2000, Non-natura 2000)
“forest leaf habit”: leaf behavior and morphology of the dominant tree species in the plot. (Needleaf, Mixed, Broadleaf)
“basal area “: sum of the cross-sectional area of all tree stems larger than 7.5 cm in diameter at breast height within the plot, as recorded during the second or third Spanish National Forest Inventory.
“inventory period“: indicates whether the data corresponds to the period between the second and the third or the third and the fourth Spanish National Forest Inventories (SNFI2-SNFI3, SNFI3-SNFI4)
“occurrence of harvesting”: occurrence of a harvesting event in the plot during an inventory period according to the difference in basal area recorded in each of the two consecutive inventories. (0 = no, 1 = yes)
“intensity of harvesting”: percentage of basal area harvested in the time period between each pair of consecutive Spanish National Forest Inventories (SNFI2-SNFI3, SNFI3-SNFI4). (%)
*The results of the analyses are shown in Table S5 in the Supplementary material and in Figure 4 in the main text of the manuscript.
REFERENCES
Viana-Soto, A., & Senf, C. (2025). The European Forest Disturbance Atlas: a forest disturbance monitoring system using the Landsat archive. Earth System Science Data, 17(6), 2373-2404.