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Drivers of basal area variation across primary late-successional Picea abies forests of the Carpathian Mountains
Abstract
Disentangling the importance of developmental vs. environmental drivers of variation in forest biomass is key to predicting the future of forest carbon sequestration. At coarse scales, forest biomass is likely to vary along major climatic and physiographic gradients. Natural disturbance occurs along these broad biophysical gradients, and depending on their extent, severity and frequency, could either amplify or dampen spatial heterogeneity in forest biomass. Here we evaluate spatial variation in the basal area of late-successional Picea abies (L./Karst.) forests across the Carpathian Mountain Range of central Europe and compare the roles of coarse-scale biophysical gradients and natural disturbances in driving that variation across a hierarchy of scales (landscapes, stands, and plots). We inventoried forest composition and structure, and reconstructed disturbance histories using tree cores collected from 472 plots nested within 30 late-successional stands, spanning the Carpathian Mountains (ap-proximately 4.5 degrees of latitude). We used linear mixed-effects models to compare the effect of disturbance regimes and site conditions on stand basal area at three hierarchical scales. We found that the basal area of late-successional Picea abies forests varied across a range of spatial scales, with climatic drivers being most important at coarse scales and natural disturbances acting as the primary driver of forest heterogeneity at fine scales. For instance, the stand-level basal area varied among landscapes, with the highest values (48-68 m 2 ha −1) in the warmer southern Carpathian Mountains, and lower values (37-52 m 2 ha −1 on average) in cooler areas of the eastern and western Carpathians. Finer-scale variation was driven by local disturbances (mainly bark beetle and windstorms) and the legacies of disturbances that occurred more than a century ago. Our findings suggest that warming could increase the basal area of northern sites, but potential increasing disturbances could disrupt these environmental responses.
... This could intensify if climate change leads to increased speciesspecific mortality in primary forests in the future (Ehbrecht et al., 2021). Changing disturbance regimes, particularly their intensity and frequency, such as windstorms, bark beetle outbreaks and droughts (Schurman et al., 2019;Marchand et al., 2023) impact the structural integrity and regenerative capacity of forest ecosystems (Ehbrecht et al., 2021;McDowell et al., 2020). Uncertainties in future climate change, the consequences for disturbance regimes, and the interactions with ecosystem dynamics mean that future carbon storage is difficult to predict (Ehbrecht et al., 2021;Patacca et al., 2023;Fotis et al., 2018). ...
... Climatic extreme events, such as bark beetle outbreaks in spruce forests to wind/snowstorms, have a localised impact on the proportion of physical breakage of a tree (i.e., crown, stem or uprooting) (Synek et al., 2020;Frankovi c et al., 2021;Mikol a s et al., 2021). Increasing temperatures due to drought have a widespread, disproportionate effect on forests at different elevations, may disrupt current disturbance regimes and elevate the impact by localised disturbance agents (Schurman et al., 2019;Chivulescu et al., 2021). ...
... Outbreaks of European bark beetle (Ips typographus L.) are widespread but species-specific, only infesting spruce (Synek et al., 2020). The two main forest types in the region are Norway spruce (Picea abies L.) dominating the upper elevation sites, and European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) at the lower elevations (Janda et al., 2019;Schurman et al., 2019), usually mixed with sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus L.), small-leaved lime (Tilia cordata Mill.), and common hornbeam (Carpinus betulus L.). Additionally, silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) is found in both spruce and beech forests (Janda et al., 2019;Ralhan et al., 2023). ...
Primary forests are spatially diverse terrestrial ecosystems with unique characteristics, being naturally regenerative and heterogeneous, which supports the stability of their carbon storage through the accumulation of live and dead biomass. Yet, little is known about the interactions between biomass stocks, tree genus diversity and structure across a temperate montane primary forest. Here, we investigated the relationship between tree structure (variability in basal area and tree size), genus-level diversity (abundance, tree diversity) and biomass stocks in temperate primary mountain forests across Central and Eastern Europe. We used inventory data from 726 permanent sample plots from mixed beech and spruce across the Carpathian Mountains. We used nonlinear regression to analyse the spatial variability in forest biomass, structure, and genus-level diversity and how they interact with plot-level tree age, disturbances, temperature and altitude. We found that the combined effects of genus and structural indices were important for addressing the variability in biomass across different spatial scales. Local processes in disturbance regimes and uneven tree age support forest heterogeneity and the accumulation of live and dead biomass through the natural regeneration, growth and decay of the forest ecosystem. Structural complexities in basal area index, supported by genus-level abundance, positively influence total biomass stocks, which was modulated by tree age and disturbances. Spruce forests showed higher tree density and basal area than mixed beech forests, though mixed beech still contributes significantly to biomass across landscapes. Forest heterogeneity was strongly influenced by complexities in forest composition (tree genus diversity, structure). We addressed the importance of primary forests as stable carbon stores, achieved through structure and diversity. Safeguarding such ecosystems is critical for ensuring the stability of the primary forest, carbon store and biodiversity into the future.
... Within the interior (0.25 ha or 0.49 ha, respectively) of each cell, one permanent sample plot was randomly placed. Detailed description of field methods can be found in Janda et al. (2019). ...
... Also, to avoid short-term growth fluctuations, we only included growth releases when the post-release ring widths continued to exceed the preevent 10-year running mean for at least seven years (Fraver et al., 2009). Furthermore, because Picea abies is moderately shade-tolerant (Tjoelker et al., 2007), especially as a juvenile, multiple disturbances are sometimes required for the trees to reach the canopy (see Janda et al., 2019). The year of the release from suppression was determined to be proxy evidence of a disturbance using the absolute increase method (Fraver and White, 2005). ...
... Additionally, the proportion of the canopy area removed during that event was used as a measure of maximum disturbance severity. Detailed information concerning the specific methods of dendrochronological reconstruction and calculation of disturbance parameters was recently published by Schurman et al. (2018), Janda et al. (2019), and Č ada et al. (2020). Only events in excess of 10% canopy are removed were included in analyses. ...
Natural disturbances strongly influence forest structural dynamics, and subsequently stand structural heterogeneity, biomass, and forest functioning. The impact of disturbance legacies on current forest structure can greatly influence how we interpret drivers of forest dynamics. However, without clear insight into forest history, many studies default to coarse assumptions about forest structure, for example, whether forests are even or unevenly aged. The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of past disturbances on the current diameter distributions of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.)-dominated landscapes throughout the Carpathian Mountains. Our dendroecological dataset comprises tree cores from 339 plots (7,845 total tree cores), nested within 28 primary forest stands, known to vary greatly in the severity of historical disturbances. Our analyses revealed that historical disturbances had a strong and significant effect on the current diameter distribution shapes at the plot level. We demonstrated that mixed-severity disturbance regimes were more frequent and create a complex pattern of diameter distributions at the plot and stand scale. Here, we show that high severity disturbance was associated with unimodal diameter distributions, while low and moderate severity was associated with the reverse J-shaped distribution. This is a result of complex disturbance patterns, with structural biological legacies. Our results will have important management implication in the context of tree size heterogeneity, biomass storage, and productivity as influenced by natural disturbances. Lastly, these results demonstrate that structural changes may arise as consequences of changing disturbance regime associated with global change.
... This study was conducted in primary temperate mountain forests of the Carpathian Mountains and the Balkan peninsula, spanning from beech-dominated and mixed forests (hereafter referred to as beech-dominated) at lower elevations to spruce-dominated forests at higher elevations. These two regions contain the largest remnants of primary forests in the temperate zone of Europe (Janda et al., 2019;Mikoláš et al., 2019;Nagel et al., 2014;Sabatini et al., 2018). ...
... Radial growth patterns of increment cores were analyzed for evidence of past disturbance events within each plot. Quantitative reconstructions of disturbance histories for different regions of the larger data set used here have been published previously (Standovár & Kenderes, 2003;Svoboda et al., 2014;Trotsiuk et al., 2014;Janda et al., 2017;Meigs et al., 2017;Nagel et al., 2017;Schurman et al., 2018;Janda et al., 2019;Schurman, Babst, Björklund, et al., 2019;Čada et al., 2020;Frankovič et al., 2020), and provide detailed descriptions of dendroecological methods. We therefore only briefly summarize the methods used to reconstruct disturbance below. ...
... Several different environmental variables were also compiled to test their influence of longevity. We used raw values of slope steepness for each plot, while values of slope aspect were transformed into northness following the formula: northness = cosine [(aspect in degrees * π)/180] (Janda et al., 2019). To avoid problems with multicollinearity, we excluded altitude because it was strongly correlated with temperature (r = −0.752). ...
