Abstract: [Objective] The quantitative assessment of resilience provides a theoretical basis and practical guidance for rational management and tending of forest ecosystem, and for enhancing the resilience of forest ecosystem disturbed by extreme freezing ice and snow disaster.[Method] Based on three core attribute functions of self-organization, resistance and adaptability of forest ecosystem, key indicators of climate, soil, topography, ecological storage and human activities, together with dynamic monitoring technology of remote sensing, were chosen to establish the indicators system for integrated evaluation of resilience of forest ecosystem. Daoxian county in Hunan Province was taken as a case study of the integrated quantitative evaluation of the forest ecosystem resilience in hilly and mountainous areas in south China where the extreme climate disturbance of freezing snow and ice disaster experienced in 2008.[Result] The integrated evaluation of resilience showed distinct difference from the evaluation of individual attributes. All the three core attributes of resilience should be considered in the integrated quantitative evaluation. The normalized self-organization ability ranged from 0.4 to 0.9, with higher values in the northern, western and southwestern regions of Daoxian county. The normalized resistance in most regions ranged from 0.5 to 0.6, and followed by a range from 0.4 to 0.5. The normalized adaptability in most regions ranged from 0.4 to 0.5, and followed by a range from 0.5 to 0.6. Meanwhile, the resilience of forest ecosystem in Daoxian county showed moderate level, ranging from 1.2 to 1.8, and the northern, western and southern regions of Daoxian county was relatively high. Generally, the resilience of the natural forest ecosystem was much higher.[Conclusion] To evaluate the forest ecosystem resilience objectively, accurately and conveniently, forest ecosystem structure prior to the disturbance, damages during the disturbance and processes of recovery after the disturbance should be comprehensively considered, integrating the three core attribute functions of self-organization, resistance and adaptability should be comprehensively evaluated. The combination of remote sensing technology combined with traditional forest resource inventory provides an effective way for comprehensive quantitative evaluation of resilience. It was found that forest ecosystem in natural state has a relatively high resilience. Restricting the scope and extent of human activities and keeping the forest in a natural state would significantly improve the resilience of forest ecosystem.

Key words: forest ecosystem, resilience, quantitative evaluation, self-organization ability, resistance, adaptability