Unveiling the threshold in forest patch shapes to soil retention ecosystem services

Soil erosion is a critical process that leads to landscape degradation, compromising soil fertility and ecosystem functions. Forest ecosystems, with their intricate characteristics, play a pivotal role in mitigating soil erosion and providing soil retention ecosystem services (SRES). This study explores the impact of forest patch thresholds and critical points on soil erosion rates, focusing on 401 catchments in Poland using generalised additive models to identify thresholds and critical points in forest patches. Landscape metrics were applied to measure landscape structure, including shape, fractal dimension, contiguity, related circumscribing circles, and perimeter-area ratio indexes. These metrics, along with slope, rainfall, organic carbon content, water content, and clay ratio variables, were considered dependent variables in the models. The developed models have demonstrated reliable performance in estimating soil erosion rates, with a significant deviation explained from 80.5 to 81.1 for coniferous forest patches, 79.1 to 80.1 for broad-leave forest patches, and 80.9 to 81.4 for mixed forest patches at p < 0.05. In broad-leaved forests, three thresholds are identified in the shape index, which influence soil erosion rates in a complex manner. For coniferous forests, thresholds in the perimeter area ratio, related circumscribing circles, and contiguity indexes exhibit nonlinear relationships with soil erosion rates. Mixed forests show two thresholds in the related circumscribing circle and one in the fractal dimension index, affecting soil erosion rates differently. This research contributes significantly to understanding the interplay between forest patch shapes and soil erosion rates, providing decision support for land use planning. The identified thresholds and critical points offer valuable tools to enhance sustainable landscape functionality, emphasizing the importance of considering forest landscape structure in preserving soil retention ecosystem services.