Aims
We examined differences in lifespan among the dominant tree species (spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.), fir (Abies alba Mill.), beech (Fagus sylvatica L.), and maple (Acer pseudoplatanus L.)) across primary mountain forests of Europe. We ask how disturbance history, lifetime growth patterns, and environmental factors influence lifespan.
Locations
Balkan mountains, Carpathian mountains, Dinaric mountains.
Methods
Annual ring widths from 20,600 cores from primary forests were used to estimate tree life spans, growth trends, and disturbance history metrics. Mixed models were used to examine species-specific differences in lifespan (i.e. defined as species-specific 90th percentiles of age distributions), and how metrics of radial growth, disturbance parameters, and selected environmental factors influence lifespan.
Results
While only a few beech trees surpassed 500 years, individuals of all four species were older than 400 years. There were significant differences in lifespan among the four species (beech > fir > spruce > maple), indicating life history differentiation in lifespan. Trees were less likely to reach old age in areas affected by more severe disturbance events, whereas individuals that experienced periods of slow growth and multiple episodes of suppression and release were more likely to reach old age. Aside from a weak but significant negative effect of vegetation season temperature on fir and maple lifespan, no other environmental factors included in the analysis influenced lifespan.
Conclusions
Our results indicate species-specific biological differences in lifespan, which may play a role in facilitating tree species coexistence in mixed temperate forests. Finally, natural disturbances regimes were a key driver of lifespan, which could have implications for forest dynamics if regimes shift under global change.
... The experimental design follows the work of Svoboda et al. [15] and Janda et al. [41]. No landscape analysis was carried out and hereinafter we will refer to the studied forest as the "stand level" and to the 1000 m 2 plots as the "patch level". ...
... The disturbance history was reconstructed following Janda et al. [41]. Chronologies of inferred canopy disturbances were based on classifying the radial growth patterns of non-suppressed trees in two patterns: (1) open canopy recruitment indicated by rapid initial growth or (2) release-trees that most likely established in a shaded environment and recruited to the canopy through gap formations in the canopy, as depicted by slow initial growth followed by an abrupt release [15,28,39] (Appendix B). ...
... Tree juvenile growth rates indicated trees that had open canopy recruitment [49]. Open canopy recruitment was assessed when the juvenile growth rate overcame threshold 1.6 mm/year [41]. The growth rate threshold that best-separated populations growing in open and closed canopy conditions [15] was then estimated using logistic regression and the intersection of specificity-an expression of the likelihood of false negatives and sensitivity-the likelihood of false positives [50]. ...
Research Highlights: Past disturbances occurred naturally in primary forests in the Southern Carpathians. High-and moderate-severity disturbances shaped the present structure of these ecosystems, which regenerated successfully without forestry interventions. Background and Objectives: Windstorms and bark beetle outbreaks have recently affected large forest areas across the globe, causing concerns that these disturbances lie outside the range of natural variability of forest ecosystems. This often led to salvage logging inside protected areas, one of the main reasons for primary forest loss in Eastern Europe. Although more than two-thirds of temperate primary forests in Europe are located in the Carpathian region of Eastern Europe, knowledge about how natural disturbances shape the forest dynamics in this region is highly essential for future management decisions. Material and Methods: We established our study in a primary forest valley situated in the centre of the largest temperate primary forest landscape in Europe (Făgăras , Mountains). A dendrochronological investigation was carried out to reconstruct the natural disturbance history and relate it to the present forest structure. Results: The dendrochronological analysis revealed high temporal variability in the disturbance patterns both at the patch and stand level. Moderate severity disturbance events were most common (20-40% of canopy disturbed in 60% of the plots) but high severity events did also occur (33% of the plots). Regeneration was spruce-dominated and 71% of the seedlings were found on deadwood microsites. Conclusions: We conclude that the current structure of the studied area is a consequence of the past moderate-severity disturbances and sporadic high-severity events. The peak in disturbances (1880-1910) followed by reduced disturbance rates may contribute to a recent and future increase in disturbances in the Făgăras , Mts. Our findings show that these disturbance types are within the range of natural variability of mountain spruce forests in the Southern Carpathians and should not be a reason for salvage logging in primary forests from this area.
... Basal area models exist at various levels, ranging from individual tree [19,20] to standlevel [21,22] models. Linear models [23,24], nonlinear models [25,26], and logarithmic transformation linear models [27,28] are based on the characteristics of different stand types and tree species and are commonly used to study variations in basal area. Linear models [24] and logarithmic transformation linear models [29] are often utilized to characterize the growth pa erns of basal area in individual trees. ...
... Linear models [23,24], nonlinear models [25,26], and logarithmic transformation linear models [27,28] are based on the characteristics of different stand types and tree species and are commonly used to study variations in basal area. Linear models [24] and logarithmic transformation linear models [29] are often utilized to characterize the growth pa erns of basal area in individual trees. In contrast, SBA dynamics are typically investigated using nonlinear models [30]. ...
Stand basal area (SBA) is an important variable in the prediction of forest growth and harvest yield. However, achieving the additivity of SBA models for multiple tree species in the complex structure of broad-leaved mixed forests is an urgent scientific issue in the study of accurately predicting the SBA of mixed forests. This study used data from 58 sample plots (30 m × 30 m) for Populus davidiana × Betula platyphylla broad-leaved mixed forests to construct the SBA basic model based on nonlinear least squares regression (NLS). Adjustment in proportion (AP) and nonlinear seemingly unrelated regression (NSUR) were used to construct a multi-species additive basal area prediction model. The results identified the Richards model (M6) and Korf model (M1) as optimal for predicting the SBA of P. davidiana and B. platyphylla, respectively. The SBA models incorporate site quality, stand density index, and age at 1.3 m above ground level, which improves the prediction accuracy of basal area. Compared to AP, NSUR is an effective method for addressing the additivity of basal area in multi-species mixed forests. The results of this study can provide a scientific basis for optimizing stand structure and accurately predicting SBA in multi-species mixed forests.
... The approaches described here have been applied on smaller subsets of the REMOTE dataset (e.g. Trotsiuk et al., 2014;Frankovič et al., 2020;Janda et al., 2019;Č ada et al., 2020). To identify rapid early growth (i.e. ...
... chronologies of proportions of plot canopy area disturbed) as a proxy for historical changes in plot level light conditions. Disturbance histories based on regional subsets of the presented dataset have been published previously (Čada et al., 2020;Frankovič et al., 2020;Janda et al., 2019Janda et al., , 2017Kameniar et al., 2023;Schurman et al., 2018;Svoboda et al., 2014;Trotsiuk et al., 2014), and Supplementary Section 2 provides further details on their calculation here. In short, we used plot-level disturbance histories to extract the maximum disturbance severity occurring between ten years before the first ring in a given tree ring series and the year of canopy accession, as well as the timing of this event for each tree (expressed in years after the ten years before the initial growth ring of a tree). ...
Canopy accession strategies reveal much about tree life histories and forest stand dynamics. However, the protracted nature of ascending to the canopy makes direct observation challenging. We use a reconstructive approach based on an extensive tree ring database to study the variability of canopy accession patterns of dominant tree species (Abies alba, Acer pseudoplatanus, Fagus sylvatica, Picea abies) in temperate mountain forests of Europe and elucidate how disturbance histories, climate, and topography affect canopy accession. All four species exhibited high variability of radial growth histories leading to canopy accession and indicated varying levels of shade tolerance. Individuals of all four species survived at least 100 years of initial suppression. Fir and particularly beech, however, survived longer periods of initial suppression, exhibited more release events, and reached the canopy later on average, with a larger share of trees accessing the canopy after initially suppressed growth. These results indicate the superior shade tolerance of beech and fir compared to spruce and maple. The two less shade-tolerant species conversely relied on faster growth rates, revealing their competitive advantage in non-suppressed conditions. Additionally, spruce from higher-elevation spruce-dominated forests survived shorter periods of initial shading and exhibited fewer releases, with a larger share of trees reaching the canopy after open canopy recruitment (i.e. in absence of suppression) and no subsequent releases compared to spruce growing in lower-elevation mixed forests. Finally, disturbance factors were identified as the primary driver of canopy accession, whereby disturbances accelerate canopy accession and consequently regulate competitive interactions. Intensifying disturbance regimes could thus promote shifts in species composition, particularly in favour of faster-growing, more light-demanding species.
... The altitude of the selected study sites ranges between 1000 and 1700 m a.s.l. in Germany and Romania, respectively. The average annual precipitation is between 1000 and 2000 mm with the annual temperatures ranging between 2 and 4°C (Janda et al., 2019). ...
... This grid-based database was created from existing historical weather records. The weather records from up to eight different sources were standardized, ranked in quality, selected, interpolated and smoothed to fit a onehalf degree latitude/longitude terrestrial grid surface (Janda et al., 2019). ...
