Satellite remote sensing reveals overwhelming recovery of forest from disturbances in Asia

Forest ecosystems play key roles in mitigating human-induced climate change through enhanced carbon uptake;however,frequently occurring climate extremes and human activities have considerably threatened the stability of forests.At the same time,detailed accounts of disturbances and forest responses are not yet well quantified in Asia.This study employed the Breaks For Additive Seasonal and Trend method-an abrupt-change detection method-to analyze the Enhanced Vegetation Index time series in East Asia,South Asia,and Southeast Asia.This approach allowed us to detect forest disturbance and quantify the resilience after disturbance.Results showed that 20%of forests experienced disturbance with an increasing trend from 2000 to 2022,and Southeast Asian countries were more severely affected by disturbances.Specifically,95%of forests had robust resilience and could recover from disturbance within a few decades.The resilience of forests suffering from greater magnitude of disturbance tended to be stronger than forests with lower disturbance magnitude.In summary,this study investigated the resilience of forests across the low and middle latitudes of Asia over the past two decades.The authors found that most forests exhibited good resilience after disturbance and about two-thirds had recovered to a better state in 2022.The findings of this study underscore the complex relationship between disturbance and resilience,contributing to comprehension of forest resilience through satellite remote sensing.

Persistent alterations in gray matter in COVID-19 patients experiencing sleep disturbances:a 3-month longitudinal study

Sleep disturbances are among the most prevalent neuropsychiatric symptoms in individuals who have recovered from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infections.Previous studies have demonstrated abnormal brain structures in patients with sleep disturbances who have recovered from coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19).However,neuroimaging studies on sleep disturbances caused by COVID-19 are scarce,and existing studies have primarily focused on the long-term effects of the virus,with minimal acute phase data.As a result,little is known about the pathophysiology of sleep disturbances in the acute phase of COVID-19.To address this issue,we designed a longitudinal study to investigate whether alterations in brain structure occur during the acute phase of infection,and verified the results using 3-month follow-up data.A total of 26 COVID-19 patients with sleep disturbances(aged 51.5±13.57 years,8 women and 18 men),27 COVID-19 patients without sleep disturbances(aged 47.33±15.98 years,9 women and 18 men),and 31 age-and gender-matched healthy controls(aged 49.19±17.51 years,9 women and 22 men)were included in this study.Eleven COVID-19 patients with sleep disturbances were included in a longitudinal analysis.We found that COVID-19 patients with sleep disturbances exhibited brain structural changes in almost all brain lobes.The cortical thicknesses of the left pars opercularis and left precuneus were significantly negatively correlated with Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scores.Additionally,we observed changes in the volume of the hippocampus and its subfield regions in COVID-19 patients compared with the healthy controls.The 3-month follow-up data revealed indices of altered cerebral structure(cortical thickness,cortical grey matter volume,and cortical surface area)in the frontal-parietal cortex compared with the baseline in COVID-19 patients with sleep disturbances.Our findings indicate that the sleep disturbances patients had altered morphology in the cortical and hippocampal structures during the acute phase of infection and persistent changes in cortical regions at 3 months post-infection.These data improve our understanding of the pathophysiology of sleep disturbances caused by COVID-19.

Role of disturbance coefficient in monitoring and treatment of cerebral edema in patients with cerebral hemorrhage

