Climate change may strongly influence soil erosion risk, namely through variations in the precipitation pattern. Forests may contribute to mitigate the impacts of climate change on soil erosion and forest managers are thus challenged by the need to define strategies that may protect the soil while addressing the demand for other ecosystem services. Our emphasis is on the development of an approach to assess the impact of silvicultural practices and forest management models on soil erosion risks under climate change. Specifically, we consider the annual variation of the cover-management factor (C) in the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation over a range of alternative forest management models to estimate the corresponding annual soil losses, under both current and changing climate conditions. We report and discuss results of an application of this approach to a forest area in Northwestern Portugal where erosion control is the most relevant water-related ecosystem service. Local climate change scenarios will contribute to water erosion processes, mostly by rainfall erosivity increase. Different forest management models provide varying levels of soil protection by trees, resulting in distinct soil loss potential. Results confirm the suitability of the proposed approach to address soil erosion concerns in forest management planning. This approach may help foresters assess management models and the corresponding silvicultural practices according to the water-related services they provide.

中文翻译：

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解决气候变化下森林生态系统管理中的土壤保护问题

气候变化可能会严重影响土壤侵蚀风险，即通过降雨模式的变化。森林可能有助于减轻气候变化对土壤侵蚀的影响，因此森林管理者面临的挑战是，需要制定既可以保护土壤又可以满足其他生态系统服务需求的战略。我们的重点是开发一种方法来评估造林实践和森林管理模式对气候变化下土壤侵蚀风险的影响。具体而言，我们在一系列替代森林管理模型中考虑了经修订的通用土壤流失方程中的覆盖管理因子（C）的年度变化，以估算在当前和不断变化的气候条件下相应的年度土壤流失。我们报告并讨论了该方法在葡萄牙西北部森林地区的应用结果，该地区的侵蚀控制是与水相关的最相关的生态系统服务。当地的气候变化情景将主要通过降雨侵蚀力的增加来促进水蚀过程。不同的森林经营模式通过树木提供了不同程度的土壤保护，导致明显的土壤流失潜力。结果证实了所提出的方法在森林管理规划中解决土壤侵蚀问题的适用性。这种方法可以帮助林业工作者根据他们提供的与水有关的服务评估管理模式和相应的造林实践。当地的气候变化情景将主要通过降雨侵蚀力的增加来促进水蚀过程。不同的森林经营模式通过树木提供了不同程度的土壤保护，导致明显的土壤流失潜力。结果证实了所提出的方法在森林管理规划中解决土壤侵蚀问题的适用性。这种方法可以帮助林业工作者根据他们提供的与水有关的服务评估管理模式和相应的造林实践。当地的气候变化情景将主要通过降雨侵蚀力的增加来促进水蚀过程。不同的森林经营模式通过树木提供了不同程度的土壤保护，导致明显的土壤流失潜力。结果证实了所提出的方法在森林管理规划中解决土壤侵蚀问题的适用性。这种方法可以帮助林业工作者根据他们提供的与水有关的服务评估管理模式和相应的造林实践。