Natural disturbances change forest habitat quality for many species. As the extent and intensity of natural disturbances may increase under climate change, it is unclear how this increase can affect habitat quality on different spatial scales. To support management tools and policies aiming to prevent habitat loss, we studied how habitat quality develops in the long run depending on the disturbance severity using a space‐for‐time substitution approach.
We explored the effects of time since disturbance (0–250 years) and disturbance severity (20%–100% canopy removal) on structure‐based habitat quality indicators in European primary Norway spruce Picea abies forests using 1000 m² circular plots in hierarchical design (a total of 407 plots in 35 stands). Disturbance history was reconstructed from tree cores. Habitat quality indicators were modelled as a function of the severity of the most severe disturbance and the time since this disturbance. We hypothesised that high within‐stand habitat heterogeneity is formed by different successional stages after disturbances of various intensities.
The results showed a U‐shaped response of habitat quality to post‐disturbance habitat succession on the plot scale. The decline deepened with disturbance severity. The U‐shape response occurred in: large tree occurrence, amount of standing and lying deadwood, diversity of understory and understory openness. The spatial diversity in disturbance parameters increased spatial diversity of habitat quality on a stand level as expected. This high within‐stand habitat heterogeneity also decreased with increasing age of the most recent disturbance. This suggests that the absence of young successional stages results in the absence of some important elements for biodiversity, for example sun‐exposed snags.
Synthesis and applications. Our results demonstrate that currently intensifying natural disturbance regime can consequently result in a lower habitat heterogeneity. In managed spruce forests after natural disturbances, we recommend at least the partial retention of biological legacies to preserve habitat heterogeneity and to avoid uniform and dense plantations resulting in a greater homogenisation. To emulate the natural disturbances pattern, spruce forests should be managed with a wide range of harvested patches of the size limited by a local natural disturbance regime creating spatial heterogeneity.
... The method identifies pronounced changes in growth rates by assessing the difference in mean growth rate changes between adjacent 10-year intervals. If the difference was greater than 0.505 mm for at least 7 years, we considered those cases as a release event (Fraver et al. 2009, Janda et al. 2019. Disturbance severity was defined as the current proportional area of disturbed canopy trees during a single decade to the overall canopy area of all currently living trees. ...
... Disturbance severity was defined as the current proportional area of disturbed canopy trees during a single decade to the overall canopy area of all currently living trees. More detailed information about processing of dendrochronological data and disturbance analysis are published in Janda et al. (2019). A list of variables derived from the data is provided in Table 2. ...
... In total, 5800 increment cores from 13 stands with 179 PSPs were collected in the period between 2013 and 2019. For a more detailed description of plot establishment and data collection strategy see Janda et al. (2019). ...
... We include only a brief description of the quantification of disturbance metrics, as we mainly extracted disturbance history parameters from a previously published 250-year disturbance reconstruction record from spruce primary forests (e.g., Čada et al., 2020;Janda et al., 2017Janda et al., , 2019Schurman et al., 2018Schurman et al., , 2019. ...
In a world of accelerating changes in environmental conditions driving tree growth, tradeoffs between tree growth rate and longevity could curtail the abundance of large, old trees (LOTs), with potentially dire consequences for biodiversity and carbon storage. However, the influence of tree‐level tradeoffs on forest structure at landscape scales will also depend on disturbances, which shape tree size and age distribution, and on whether LOTs can benefit from improved growing conditions due to climate warming. We analyzed temporal and spatial variation in radial growth patterns from ~ 5000 Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst) live and dead trees from the Western Carpathian primary spruce forest stands. We applied mixed‐linear modeling to quantify the importance of LOT growth histories and stand dynamics (i.e. competition and disturbance factors) on lifespan. Finally, we assessed regional synchronization in radial growth variability over the 20th century, and modelled the effects of stand dynamics and climate on LOTs recent growth trends. Tree age varied considerably among forest stands, implying an important role of disturbance as an age constraint. Slow juvenile growth and longer period of suppressed growth prolonged tree lifespan, while increasing disturbance severity and shorter time since last disturbance decreased it. The highest age was not achieved only by trees with continuous slow growth, but those with slow juvenile growth followed by subsequent growth releases. Growth trend analysis demonstrated an increase in absolute growth rates in response to climate warming, with late summer temperatures driving the recent growth trend. Contrary to our expectation that LOTs would eventually exhibit declining growth rates, the oldest LOTs (> 400 years) continuously increase growth throughout their lives, indicating a high phenotypic plasticity of LOTs for increasing biomass, and a strong carbon sink role of primary spruce forests under rising temperatures, intensifying droughts, and increasing bark beetle outbreaks.
... The method identifies pronounced changes in growth rates by assessing the difference in mean growth rate changes between adjacent 10-year intervals. If the difference was greater than 0.505 mm for at least 7 years, we considered those cases as a release event (Fraver et al. 2009, Janda et al. 2019. Disturbance severity was defined as the current proportional area of disturbed canopy trees during a single decade to the overall canopy area of all currently living trees. ...
... Disturbance severity was defined as the current proportional area of disturbed canopy trees during a single decade to the overall canopy area of all currently living trees. More detailed information about processing of dendrochronological data and disturbance analysis are published in Janda et al. (2019). A list of variables derived from the data is provided in Table 2. ...
Development of primary spruce forests is driven by a series of disturbances, which also have an important influence on the understorey vegetation and its diversity. Early post-disturbance processes have been intensively studied, however, very little is known about the long-term effects of disturbances on the understorey. We quantified disturbance history using dendrochronological methods to investigate its impact on vascular plant diversity and understorey species composition. We sampled 141 plots randomly assigned throughout primary stands located in the zone of natural montane acidophilous forests dominated by Picea abies (L.) Karst. in the Western Carpathians. Dendrochronological, dendrometric, and environmental parameters were related to understorey properties using ordination methods and a Bayesian approach using multilevel linear models (GLMM).
Time since the last disturbance (23–260 years ago; mostly windstorms and bark beetle outbreaks) had a significant effect on understorey species composition of the current communities, and it also interacted with disturbance severity to influence species diversity. The effect of disturbances on the understorey was largely mediated by the alteration of stand structure (age, DBH, canopy openness), Vaccinium myrtillus L. cover, and topsoil chemical properties. A period of severe disturbances between 1860 and 1890 resulted in a legacy of our current, relatively homogeneous spruce stands with less diverse sciophilous understorey dominated by V. myrtillus, which is in contrast to heterogeneous stands (in terms of age and spatial structure) driven by small-scale, lower-severity disturbances, which led to an understorey enriched by species with higher demands on light and topsoil quality (higher K concentration and lower C/N ratio).
All developmental pathways following disturbances create a unique complex of spatiotemporal understorey variability in the montane spruce forests. Therefore, to preserve their full diversity, disturbances of all severities and sizes should be accepted as natural drivers, both in the field of nature conservation and close-to-nature forestry efforts.
... Most importantly, topography can cause substantial regional and local climatic variation (CH 2000, Engler et al. 2011 impacting forest dynamics (Johnstone et al. 2010). Furthermore, current stand structure and species composition, which is strongly influenced by past management legacies (Bürgi et al. 2013) and disturbances (Janda et al. 2019), determine the future development of these forests at the local scale, at least in the short-to mid-term (Pretzsch 2009, Ruiz-Benito et al. 2013, De Cáceres et al. 2015, Etzold et al. 2019). In addition, species interactions influence both species productivity (Mette et al. 2013, Forrester et al. 2017 and distributions (Bullock et al. 2000, Takolander et al. 2019) and may hamper the immigration of other species at a given site (Walther 2010, Takolander et al. 2019). ...
... However, these results should be considered with caution because they primarily account for long-term climatic trends, i.e., gradual increases of the average of the monthly mean temperatures and directed relative changes of monthly precipitation. Other factors can strongly drive abrupt changes in stand BA, particularly extreme events and disturbances (i.e., fire, drought, wind, snow and ice, insects, and pathogens; Lindner et al. 2010, Barros et al. 2017, Janda et al. 2019, whose temporal occurrence is quite difficult to predict (but see Thom et al. 2017a, b). Still, the expected changes in species composition provide key information on strata that are most prone to abrupt declines of stand BA (Morin et al. 2018). ...