BACKGROUND At present,the conventional methods for diagnosing cerebral edema in clinical practice are computed tomography(CT)and magnetic resonance imaging(MRI),which can evaluate the location and degree of peripheral cerebral edema,but cannot realize quantification.When patients have symptoms of diffuse cerebral edema or high cranial pressure,CT or MRI often suggests that cerebral edema is lagging and cannot be dynamically monitored in real time.Intracranial pressure monitoring is the gold standard,but it is an invasive operation with high cost and complications.For clinical purposes,the ideal cerebral edema monitoring should be non-invasive,real-time,bedside,and continuous dynamic monitoring.The dis-turbance coefficient(DC)was used in this study to dynamically monitor the occu-rrence,development,and evolution of cerebral edema in patients with cerebral hemorrhage in real time,and review head CT or MRI to evaluate the development of the disease and guide further treatment,so as to improve the prognosis of patients with cerebral hemorrhage.AIM To offer a promising new approach for non-invasive adjuvant therapy in cerebral edema treatment.METHODS A total of 160 patients with hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage admitted to the Department of Neurosurgery,Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Medical University from September 2018 to September 2019 were recruited.The patients were randomly divided into a control group(n=80)and an experimental group(n=80).Patients in the control group received conventional empirical treatment,while those in the experimental group were treated with mannitol dehydration under the guidance of DC.Subsequently,we compared the two groups with regards to the total dosage of mannitol,the total course of treatment,the incidence of complications,and prognosis.RESULTS The mean daily consumption of mannitol,the total course of treatment,and the mean hospitalization days were 362.7±117.7 mL,14.8±5.2 days,and 29.4±7.9 in the control group and 283.1±93.6 mL,11.8±4.2 days,and 23.9±8.3 in the experimental group(P<0.05).In the control group,there were 20 patients with pulmonary infection(25%),30 with electrolyte disturbance(37.5%),20 with renal impairment(25%),and 16 with stress ulcer(20%).In the experimental group,pulmonary infection occurred in 18 patients(22.5%),electrolyte disturbance in 6(7.5%),renal impairment in 2(2.5%),and stress ulcers in 15(18.8%)(P<0.05).According to the Glasgow coma scale score 6 months after discharge,the prognosis of the control group was good in 20 patients(25%),fair in 26(32.5%),and poor in 34(42.5%);the prognosis of the experimental group was good in 32(40%),fair in 36(45%),and poor in 12(15%)(P<0.05).CONCLUSION Using DC for non-invasive dynamic monitoring of cerebral edema demonstrates considerable clinical potential.It reduces mannitol dosage,treatment duration,complication rates,and hospital stays,ultimately lowering hospital-ization costs.Additionally,it improves overall patient prognosis,offering a promising new approach for non-invasive adjuvant therapy in cerebral edema treatment.

Design of Luenberger function observer with disturbance decoupling for matrix second-order linear systems-a parametric approach

A simple method for disturbance decoupling for matrix second-order linear systems is proposed directly in matrix second-order framework via Luenberger function observers based on complete parametric eigenstructure assignment. By introducing the H2 norm of the transfer function from disturbance to estimation error, sufficient and necessary conditions for disturbance decoupling in matrix second-order linear systems are established and are arranged into constraints on the design parameters via Luenberger function observers in terms of the closed-loop eigenvalues and the group of design parameters provided by the eigenstructure assignment approach. Therefore, the disturbance decoupling problem is converted into an eigenstructure assignment problem with extra parameter constraints. A simple example is investigated to show the effect and simplicity of the approach.

ALMOST DISTURBANCE DECOUPLING FOR A CLASS OF MINIMUM-PHASE HIGHER-ORDER CASCADE NONLINEAR SYSTEMS

The problem of almost disturbance decoupling (ADD) with internal stability is discussed, for a class of high_order cascade nonlinear systems having zero dynamics. Using adding power integrator techniques, the ADD problems via a smooth static state feedback is solved.

