Heru Setiawan

EVS 518 Sustainable Natural Resource Management

Seymour.et.al (2002), “NEUS natural disturbance and silviculture”
February 03th 2022

Context:

In this article, the management of forest ecology is discussed. The difficulty is the absence of
design techniques that adhere to the harmony of natural patterns, despite the fact that many
scientists and foresters have taken advantage of several chances to manage the forest in North
America. It occurred as a result of a lack of laws regulating ecosystem ecology. By making
suggestions in response to some literature evaluations, it can aid in forest management. It is
essential to comprehend how natural disturbances interact favorably in order to protect
ecosystems. Additionally, we must be aware of the consequences of not adhering to
disturbance and silvicultural principles.

Objective:

The purpose of this essay is to provide readers with a better grasp of how to manage forests
utilizing stricter techniques that can yield better outcomes than simply adhering to basic
environmental management standards. This essay's secondary goal is to offer
recommendations for modeling natural disturbance patterns.

Many scientists and foresters, it is said in the essay, lack guidelines for managing the forest.
Therefore, it will be very helpful if the author gives or offers guidance to environmental
practitioners and scientists on appropriate forest management.

The target audiences are scientists and foresters who manage and research ways to manage
forests; in addition, scientists and foresters also take a place for solving an issue that could
affect the ecology or biodiversity in the future.

Approach/method:

In all northeastern regions, specifically synthesis, the author uses certain literature surveys. The
studies or types of literature regarding natural disturbances were summarized, combined, and
linked by the authors in order to evaluate silvicultural systems using natural scales and
frequencies and provide some guidelines or strategies for environmental management. The
author also discussed the approaches taken in this disturbances study, which included
combining historical, paleoecological, and other studies to learn more about different
disturbance regimes. Additionally, the author was researching disturbances utilizing the
literature.
Major Findings:

There is a need for certain types of literature or some guidelines to provide information or
method to advance foresters and scientists to manage the environment by using a strong
approach which can get maximum results because they do not have ready access to manage
the environment using the natural disturbances paradigm..

According to the author’s research about the natural disturbances in evaluating silvicultural
systems using natural scales and frequencies, there are several results and discussions that are
provided:

1. Patterns in disturbance magnitude and frequencies. The findings relate to the frequency
of disturbances (fires), where the assessed lands or fire zones are unrelated to human
activity.
2. Boundaries of northeastern disturbances in time and space. According to the author,
ellipses that included their ranges in both space and time might accurately represent all
research. The author also emphasized that the methodological explanation has two
crucial components. First, it's possible that the land surveyors only noted bigger, more
dramatic interruptions when they recorded the property. Second, due to the methods
used, gap dynamics investigations usually concentrate on small gaps and may need for
small plots. The authors also stated that they interpret the apparent gap's simplification
of the application as a methodological artifact because they believe disturbances of
intermediate scale and frequency are a normal aspect of the disturbance regime.
3. Forestry-related implications when drawing a line, the authors made two assumptions
about the types of errors that might occur. The comparison of articular practice to the
natural disturbance regime is nevertheless pertinent even if both types of errors lead to
changes in absolute values.
4. Landscape Aspects of the landscape. The above-mentioned information supports the
conventional perception that disturbances were frequent in the northeast's pre-
settlement topography. The author also emphasized that neglecting two aspects,
namely distance and time, could have a detrimental effect on the construction of the
landscape.

The authors provide five recommendations to support their hypothesis or assumptions by

discussing natural disturbances and management in mimicking natural disturbance regimes
and, consequently, to prevent, which may be helpful to everyone who wishes to follow or
use their advice.
Implications:

We need to be mindful of potential disturbances at all times. The management of forests using
disturbances and silvicultural regimes should be fully understood by scientists and foresters.
Consequently, they are able to effectively manage biological ecosystems in any situation.

Relevance:

As is well known, Indonesia has a wide variety of forests. In Indonesia, disturbances like fires—
whether brought on by human activity or by natural disturbances—are a common occurrence.
However, in this instance, more than 90% of the fire was started by human activity. On the
other hand, less than 10% of fires are brought on by natural disturbances, such as the one that
destroyed the forest at Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park (TNBTS) in 2019. In addition to
harming the forest, the effects of the flames also brought to a flood in the nearby areas. The dry
season and the flaming lava spewing from Semeru Volcano are to blame for the fire.
(https://www.ekuatorial.com/2021/05/kebakaran-hutan-tnbts-antara-faktor-alam-dan-
manusia/ )

Interesting aspects:

I can now understand the significance of silvicultural systems in natural disturbance regimes
after reading this paper. Knowing the rules for maintaining the forest when disturbance occurs
in the future, particularly in my hometown, is crucial to me. For instance, the author of the
essay included fire in natural disturbances. For the first time, I am aware that fire can both have
a destructive and a favorable impact on natural ecosystems and biodiversity.

Area of confusions:

The figures that exhibit information and some of the academic phrases that are difficult to
understand are the parts of the article that I find confusing. To better comprehend what the
essay discusses, I need to study more about natural disturbances and learn more academic
vocabulary.