The increasing impacts of climate change on forest ecosystems have triggered multiple model‐based impact assessments for the future, which typically focused either on a small number of stand‐scale case studies or on large scale analyses (i.e., continental to global). Therefore, substantial uncertainty remains regarding the local impacts over large areas (i.e., regions to countries), which is particularly problematic for forest management. We provide a comprehensive, high‐resolution assessment of the climate change sensitivity of managed Swiss forests (~10,000 km²), which cover a wide range of environmental conditions. We used a dynamic vegetation model to project the development of typical forest stands derived from a stratification of the Third National Forest Inventory until the end of the 22nd century. Two types of simulations were conducted: one limited to using the extant local species, the other enabling immigration of potentially more climate‐adapted species. Moreover, to assess the robustness of our projections, we quantified and decomposed the uncertainty in model projections resulting from the following sources: (1) climate change scenarios, (2) local site conditions, and (3) the dynamic vegetation model itself (i.e., represented by a set of model versions), an aspect hitherto rarely taken into account. The simulations showed substantial changes in basal area and species composition, with dissimilar sensitivity to climate change across and within elevation zones. Higher‐elevation stands generally profited from increased temperature, but soil conditions strongly modulated this response. Low‐elevation stands were increasingly subject to drought, with strong negative impacts on forest growth. Furthermore, current stand structure had a strong effect on the simulated response. The admixture of drought‐tolerant species was found advisable across all elevations to mitigate future adverse climate‐induced effects. The largest uncertainty in model projections was associated with climate change scenarios. Uncertainty induced by the model version was generally largest where overall simulated climate change impacts were small, thus corroborating the utility of the model for making projections into the future. Yet, the large influence of both site conditions and the model version on some of the projections indicates that uncertainty sources other than climate change scenarios need to be considered in climate change impact assessments.
... The rate at which biomass is changing in a forest stand over time is influenced by multiple drivers. For instance, in managed European temperate forests, growth rates are positively correlated with temperature (Hilmers et al., 2019;Janda et al., 2019), forest structural diversity (Glatthorn et al., 2018), site fertility and water holding capacity (Holeksa et al., 2009). However, little is known on the effects of climate, site quality and competition on biomass change in unmanaged forests. ...
Forests can contribute to climate change mitigation by sequestering carbon when management intensity is reduced. However, there is high uncertainty regarding biomass dynamics in temperate forests after the cessation of management. We used forest inventory data from an extensive network of 224 plots in 37 natural forest reserves (NFR) covering a wide environmental gradient with mean annual temperatures ranging from 1 to 10.4 • C and mean annual precipitation ranging from 901 to 2317 mm. Inventories had been conducted approximately every 10 years during the last 60 years. We used mixed effect models to (i) analyse biomass development, (ii) assess the role of time since the cessation of management (TSCM) and (iii) disentangle the environmental and forest structural drivers of biomass change. After the cessation of management and in the absence of high-severity natural disturbances, biomass accumulated gradually along a saturation curve. There were large differences in biomass among reserves and plots, with values ranging from 101 Mg ha − 1 to 851.2 Mg ha − 1 , with a median of 362.1 Mg ha − 1 (SD = 122.5 Mg ha − 1). The biomass curve did not yet tend towards an equilibrium, most likely because the majority of the NFRs do not exceed 100 years of TSCM. Compared to higher elevations, forests at lower, warmer sites showed a larger total biomass and higher rates of biomass accumulation. We found a reduction by 148 Mg ha − 1 of biomass per 1000 m of elevation gain. The strongest positive rate of change (>8 Mg ha − 1 year − 1) was found in forests with high basal area (>60 m 2 ha − 1) and medium to high levels of tree density (1500 to 2000 stems ha − 1). Overall, most reserves have not reached a biomass equilibrium yet and continue to act as carbon sinks in tree biomass. This highlights the carbon sequestration capacity of forest reserves and their role as carbon pools.
... In the spruce forests, we collected an increment core from 25 random nonsuppressed trees with ≥ 10 cm dbh per plot. If the tree was rotten, it was replaced by a surrounding tree with similar dbh (Janda et al., 2019). In the mixed beech forests, the trees were selected for coring based on the hierarchy of size classes in a circular nested plot design. ...
Protecting structural features, such as tree‐related microhabitats (TreMs), is a cost‐effective tool crucial for biodiversity conservation applicable to large forested landscapes. Although the development of TreMs is influenced by tree diameter, species, and vitality, the relationships between tree age and TreM profile remain poorly understood. Using a tree‐ring‐based approach and a large data set of 8038 trees, we modeled the effects of tree age, diameter, and site characteristics on TreM richness and occurrence across some of the most intact primary temperate forests in Europe, including mixed beech and spruce forests. We observed an overall increase in TreM richness on old and large trees in both forest types. The occurrence of specific TreM groups was variably related to tree age and diameter, but some TreM groups (e.g., epiphytes) had a stronger positive relationship with tree species and elevation. Although many TreM groups were positively associated with tree age and diameter, only two TreM groups in spruce stands reacted exclusively to tree age (insect galleries and exposed sapwood) without responding to diameter. Thus, the retention of trees for conservation purposes based on tree diameter appears to be a generally feasible approach with a rather low risk of underrepresentation of TreMs. Because greater tree age and diameter positively affected TreM development, placing a greater emphasis on conserving large trees and allowing them to reach older ages, for example, through the establishment of conservation reserves, would better maintain the continuity of TreM resource and associated biodiversity. However, this approach may be difficult due to the widespread intensification of forest management and global climate change.
... У складі рідкого підліску поодиноко росте горобина звичайна Sorbus aucuparia L. У надґрунтовому покритті переважають чорниця Vaccinium myrtillus L., верес звичайний Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull., водянка чорна Empetrum nigrum L. та мохи, рідше трав'янисті рослини. Деревостани цього типу лісу зазвичай в Українських Карпатах при значних площах поширення формують квазіпраліси, а іноді праліси (Sabatini et al, 2018;Janda et al., 2019;Synek et al, 2020). Важливим компонентом лісового біоценозу в даному типі лісу є присутність великої кількості мертвої деревини, спричиненої важкими ґрунтово-гідрологічними умовами. ...
Зроблено підсумки лісотипологічних досліджень в Українських Карпатах наприкінці ХХ – початку ХХІ століття. Здійснено розподіл лісового фонду Карпат за типами лісорослинних умов. Закладено ряд пробних площ на території державних лісогосподарських та природоохоронних установ в межах Українських Карпат. Описано всі борові типи лісу Українських Карпат. На підставі детального аналізу отриманих результатів досліджень запропоновано розширити перелік типів лісу З.Ю. Герушинського (1996) в регіоні Українських Карпат такими типами: мокрий сосновий бір, свіжий сосновий бір. Подано діагностичні особливості нововведених борових типів лісу в регіоні досліджень. Описано корінні деревостани запропонованих типів лісу на закладених постійних пробних площах.
... The corresponding event severity was defined in terms of the proportional area of tree canopy removed by the disturbance, which was estimated using regression methods and allometric equations relating the aggregate present-day size of tree responders (individuals with a disturbance signal) to the original extent of the disturbance-induced canopy gap (Lorimer & Frelich, 1989). For more details see Janda et al. (2017Janda et al. ( , 2019. ...
Aim
Natural disturbances influence forest structure, successional dynamics, and, consequently, the distribution of species through time and space. We quantified the long-term impacts of natural disturbances on lichen species richness and composition in primary mountain forests, with a particular focus on the occurrence of endangered species.
Location
Ten primary mountain spruce forest stands across five mountain chains of the Western Carpathians, a European hotspot of biodiversity.
Methods
Living trees, snags, and downed logs were surveyed for epiphytic and epixylic lichens in 57 plots. Using reconstructed disturbance history, we tested how lichen species richness and composition was affected by the current forest structure and disturbance regimes in the past 250 years. We also examined differences in community composition among discrete microhabitats.
Results
Dead standing trees as biological legacies of natural disturbances promoted lichen species richness and occurrence of threatened species at the plot scale, suggesting improved growing conditions for rare and common lichens during the early stages of recovery post-disturbance. However, high-severity disturbances compromised plot scale species richness. Both species richness and the number of old-growth specialists increased with time since disturbance (i.e. long-term uninterrupted succession). No lichen species was strictly dependent on live trees as a habitat, but numerous species showed specificity to logs, standing objects, or admixture of tree species.
Main conclusions
Lichen species richness was lower in regenerating, young, and uniform plots compared to overmature and recently disturbed areas. Natural forest dynamics and its legacies are critical to the diversity and species composition of lichens. Spatiotemporal consequences of natural dynamics require a sufficient area of protected forests for provisioning continual habitat variability at the landscape scale. Ongoing climatic changes may further accentuate this necessity. Hence, we highlighted the need to protect the last remaining primary forests to ensure the survival of regionally unique species pools of lichens.
... The results indicate substantial heterogeneity on different scales. Local disturbances are considered the main driver of structural variability on a fine scale, while climatic factors are likely to play a key role on a coarse scale ( Janda et al., 2019). The increased variability in the observed mortality rates in the most disturbed Western Carpathian region is in contrast to the generally lower, but evenly distributed mortality in Northern Romania, which resulted in a higher plot-level median in Northern Romania. ...