Intermittent disturbance mechanical behavior and fractional deterioration mechanical model of rock under complex true triaxial stress paths

Mechanical excavation,blasting,adjacent rockburst and fracture slip that occur during mining excavation impose dynamic loads on the rock mass,leading to further fracture of damaged surrounding rock in three-dimensional high-stress and even causing disasters.Therefore,a novel complex true triaxial static-dynamic combined loading method reflecting underground excavation damage and then frequent intermittent disturbance failure is proposed.True triaxial static compression and intermittent disturbance tests are carried out on monzogabbro.The effects of intermediate principal stress and amplitude on the strength characteristics,deformation characteristics,failure characteristics,and precursors of monzogabbro are analyzed,intermediate principal stress and amplitude increase monzogabbro strength and tensile fracture mechanism.Rapid increases in microseismic parameters during rock loading can be precursors for intermittent rock disturbance.Based on the experimental result,the new damage fractional elements and method with considering crack initiation stress and crack unstable stress as initiation and acceleration condition of intermittent disturbance irreversible deformation are proposed.A novel three-dimensional disturbance fractional deterioration model considering the intermediate principal stress effect and intermittent disturbance damage effect is established,and the model predicted results align well with the experimental results.The sensitivity of stress states and model parameters is further explored,and the intermittent disturbance behaviors at different f are predicted.This study provides valuable theoretical bases for the stability analysis of deep mining engineering under dynamic loads.

Mechanical properties and acoustic emission characteristics of soft rock with different water contents under dynamic disturbance

Uniaxial compression tests and cyclic loading acoustic emission tests were conducted on 20%,40%,60%,80%,dry and saturated muddy sandstone by using a creep impact loading system to investigate the mechanical properties and acoustic emission characteristics of soft rocks with different water contents under dynamic disturbance.The mechanical properties and acoustic emission characteristics of muddy sandstones at different water contents were analysed.Results of experimental studies show that water is a key factor in the mechanical properties of rocks,softening them,increasing their porosity,reducing their brittleness and increasing their plasticity.Under uniaxial compression,the macroscopic damage characteristics of the muddy sandstone change from mono-bevel shear damage and‘X’type conjugate bevel shear damage to a roadway bottom-drum type damage as the water content increases.Dynamic perturbation has a strengthening effect on the mechanical properties of samples with 60%and less water content,and a weakening effect on samples with 80%and more water content,but the weakening effect is not obvious.Macroscopic damage characteristics of dry samples remain unchanged,water samples from shear damage and tensile–shear composite damage gradually transformed into cleavage damage,until saturation transformation monoclinic shear damage.The evolution of acoustic emission energy and event number is mainly divided into four stages:loading stage(Ⅰ),dynamic loading stage(Ⅱ),yield failure stage(Ⅲ),and post-peak stage(Ⅳ),the acoustic emission characteristics of the stages were different for different water contents.The characteristic value of acoustic emission key point frequency gradually decreases,and the damage degree of the specimen increases,corresponding to low water content—high main frequency—low damage and high water content—low main frequency—high damage.

Disturbances rejection optimization based on improved two-degree-of-freedom LADRC for permanent magnet synchronous motor systems

Permanent magnet synchronous motor(PMSM)speed control systems with conventional linear active disturbance rejection control(CLADRC)strategy encounter issues regarding the coupling between dynamic response and disturbance suppression and have poor performance in suppressing complex nonlinear disturbances.In order to address these issues,this paper proposes an improved two-degree-of-freedom LADRC(TDOF-LADRC)strategy,which can enhance the disturbance rejection performance of the system while decoupling entirely the system's dynamic and anti-disturbance performance to boost the system robustness and simplify controller parameter tuning.PMSM models that consider total disturbances are developed to design the TDOF-LADRC speed controller accurately.Moreover,to evaluate the control performance of the TDOF-LADRC strategy,its stability is proven,and the influence of each controller parameter on the system control performance is analyzed.Based on it,a comparison is made between the disturbance observation ability and anti-disturbance performance of TDOF-LADRC and CLADRC to prove the superiority of TDOF-LADRC in rejecting disturbances.Finally,experiments are performed on a 750 W PMSM experimental platform,and the results demonstrate that the proposed TDOF-LADRC exhibits the properties of two degrees of freedom and improves the disturbance rejection performance of the PMSM system.