Mortality, driven by both climate and disturbance legacies, is a key process shaping forest dynamics. Understanding the mortality patterns in primary forests in the absence of severe disturbances provides information on background natural dynamics of a given forest type under ongoing climate change. This can then be compared to mortality rates in severely-disturbed stands. Using a large number of sample plots along a gradient from low to high disturbance, we examined the mortality rates and composition of mortality agents in primary mountain Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) forests on different spatial scales. We evaluated the mortality rates and causes of mortality in 28 stands across a large geographical gradient spanning over 1000 km. We resampled (five-year period) 371 plots (16,287 living trees) in primary Norway spruce forests along the Carpathian mountain chain. The estimated overall annual mortality rate was within the previously reported range of background (ambient) mortality, however, stand-level and plot-level mortality rates varied substantially. Over 18% of plots displayed more than 2% annual mortality and 6% of plots even exceeded 10% per year. Stands in the Western Carpathians showed the highest variability in the mortality rate, with 30% of the stands in this region showing annual mortality rates over 5%. At the plot level, mixed-severity disturbances increased variability of mortality rates within most localities. Overall mortality was evenly distributed among size classes up to 50 cm diameter at breast height (DBH). However, the distributions differ for individual mortality agents. Mortality modes were classified into six categories (broken crown, broken stem, uprooted, competition, bark beetle/fungi, climatic extremes). Bark beetle (Ips typographus L.) infestation was the most frequent mortality agent in all stands, whereas the influence of competition as a mortality agent varied substantially. Mortality from abiotically-caused physical damage was similar to that from competition, yet the distribution among modes of physical damage (uprooted, crown, or stem breakage) varied. The lack of clear evidence of mortality agents in some locations implies that many tree deaths are caused by a combination of contributing factors. The results suggest the role of bark beetle as a mortality agent does not equate to severe mortality at large scales. Prevalence of different size classes affected by individual mortality agents underline the high complexity of the mortality process in primary forests.
... no old trees surviving) and are in early stages of stand development. For further details on site selection see Supplementary material X1 in Janda et al. (2019). ...
Accurate estimations of changes in the forest carbon (C) pools over time are essential for predicting the future forest C balance and its part in the global C cycle. While the overall understanding of global forest C dynamics has improved, some significant forest ecosystem processes have been largely overlooked, resulting in possible biases. As an example, the effects of low and moderate severity disturbances have received disproportionately little attention. In this study, we use an extensive database of 9610 tree increment cores from 400 plots in primary uneven-aged Norway spruce (Picea abies) forests in the Carpathian Mountains, to explore the dynamics of live and dead wood C after disturbance. The data represents a chronosequence of more than 250 years since disturbance, varying highly in severity. We found that disturbance severity had a substantial impact on the post-disturbance long-term accumulation of C. Initially, live tree C accumulated at a similar rate independent of disturbance severity. However, the increase in C leveled off earlier after low disturbance severity while the most heavily disturbed forests continued to accumulate C to the latest stages of stand development. These results stress the importance of taking disturbance severity into account when predicting the long-term dynamics of C storage in forests under climate change. The results also highlight the importance of these forests as significant C pools. If harvested and turned into managed forest they would not reach their maximum C storing capacity.
... A large network of forest inventory plots was established along the Carpathian arc continuously sampled and resampled during the last decade (https://www.remoteforests.org/). The network includes 531 plots (0.1 ha) of monotypic primary forests of Picea abies (L.) Karst distributed on 40 forest stands located within four landscapes, in Slovakia, Ukraine and Northern and Southern Romania ( Fig. 1) (Janda et al., 2019;Meigs et al., 2017). P. abies mountain forests are widespread in the Slovak Low Tatras, Great Fatra and Small Fatra, where they can predominantly be found from 1200 to 1300 m a.s.l. up to the alpine zone (Holeksa et al., 2017). ...
A tree's radial growth sequence can be thought of as an aggregate of different growth components such as age and size limitations, presence or absence of disturbance events, continuous impact of climate variability and variance induced by unknown origin. The potentially very complex growth patterns with prominent temporal and spatial variability imply that our understanding of climate-vegetation feedbacks essentially benefits from the expansion of large tree ring networks into data-poor regions, and our ability to disentangle growth constraints by comparing ring series at multiple scales. In this study, we analyze Central-Eastern Europe's most substantial assemblage of primary Norway spruce forests found in the Carpathian arc. The vast data set, >10,000 tree-ring series, is stratified along a prominent gradient in climate response space over four separate landscapes. We integrated curve intervention detection and dendroclimatic standardization to decompose tree growth variance into climatic, disturbance and residual components to explore the behavior of the components over increasingly larger spatial hierarchies. We show that the residual variance of unknown origin is the most prominent variance in individual Carpathian spruce trees, but at larger spatial hierarchies, climate variance dominates. The variance induced by climate was further explored with common correlation analyses, growth response to extreme climate years and forward modeling of tree growth to identify leading modes of climate response, and potentially non-linear and mixed climate response patterns. We find that the climatic response of the different forest landscapes overall can be described as an asymptotic response to June and July temperatures, most likely intermixed with influence from winter precipitation. In the collection of landscapes, Southern Romania stands out as being the least temperature sensitive and most likely exhibiting the most complicated mixed temperature and moisture limitation.
Natural disturbances play a crucial role in shaping forest structural dynamics, directly influencing stand structural heterogeneity. In European forests, disturbances occur across varying scales, from small patches to entire landscapes, significantly affecting ecosystem dynamics. However, detailed information on historical disturbances
and their specific effects on forest structure, particularly tree size distributions in primary mountain forests, remains limited. With global change altering the severity and frequency of these disturbances, understanding their long-term impact has become increasingly critical for forest management and conservation. We addressed two main questions: (1) Is there variability in tree size distributions at both the plot and stand level? and (2) which specific aspects of disturbance regimes, such as severity and timing, are most influential in shaping these distributions? To address these questions, we analyzed data from 11,755 trees across 23 primary European beech forest stands in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania (139 plots) and Slovakia (99 plots). Using linear mixed-effects models, we assessed how historical disturbances have influenced current tree size distributions. Our results showed that tree size distributions across the Carpathians show variability, with the most common pattern being close to a reverse-J shape, indicative of uneven-aged forest structures. Modelling analyses revealed that disturbance severity and timing are key factors influencing present tree size distribution patterns at small scales
in the Carpathian Mountains. High-severity disturbances generally result in unimodal or bimodal distributions, while low-severity disturbances are associated with reverse-J shaped patterns. Specifically, at the plot level (small scale), we observed that last disturbance severity, maximum disturbance severity, and time since the last disturbance all significantly impacted tree size distributions driving them away from a reverse-J shape. Finally, linear mixed-effects modeling revealed that disturbance severity, time since the last disturbance and the interaction between the two were the most influential factors shaping present tree size distributions. Our findings highlight the dynamic nature of forest ecosystems, emphasizing the critical role of historical disturbances in shaping present tree structure and the long-term development of forest stands.
Primary forests provide critical climate regulation functions through the capture and storage of carbon in biomass reservoirs. The capacity of primary forests to sustain biomass levels and the possible consequences of warming-induced increases in extreme disturbances are unresolved questions. We investigated the drivers of biomass accumulation in European primary mountain forests in the Carpathians. We used inventory datasets from a continental-scale survey of remnant primary forests to quantify levels of aboveground live and dead biomass across mixed beech and spruce forest types. We formulated nonlinear regression models to estimate the effects of abiotic and biotic factors, including plot-level disturbance history and tree age using dendrochronological methods. Our analyses show that biomass stocks are comparable with stocks present in other primary forests of temperate regions. Highest mean total biomass in mixed beech forests was in southern landscapes (491 ± 81 Mg ha⁻¹) and western for spruce forests (388 ± 106 Mg ha⁻¹). Forests maintained positive biomass accumulation rates over centuries-long time frames, mean plot-level age peaking at ~ 225 years. We demonstrate that primary forests continue to function as carbon sinks at older ages. Preserving the integrity of unmanaged forests serves as an important climate mitigation strategy.
Forest typology is yet to get sufficiently integrated into related ecological and geographical sciences. The succession of plant phytocenoses necessitates constant adjustments to forest types. The discussed studies have been conducted to improve the classification of forest types in the Ukrainian Carpathians and bring the description closer to the actual distribution of vegetation within the studied area. The paper provides a detailed analysis of forest typology research for the Ukrainian Carpathians area during late 20 th and early 21 st century. The forest fund areas of the Carpathian region, which are subordinated to the State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine, have been classified by forest vegetation types. Total area of subor and coniferous forest types is 1,493.1 ha and 28,910.2 ha, respectively. The study involved establishing of permanent sample plots on the territory of nature protection institutions and forest management enterprises. According to the findings, it is proposed to complement the classification of subor and coniferous forest type as defined by Z.Yu. Herushynskyi on the territory of the Ukrainian Carpathians with the following types: fresh pine subor forest type, wet pine subor forest type, and wet pine coniferous type. The paper defines the main diagnostic features of the suggested forest types. These subor and coniferous forest types can be clearly distinguished from other forest types by soil and hydrological conditions, and can be used to describe the corresponding forest vegetation types. The correctness of definition of new forest types is confirmed with a set of plant indicator species that have been identified within the relevant areas. The findings provide a better understanding of forest ecology and make a significant contribution to forest typology studies on the territory of the Ukrainian Carpathians. Another step towards researching the patterns of the establishment of plant complexes in the Ukrainian Carpathians has been taken. Forest formations of the Carpathians are presented in more detail in forest typological science
The impact of forest management on biodiversity is difficult to scrutinize along gradients of management. A step towards analyzing the impact of forest management on biodiversity is comparisons between managed and primary forests. The standardized typology of tree-related microhabitats (TreMs) is a multi-taxon indicator used to quantify forest biodiversity. We aim to analyze the influence of environmental factors on the occurrence of groups of TreMs by comparing primary and managed forests. We collected data for the managed forests in the Black Forest (Germany) and for the primary forests in the Western (Slovakia) and Southern Carpathians (Romania). To model the richness and the different groups of TreMs per tree, we used generalized linear mixed models with diameter at breast height (DBH), altitude, slope and aspect as predictors for European beech ( Fagus sylvatica (L.)) , Norway spruce ( Picea abies (L.) ) and silver fir ( Abies alba (Mill.) ) in primary and managed temperate mountain forests. We found congruent results for overall richness and the vast majority of TreM groups. Trees in primary forests hosted a greater richness of all and specific types of TreMs than individuals in managed forests. The main drivers of TreMs are DBH and altitude, while slope and aspect play a minor role. We recommend forest and nature conservation managers to focus: 1) on the conservation of remaining primary forests and 2) approaches of biodiversity-oriented forest management on the selection of high-quality habitat trees that already provide a high number of TreMs in managed forests based on the comparison with primary forests.
Increasing evidence indicates that forest disturbances are changing in response to global change, yet local variability in disturbance remains high. We quantified this considerable variability and analyzed whether recent disturbance episodes around the globe were consistently driven by climate, and if human influence modulates patterns of forest disturbance. We combined remote sensing data on recent (2001–2014) disturbances with in-depth local information for 50 protected landscapes and their surroundings across the temperate biome. Disturbance patterns are highly variable, and shaped by variation in disturbance agents and traits of prevailing tree species. However, high disturbance activity is consistently linked to warmer and drier than average conditions across the globe. Disturbances in protected areas are smaller and more complex in shape compared to their surroundings affected by human land use. This signal disappears in areas with high recent natural disturbance activity, underlining the potential of climate-mediated disturbance to transform forest landscapes.
Aim
Primary forests have high conservation value but are rare in Europe due to historic land use. Yet many primary forest patches remain unmapped, and it is unclear to what extent they are effectively protected. Our aim was to (1) compile the most comprehensive European‐scale map of currently known primary forests, (2) analyse the spatial determinants characterizing their location and (3) locate areas where so far unmapped primary forests likely occur.
Location
Europe.
Methods
We aggregated data from a literature review, online questionnaires and 32 datasets of primary forests. We used boosted regression trees to explore which biophysical, socio‐economic and forest‐related variables explain the current distribution of primary forests. Finally, we predicted and mapped the relative likelihood of primary forest occurrence at a 1‐km resolution across Europe.
Results
Data on primary forests were frequently incomplete or inconsistent among countries. Known primary forests covered 1.4 Mha in 32 countries (0.7% of Europe’s forest area). Most of these forests were protected (89%), but only 46% of them strictly. Primary forests mostly occurred in mountain and boreal areas and were unevenly distributed across countries, biogeographical regions and forest types. Unmapped primary forests likely occur in the least accessible and populated areas, where forests cover a greater share of land, but wood demand historically has been low.
Main conclusions
Despite their outstanding conservation value, primary forests are rare and their current distribution is the result of centuries of land use and forest management. The conservation outlook for primary forests is uncertain as many are not strictly protected and most are small and fragmented, making them prone to extinction debt and human disturbance. Predicting where unmapped primary forests likely occur could guide conservation efforts, especially in Eastern Europe where large areas of primary forest still exist but are being lost at an alarming pace.
Determining the drivers of shifting forest disturbance rates remains a pressing global change issue. Large-scale forest dynamics are commonly assumed to be climate driven, but appropriately scaled disturbance histories are rarely available to assess how disturbance legacies alter subsequent disturbance rates and the climate sensitivity of disturbance. We compiled multiple tree-ring based disturbance histories from primary Picea abies forest fragments distributed throughout five European landscapes spanning the Bohemian Forest and the Carpathian Mountains. The regional chronology includes 11 595 tree cores, with ring dates spanning the years 1750 to 2000, collected from 560 inventory plots in 37 stands distributed across a 1000 km geographic gradient, amounting to the largest disturbance chronology yet constructed in Europe. Decadal disturbance rates varied significantly through time and declined after 1920, resulting in widespread increases in canopy tree age. Approximately 75% of current canopy area recruited prior to 1900. Long-term disturbance patterns were compared to an historical drought reconstruction, and further linked to spatial variation in stand structure and contemporary disturbance patterns derived from LANDSAT imagery. Historically, decadal Palmer drought severity index minima corresponded with higher rates of canopy removal. The severity of contemporary disturbances increased with each stand's estimated time since last major disturbance, increased with mean diameter and declined with increasing within-stand structural variability. Reconstructed spatial patterns suggest that high small-scale structural variability has historically acted to reduce large-scale susceptibility and climate sensitivity of disturbance. Reduced disturbance rates since 1920, a potential legacy of high 19th century disturbance rates, have contributed to a recent region-wide increase in disturbance susceptibility. Increasingly common high-severity disturbances throughout primary Picea forests of Central Europe should be reinterpreted in light of both legacy effects (resulting in increased susceptibility) and climate change (resulting in increased exposure to extreme events). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Forest disturbances are sensitive to climate. However, our understanding of disturbance dynamics in response to climatic changes remains incomplete, particularly regarding large-scale patterns, interaction effects and dampening feedbacks. Here we provide a global synthesis of climate change effects on important abiotic ( re, drought, wind, snow and ice) and biotic (insects and pathogens) disturbance agents. Warmer and drier conditions particularly facilitate re, drought and insect disturbances, while warmer and wetter conditions increase disturbances from wind and pathogens. Widespread interactions between agents are likely to amplify disturbances, while indirect climate effects such as vegetation changes can dampen long-term disturbance sensitivities to climate. Future changes in disturbance are likely to be most pronounced in coniferous forests and the boreal biome. We conclude that both ecosystems and society should be prepared for an increasingly disturbed future of forests.
Bark beetles are among the most devastating biotic agents affecting forests globally and several species are expected to be favored by climate change. Given the potential interactions of insect outbreaks with other biotic and abiotic disturbances, and the potentially strong impact of changing disturbance regimes on forest resources, investigating climatic drivers of destructive bark beetle outbreaks is of paramount importance. We analyzed 17 time-series of the amount of wood damaged by Ips typographus (L.), the most destructive pest of Norway spruce forests, collected across 8 European countries in the last three decades. We aimed to quantify the relative importance of key climate drivers in explaining timber loss dynamics, also testing for possible synergistic effects. Local outbreaks shared the same drivers, including increasing summer rainfall deficit and warm temperatures. Large availability of storm-felled trees in the previous year was also strongly related to an increase in timber loss, likely by providing an alternative source of breeding material. We did not find any positive synergy among outbreak drivers. On the contrary, the occurrence of large storms reduced the positive effect of warming temperatures and rainfall deficit. The large surplus of breeding material likely boosted I. typographus population size above the density threshold required to colonize and kill healthy trees irrespective of other climate triggers. Importantly, we found strong negative density dependence in I. typographus that may provide a mechanism for population decline after population eruptions. Generality in the effects of complex climatic events across different geographical areas suggests that the large-scale drivers can be used as early warning indicators of increasing local outbreak probability. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
A negative relationship between stand biomass and the density of stems is expected to develop during the self‐thinning process in resource‐limited forests; this leads to a large proportion of the total biomass occurring in large trees. Nevertheless, frequent disturbance regimes can reduce self‐thinning and the accumulation of large trees.