Impact of spatially varying rock disturbance on rock slope stability

Degradation of rock mass produced by rock blasting,stress relief,and other causes is an important factor in the assessment of rock strength.Quantified as a disturbance factor,such degradation varies depending on blasting control,stress state and stress relief,and rock mass quality.This study focuses on the impact of disturbance on the safety of slopes.The disturbance in the rock mass is characterized by the geometry of the disturbed zone,its size,the magnitude,and the decaying rate with the distance away from the slope surface.A method accounting for decay of rock disturbance is presented.A study of the impact of rock disturbance characteristics on the quantitative stability measures of slopes was carried out.These characteristics included disturbed zone geometry,its thickness,the maximum magnitude of the disturbance factor,and the rate of disturbance decaying.The thickness of the disturbed zone and the maximum factor of disturbance were found to have the greatest impact.For example,the factor of safety for a 45slope in low-quality rock mass can decrease from 1.96 to 1.09 as the thickness of the disturbed zone increases from 1/4 of slope height H to the double of H and the maximum disturbance factor increases from 0.5 to 1.Uniform thickness of a disturbed zone was found to yield more conservative outcomes than the triangular zones did.The critical failure surfaces were found to be shallow for high rates of disturbance decay,and they were the deepest for spatially uniform disturbance factors.

Vibration Control of A Flexible Marine Riser System Subject to Input Dead Zone and Extraneous Disturbances

An observer-based adaptive backstepping boundary control is proposed for vibration control of flexible offshore riser systems with unknown nonlinear input dead zone and uncertain environmental disturbances.The control algorithm can update the control law online through real-time data to make the controller adapt to the environment and improve the control precision.Specifically,based on the adaptive backstepping framework,virtual control laws and Lyapunov functions are designed for each subsystem.Three direction interference observers are designed to track the timevarying boundary disturbance.On this basis,the inverse of the dead zone and linear state transformation are used to compensate for the original system and eliminate the adverse effects of the dead zone.In addition,the stability of the closed-loop system is proven by Lyapunov stability theory.All the system states are bounded,and the vibration offset of the riser converges to a small area of the initial position.Finally,four examples of flexible marine risers are simulated in MATLAB to verify the effectiveness of the proposed controller.

Microdynamic mechanical properties and fracture evolution mechanism of monzogabbro with a true triaxial multilevel disturbance method

The far-field microdynamic disturbance caused by the excavation of deep mineral resources and underground engineering can induce surrounding rock damage in high-stress conditions and even lead to disasters.However,the mechanical properties and damage/fracture evolution mechanisms of deep rock induced by microdynamic disturbance under three-dimensional stress states are unclear.Therefore,a true triaxial multilevel disturbance test method is proposed,which can completely simulate natural geostress,excavation stress redistribution(such as stress unloading,concentration and rotation),and subsequently the microdynamic disturbance triggering damaged rock failure.Based on a dynamic true triaxial test platform,true triaxial microdynamic disturbance tests under different frequency and amplitudes were carried out on monzogabbro.The results show that increasing amplitude or decreasing frequency diminishes the failure strength of monzogabbro.Deformation modulus gradually decreases during disturbance failure.As frequency and amplitude increase,the degradation rate of deformation modulus decreases slightly,disturbance dissipated energy increases significantly,and disturbance deformation anisotropy strengthens obviously.A damage model has been proposed to quantitatively characterize the disturbance-induced damage evolution at different frequency and amplitude under true triaxial stress.Before disturbance failure,the micro-tensile crack mechanism is dominant,and the micro-shear crack mechanism increases significantly at failure.With the increase of amplitude and frequency,the micro-shear crack mechanism increases.When approaching disturbance failure,the acoustic emission fractal dimension changes from a stable value to local large oscillation,and finally increases sharply to a high value at failure.Finally,the disturbance-induced failure mechanism of surrounding rock in deep engineering is clearly elucidated.