We investigated size–density relationships and the contribution of large trees (dbh ≥ 70 cm) to stand biomass in 55 1‐ha plots along a 600 km transect in central‐southern Amazonia. The effects of natural‐disturbance gradients (frequency of storms and soil characteristics) and seasonality on forest‐structure components (density of stems and mean individual mass) and stand biomass were examined.
Contrary to self‐thinning predictions, stand biomass increased in forests with higher stem densities. Large trees contained only an average of 5% of stand biomass, and half of the stand biomass was represented by small trees with diameters < 27 cm. These findings indicate that persistent or strong disturbance plays a critical role in forest structure and biomass in the central‐southern Amazon. Frequent storms were identified as an important source of disturbance in the region. Forests under higher frequency of storms had trees with lower individual mass and higher stem packing. More physically restrictive soils seem to magnify the effects of exogenous disturbances limiting individual tree size.
Forests in areas with longer dry seasons had lower stem densities; however, individual mass was higher in these areas. These structural components of biomass seem to counterbalance each other in generating total stand biomass. Seasonality affected forest structural components but not stand biomass.
Synthesis . Forests of central‐southern Amazonia are not resource limited and accumulate most part of their biomass in small‐ to mid‐sized trees. The effects of environmental gradients on specific structural components of stand biomass differ such that strong positive effects on one component can mitigate strong negative effects on other component. Future work on the determinants of stand biomass should investigate forest structure and the contributions of individual components to stand biomass.
Forest carbon (C) density varies tremendously across space due to the inherent heterogeneity of forest ecosystems. Variation of forest C density is especially pronounced in mountainous terrain, where environmental gradients are compressed and vary at multiple spatial scales. Additionally, the influence of environmental gradients may vary with forest age and developmental stage, an important consideration as forest landscapes often have a diversity of stand ages from past management and other disturbance agents. Quantifying forest C density and its underlying environmental determinants in mountain terrain has remained challenging because many available data sources lack the spatial grain and ecological resolution needed at both stand and landscape scales. The objective of this study was to determine if environmental factors influencing aboveground live carbon (ALC) density differed between young versus old forests. We integrated aerial light detection and ranging (lidar) data with 702 field plots to map forest ALC density at a grain of 25 m across the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, a 6369 ha watershed in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, USA. We used linear regressions, random forest ensemble learning (RF) and sequential autoregressive modeling (SAR) to reveal how mapped forest ALC density was related to climate, topography, soils, and past disturbance history (timber harvesting and wildfires). ALC increased with stand age in young managed forests, with much greater variation of ALC in relation to years since wildfire in old unmanaged forests. Timber harvesting was the most important driver of ALC across the entire watershed, despite occurring on only 23% of the landscape. More variation in forest ALC density was explained in models of young managed forests than in models of old unmanaged forests. Besides stand age, ALC density in young managed forests was driven by factors influencing site productivity, whereas variation in ALC density in old unmanaged forests was also affected by finer scale topographic conditions associated with sheltered sites. Past wildfires only had a small influence on current ALC density, which may be a result of long times since fire and/or prevalence of non-stand replacing fire. Our results indicate that forest ALC density depends on a suite of multi-scale environmental drivers mediated by complex mountain topography, and that these relationships are dependent on stand age. The high and context-dependent spatial variability of forest ALC density has implications for quantifying forest carbon stores, establishing upper bounds of potential carbon sequestration, and scaling field data to landscape and regional scales.
The main goal of the CARPATCLIM (Climate of the Carpathian Region) project
is to construct the gridded climatological database for the region in a
daily temporal resolution for the period 1961–2010 by using 0.1°
spatial resolution. The solution of this requirement as well as one of the
final products of the CARPATCLIM project is a Digital Climate Atlas which is
designed as the main entry point for all the gridded data and maps generated
during the project, together with metadata for all data sets (original data
as well as data created during the project). With respect to the INSPIRE
(Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community)
directive, the Digital Climate Atlas is developed as a rich Web GIS
(Geographic Information System) application based on modern Web standards
offering all necessary tools for climate data visualization and extraction.
Another important product of the CARPATCLIM project is the Metadata Catalog
which is designed as a tool for searching of climate metadata by various
parameters (i.e. period, variable, region etc.).
Long-term trends in forest biomass have important implications for carbon sequestration and storage, but chronosequence field studies and computer simulations have produced differing conclusions about whether biomass declines in older stands. In this paper, the Bormann-Likens hypothesis of a biomass peak followed by a decline to a steady state with zero net growth is tested against alternative hypotheses of asymptotic or increasing trends with positive net growth even at advanced ages. Trends in aboveground live-tree biomass and large tree density in northern hardwoods were examined from chronosequences and 30-yr permanent plot data from unmanaged forests spanning a wide range of developmental stages, as well as multi-century simulations using an intensively tested individual-tree model (CANOPY). Both field data and simulations indicated an average decline in aboveground live-tree biomass and number of large trees in the later stages of old growth under environmental conditions of the recent past. This decline was robust to modeling assumptions but occurred to varying degrees on different habitat types and species mixtures tested. The decline began when stand age structure was changing from even-aged to multi-aged, and when underlying size distributions shifted from a unimodal to descending monotonic form. In the majority of cases, net biomass growth of younger secondary cohorts was insufficient to compensate for attrition of the initial even-aged cohort. Incorporating natural disturbances into the simulations lowered the level of the aboveground biomass peak, but a subsequent average decline was still predicted even with addition of the deadwood component. Mean annual net growth of live-tree biomass in old-growth stands with descending monotonic size distributions (i.e., quasi-steady state) was approximately zero for both the field data and simulations. Results suggested that under recent environmental conditions, the aboveground component of old-growth northern hardwoods in the study areas would be unlikely, on average, to continue accumulating carbon in stands >200 yr old, even when averaging over a larger landscape containing some younger stands with positive net growth.
In November 2004, the Alžbeta windstorm hit the mountainous areas of northern and central Slovakia. The most affected area was Tatra National Park, where downslope wind damaged 12,000 ha of forest, mostly Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst.). In the areas with the highest level of nature conservation, about 165,000 m 3 of damaged wood was left uncleared. These uncleared sites triggered a serious bark beetle outbreak, where Ips typographus (L.) was among the dominant species. The aim of our work was to quantify and map forest damage resulting from this windstorm and subsequent insect outbreak in Tatra National Park. The objective of this article is also to present simple geographic information system (GIS) techniques available to forest managers for the detection and mapping of bark beetle infestations. The infested areas were studied using GIS and a series of color-infrared aerial photographs taken in 2005– 2009. More than 50% of all damage was recorded within 300 m, and more than 75% within 500 m, of uncleared windthrow sites. Based on our findings, we propose reinforcing post-disaster monitoring with an emphasis on (1) data acquisition and processing and (2) management of I. typographus outbreaks. For instance, we recommend using 300-m phytosanitary buffer zones in mountain spruce forests to prevent substantial beetle invasion from uncleared windthrow into adjacent stands.
Duncan, R.P. (1989). An evaluation of errors in tree age estimates based on increment cores in kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides). New Zealand Natural Sciences 16: 31-37. Twelve kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides) discs were used to assess the likely errors associated with estimating tree age from growth ring counts in increment cores. Two major sources of error were examined: (1) Failure of the increment core to pass through the tree's chronological centre. A geometric model is developed for estimating the distance to the chronological centre in cores where the arcs of the inner rings are visible. The mean percentage error from 84 cores that passed within 50 mm of the chronological centre was ± 35% corresponding to a mean absolute error of ± 21 years. The majority of this error is due to growth rate differences between the missing radius and the measured part of the core. (2) Missing rings. The average age underestimate from 48 cores due to missing rings was 13%. A significant correlation between radius length and age under estimate (r = 0.81) suggests that sampling along the longest radii will reduce this error. The average age underestimate due to missing rings from cores located along the longest radii of the twelve samples was 3%.
Significance
Do forests in cold or dry climate zones distribute more resources in roots to enhance uptake of water and nutrients, which are scarce in such climates? Despite its importance to forest ecology and global carbon cycle modeling, this question is unanswered at present. To answer this question, we compiled and analyzed a large dataset (>6,200 forests, 61 countries) and determined that the proportion of total forest biomass in roots is greater and in foliage is smaller in increasingly cold climates. Surprisingly, allocation to roots or foliage was unrelated to aridity. These findings allow, for the first time to our knowledge, biogeographically explicit mapping of global root carbon pools, which will be useful for assessing climate change impacts on forest carbon dynamics and sequestration.