Adjustment mechanism of blasting dynamic-static action in the water decoupling charge

Water decoupling charge blasting excels in rock breaking,relying on its uniform pressure transmission and low energy dissipation.The water decoupling coefficients can adjust the contributions of the stress wave and quasi-static pressure.However,the quantitative relationship between the two contributions is unclear,and it is difficult to provide reasonable theoretical support for the design of water decoupling blasting.In this study,a theoretical model of blasting fracturing partitioning is established.The mechanical mechanism and determination method of the optimal decoupling coefficient are obtained.The reliability is verified through model experiments and a field test.The results show that with the increasing of decoupling coefficient,the rock breaking ability of blasting dynamic action decreases,while quasi-static action increases and then decreases.The ability of quasi-static action to wedge into cracks changes due to the spatial adjustment of the blast hole and crushed zone.The quasi-static action plays a leading role in the fracturing range,determining an optimal decoupling coefficient.The optimal water decoupling coefficient is not a fixed value,which can be obtained by the proposed theoretical model.Compared with the theoretical results,the maximum error in the model experiment results is 8.03%,and the error in the field test result is 3.04%.

Uncertainty and disturbance estimator-based model predictive control for wet flue gas desulphurization system

Wet flue gas desulphurization technology is widely used in the industrial process for its capability of efficient pollution removal.The desulphurization control system,however,is subjected to complex reaction mechanisms and severe disturbances,which make for it difficult to achieve certain practically relevant control goals including emission and economic performances as well as system robustness.To address these challenges,a new robust control scheme based on uncertainty and disturbance estimator(UDE)and model predictive control(MPC)is proposed in this paper.The UDE is used to estimate and dynamically compensate acting disturbances,whereas MPC is deployed for optimal feedback regulation of the resultant dynamics.By viewing the system nonlinearities and unknown dynamics as disturbances,the proposed control framework allows to locally treat the considered nonlinear plant as a linear one.The obtained simulation results confirm that the utilization of UDE makes the tracking error negligibly small,even in the presence of unmodeled dynamics.In the conducted comparison study,the introduced control scheme outperforms both the standard MPC and PID(proportional-integral-derivative)control strategies in terms of transient performance and robustness.Furthermore,the results reveal that a lowpass-filter time constant has a significant effect on the robustness and the convergence range of the tracking error.

Assessment of large-scale multiple forest disturbance susceptibilities with AutoML framework: an Izmir Regional Forest Directorate case

Disturbances such as forest fires,intense winds,and insect damage exert strong impacts on forest ecosystems by shaping their structure and growth dynamics,with contributions from climate change.Consequently,there is a need for reliable and operational methods to monitor and map these disturbances for the development of suitable management strategies.While susceptibility assessment using machine learning methods has increased,most studies have focused on a single disturbance.Moreover,there has been limited exploration of the use of“Automated Machine Learning(AutoML)”in the literature.In this study,susceptibility assessment for multiple forest disturbances(fires,insect damage,and wind damage)was conducted using the PyCaret AutoML framework in the Izmir Regional Forest Directorate(RFD)in Turkey.The AutoML framework compared 14 machine learning algorithms and ranked the best models based on AUC(area under the curve)values.The extra tree classifier(ET)algorithm was selected for modeling the susceptibility of each disturbance due to its good performance(AUC values>0.98).The study evaluated susceptibilities for both individual and multiple disturbances,creating a total of four susceptibility maps using fifteen driving factors in the assessment.According to the results,82.5%of forested areas in the Izmir RFD are susceptible to multiple disturbances at high and very high levels.Additionally,a potential forest disturbances map was created,revealing that 15.6%of forested areas in the Izmir RFD may experience no damage from the disturbances considered,while 54.2%could face damage from all three disturbances.The SHAP(Shapley Additive exPlanations)methodology was applied to evaluate the importance of features on prediction and the nonlinear relationship between explanatory features and susceptibility to disturbance.

Enhanced measurement precision with continuous interrogation during dynamical decoupling

Dynamical decoupling(DD)is normally ineffective when applied to DC measurement.In its straightforward implementation,DD nulls out DC signal as well while suppressing noise.This work proposes a phase relay method that is capable of continuously interrogating the DC signal over many DD cycles.We illustrate its efficacy when applied to the measurement of a weak DC magnetic field with an atomic spinor Bose-Einstein condensate.Sensitivities approaching standard quantum limit or Heisenberg limit are potentially realizable for a coherent spin state or a squeezed spin state of 10000 atoms,respectively,while ambient laboratory level noise is suppressed by DD.Our work offers a practical approach to mitigate the limitations of DD to DC measurement and would find other applications for resorting coherence in quantum sensing and quantum information processing research.

Determining the effective elastic thickness through cross-correlation between isostatic disturbances

The elastic thickness parameter was estimated using the mobile correlation technique between the observed isostatic disturbance and the gravity disturbance calculated through direct gravimetric modeling. We computed the vertical flexure value of the crust for a specific elastic thickness using a given topographic dataset. The gravity disturbance due to the topography was determined after the calculation. A grid of values for the elastic thickness parameter was generated. Then, a moving correlation was performed between the observed gravity data(representing actual surface data) and the calculated data from the forward modeling. The optimum elastic thickness of the particular point corresponded to the highest correlation coefficient. The methodology was tested on synthetic data and showed that the synthetic depth closely matched the original depth, including the elastic thickness value. To validate the results, the described procedure was applied to a real dataset from the Barreirinhas Basin, situated in the northeastern region of Brazil. The results show that the obtained crustal depth is highly correlated with the depth from known models. Additionally, we noted that the elastic thickness behaves as expected, decreasing from the continent towards the ocean. Based on the results, this method has the potential to be employed as a direct estimate of crustal depth and elastic thickness for any region.

How can technology and efficiency alleviate the dilemma of economic growth and carbon emissions in China's industrial economy? A metafrontier decoupling decomposition analysis

This paper attempts to explore the decoupling relationship and its drivers between industrial economic increase and energy-related CO_(2) emissions(ICE). Firstly, the decoupling relationship was evaluated by Tapio index. Then, based on the DEA meta-frontier theory framework which taking into account the regional and industrial heterogeneity and index decomposition method, the driving factors of decoupling process were explored mainly from the view of technology and efficiency. The results show that during2000-2019, weak decoupling was the primary state. Investment scale expansion was the largest reason hindering decoupling process of industrial increase from ICE. Both energy saving and production technology achieved significant progress, which facilitated the decoupling process. Simultaneously, the energy technology gap and production technology gap among regions have been narrowed, and played a role in promoting decoupling process. On the contrary, both scale economy efficiency and pure technical efficiency have inhibiting effects on decoupling process. The former indicates that the scale economy of China's industry was not conducive to improve energy efficiency and production efficiency, while the latter indicates that resource misallocation problem may exist in both energy market and product market.

Dynamic response characteristics of muddy sandstone in pumped storage mine under action of high-stress dynamic disturbance

During the construction and operation of the abandoned mine pumped storage power station,the underground space surrounding rock body faces the complex stress environment under the action of mining disturbance,frequent pumping,water storage and other dynamic disturbances.The stability of the abandoned mine surrounding rock body is the basis for guaranteeing the safety and effectiveness of water storage in the underground space of the abandoned mine.By considering the two main factors of different stress levels and disturbance amplitudes,the mechanical properties,damage characteristics and acoustic emission characteristics of the abandoned mine perimeter rock body under dynamic disturbance were investigated using a creep-disturbed dynamic impact loading system.The experimental results show that:1)The stress level is considered to be the major contributing factor of the failure of muddy sandstone,followed by the amplitude of the disturbances;2)The time required for the destruction of muddy sandstone decreases with the increase of amplitude.When the stress level is 80%,the sandstone specimens have a decreasing number of cycles as the disturbance amplitude increases.The disturbance amplitude is sequentially increased from 4 MPa to 5,6,7,and 8 MPa,the number of cycles required for specimen destruction decreases significantly by 96.71%,99.13%,99.60%,and 99.93%,respectively;3)Disturbance amplitude and stress level have a significant effect on muddy sandstone damage and damage occurs only after a certain threshold is reached.With the increase of stress level and disturbance amplitude,the macroscopic damage of muddy sandstone is mainly conical,with obvious flake spalling and poor damage integrity;4)According to the time-dependent changes in AE energy and ringing counts,the acoustic emission activity during the failure process could be divided into three phases,namely,weakening period,smooth period,and surge period,corresponding to the compaction phase,elastic rise phase and post-peak damage phase.The research results are of reference significance for the damage evolution analysis of muddy sandstone under dynamic disturbance and the safety and stability of abandoned mine perimeter rock body.

IMTNet:Improved Multi-Task Copy-Move Forgery Detection Network with Feature Decoupling and Multi-Feature Pyramid

Copy-Move Forgery Detection(CMFD)is a technique that is designed to identify image tampering and locate suspicious areas.However,the practicality of the CMFD is impeded by the scarcity of datasets,inadequate quality and quantity,and a narrow range of applicable tasks.These limitations significantly restrict the capacity and applicability of CMFD.To overcome the limitations of existing methods,a novel solution called IMTNet is proposed for CMFD by employing a feature decoupling approach.Firstly,this study formulates the objective task and network relationship as an optimization problem using transfer learning.Furthermore,it thoroughly discusses and analyzes the relationship between CMFD and deep network architecture by employing ResNet-50 during the optimization solving phase.Secondly,a quantitative comparison between fine-tuning and feature decoupling is conducted to evaluate the degree of similarity between the image classification and CMFD domains by the enhanced ResNet-50.Finally,suspicious regions are localized using a feature pyramid network with bottom-up path augmentation.Experimental results demonstrate that IMTNet achieves faster convergence,shorter training times,and favorable generalization performance compared to existingmethods.Moreover,it is shown that IMTNet significantly outperforms fine-tuning based approaches in terms of accuracy and F_(1).

Stand dynamics of old-growth hemlock forests in central Bhutan are shaped by natural disturbances

Understanding how past disturbances have influenced the development of forests is critical for deciphering their current structure and composition and forecasting future changes.In this study,dendrochronological methods were applied to uncover the disturbance history of old-growth hemlock-dominated forests in central Bhutan.Analysis of tree-ring samples from two old-growth hemlock stands,located in two different topographic settings,identified the importance of gap-phase dynamics in facilitating recruitment and growth releases and producing complex,multi-aged structure s over time.One site showed evidence of a near stand-replacing disturbance in the late 1700s,while the other showed no evide nce of high-severity disturbance at any time over the last 400 years.At both sites low-to medium-severity disturbances,some of which appear to be associated with cyclones originating in the Bay of Bengal,dominated the disturbance regime.The hemlock stands exhibited a significant positive association between cyclone occurrence and growth release events and between recruitment pulses and growth release events.From 1800 to 1970 there was an increase in recruitment of angiosperm tree species at most sites and a corresponding decline in conifer recruitment.Over the past 50 years there has been little new recruitment;this may be due to light limitation in the understory from shade-tolerant angiosperms and bamboo in the lower strata of these stands.Significant variations in disturbance dynamics and recruitment were observed across the study sites,suggesting that other factors,such as topography and climate,may be influencing long-term stand development patterns.This study highlights the complex interplay between historical disturbance regimes and tree recruitment in shaping the age and size structures of old-growth hemlock forests in central Bhutan.It also provides new insights into the dynamics of these forests that can be used to support effective forest conservation and management in the future.