Forest structure and dynamics vary across the Amazon Basin in an east-west gradient coincident with variations in soil fertility and geology. This has resulted in the hypothesis that soil fertility may play an important role in explaining Basin-wide variations in forest biomass, growth and stem turnover rates. Soil samples were collected in a total of 59 different forest plots across the Amazon Basin and analysed for exchangeable cations, carbon, nitrogen and pH, with several phosphorus fractions of likely different plant availability also quantified. Physical properties were additionally examined and an index of soil physical quality developed. Bivariate relationships of soil and climatic properties with above-ground wood productivity, stand-level tree turnover rates, above-ground wood biomass and wood density were first examined with multivariate regression models then applied. Both forms of analysis were undertaken with and without considerations regarding the underlying spatial structure of the dataset. Despite the presence of autocorrelated spatial structures complicating many analyses, forest structure and dynamics were found to be strongly and quantitatively related to edaphic as well as climatic conditions. Basin-wide differences in stand-level turnover rates are mostly influenced by soil physical properties with variations in rates of coarse
wood production mostly related to soil phosphorus status. Total soil P was a better predictor of wood production rates than any of the fractionated organic- or inorganic-P pools. This suggests that it is not only the immediately available P forms, but probably the entire soil phosphorus pool that is interacting with forest growth on longer timescales. A role for soil potassium in modulating Amazon forest dynamics through its effects on stand-level wood density was also detected. Taking this into account, otherwise enigmatic variations in stand-level biomass across the Basin were then accounted for through the interacting effects of soil physical and chemical properties with climate. A hypothesis of selfmaintaining forest dynamic feedback mechanisms initiated by edaphic conditions is proposed. It is further suggested that this is a major factor determining endogenous disturbance levels, species composition, and forest productivity across the Amazon Basin.
A methodology is proposed for developing a disturbance chronology in stands by identifying the probable date of canopy accession for each sample tree. Canopy disturbance intensity is defined as the percentage of sample trees with canopy accession events in each decade. Rotation periods for disturbances of various intensities are calculated from the chronology. The method was evaluated using 893 increment cores from 70 plots in northern hardwood stands of W Upper Michigan. Average disturbance rate for all plots and decades was 5.7-6.9% of land area per decade, with an implied average canopy tree residence time of 145-175 yr. -from Authors
Questions: How have the historical frequency and severity of natural disturbances
in primary Picea abies forests varied at the forest stand and landscape level
during recent centuries? Is there a relationship between physiographic attributes
and historical patterns of disturbance severity in this system?
Location: Primary P. abies forests of the Eastern Carpathian Mountains, Romania;
a region thought to hold the largest concentration of primary P. abies forests
in Europe’s temperate zone.
Methods: We used dendrochronological methods applied to many plots over a
large area (132 plots representing six stands in two landscapes), thereby providing
information at both stand and landscape levels. Evidence of past canopy disturbance
was derived from two patterns of radial growth: (1) abrupt, sustained
increases in growth (releases) and (2) rapid early growth rates (gap recruitment).
Thesemethods were augmented with non-metricmultidimensional scaling
to facilitate the interpretation of factors influencing past disturbance.
Results: Of the two growth pattern criteria used to assess past disturbance, gap
recruitment was the most common, representing 80% of disturbance evidence
overall. Disturbance severities varied over the landscape, including stand-replacing
events, as well as low- and intermediate-severity disturbances. More than
half of the study plots experienced extreme-severity disturbances at the plot
level, although they were not always synchronized across stands and landscapes.
Plots indicating high-severity disturbances were often spatially clustered
(indicating disturbances up to 20 ha), while this tendency was less clear for lowand
moderate-severity disturbances. Physiographic attributes such as altitude
and land form were only weakly correlated with disturbance severity. Historical
documents suggest windstorms as the primary disturbance agent, while the role
of bark beetles (Ips typographus) remains unclear.
Conclusions: The historical disturbance regime revealed in this multi-scale
study is characterized by considerable spatial and temporal heterogeneity,which
could be seen among plots within stands, among stands within landscapes and
between the two landscapes. When the disturbance regime was evaluated at
these larger scales, the entire range of disturbance severity was revealed within
this landscape.
Forests are the dominant terrestrial ecosystem on Earth. We review the
environmental factors controlling their structure and global distribution
and evaluate their current and future trajectory. Adaptations of trees to climate
and resource gradients, coupled with disturbances and forest dynamics,
create complex geographical patterns in forest assemblages and structures.
These patterns are increasingly discernible through new satellite and airborne
observation systems, improved forest inventories, and global ecosystem
models. Forest biomass is a complex property affected by forest distribution,
structure, and ecological processes. Since at least 1990, biomass
density has consistently increased in global established forests, despite increasing
mortality in some regions, suggesting that a global driver such as
elevated CO2 may be enhancing biomass gains. Global forests have also apparently
become more dynamic. Advanced information about the structure,
distribution, and biomass of the world’s forests provides critical ecological
insights and opportunities for sustainable forest management and enhancing
forest conservation and ecosystem services.
Information on historical disturbances is vital to our understanding of current forest conditions. Dendro chronological methods provide one means of reconstructing disturbance histories in temperate and boreal forests. In particular, the dates of significant growth releases recorded on surviving trees provide strong inferential evidence of past disturbance events. The most common method of detecting releases (the percent-increase method) expresses the postevent growth increase as a percentage of the preevent rate. Despite its widespread use, the method is known to be overly sensitive at low rates of prior growth and overly stringent at high rates. We present an alternative method that directly follows the percent-increase method, but instead of dividing the postevent growth rate by the preevent rate, we simply subtract the two. If the difference exceeds a predetermined species-specific threshold, the event is considered a release. This absolute-increase method has convenient properties that remedy the shortcomings of the percent-increase method. We tested the validity of the absolute-increase thresholds by binary logistic regressions, and we compared the absolute- and percent-increase methods by various methods. We conclude that for the species evaluated in this study, the absolute-increase method represents an improvement over the standard percent-increase method.
Carrer, M. 2011. Spatial structure in four Norway spruce stands with different management history in the Alps and Carpathians. Silva Fennica 45(5): 865–873. In Europe most Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) mountain forests have been altered by human activities, leading to a lack of reference condition concerning their original structure. Nonetheless, remnants of Norway spruce primeval forests still exist in the Carpathians. Our objective was to assess the differences in structure between managed and unmanaged stands, concerning diameter distributions, amount of standing deadwood, spatial distributions and spatial structure of trees. We established four permanent plots: one in a virgin forest in the Eastern Carpathians and three in a previously managed forest in the Alps. In each plot, species, DBH, and position of the live and dead standing trees were collected. Spatial distribution and structure of all the trees was analysed through several indices. In the Carpathians forest there are clear signs of natural density-dependent mortality processes whereas in the Alpine plots such dynamics are less evident. In these latter plots, the lower snags volume and the random trees spatial distribution can be considered the legacies of past management. Nonetheless, despite the different history of the four stands, they all seem to converge towards a similar spatial structure with the presence of groups (30–40 m) of trees of similar size.
A review of stem volume and biomass equations for tree species growing in Europe is presented. The mathematical forms of the empirical models, the associated statistical parameters and information about the size of the trees and the country of origin were col
-
lated from scientific articles and from technical reports. The total number of the compiled
equations for biomass estimation was 607 and for stem volume prediction it was
�30. The
analysis indicated that most of the biomass equations were developed for aboveground
tree components. A relatively small number of equations were developed for southern
Europe. Most of the biomass equations were based on a few sampled sites with a very limited number of sampled trees. The volume equations were, in general, based on more
representative data covering larger geographical regions. The volume equations were
available for major tree species in Europe. The collected information provides a basic tool
for estimation of carbon stocks and nutrient balance of forest ecosystems across Europe
as well as for validation of theoretical models of biomass allocation.
Nitrogen has probably led to increased forest growth in southernmost Norway with an order of magnitude around 25%. This is based on an analysis of three Norwegian sets of data with residuals from standard growth models as a response variable, together with data on deposition and soil chemistry. Growth was positively correlated to nitrogen deposition and to soil nitrogen, and negatively correlated to the C/N ratio in the soil. Also, nitrogen deposition was positively correlated to soil nitrogen and negatively to soil C/N. There were no relationships between growth and the soil acidification variables: pH, base saturation, Al concentration or Ca/Al ratio. There is a large residual error in this kind of study, and power analyses indicated that in order to detect changes in growth of a magnitude around 20%, one needs roughly 200 observations.
Disturbance histories derived from old‐growth forest remnants in Europe and eastern North America have shaped many of our current theories of forest dynamics and succession. Yet the small size typical of these remnants suggests they might not capture the full range of variability that may emerge at larger scales.
We investigated the frequency and severity of natural disturbance in a 2000‐ha old‐growth landscape (Big Reed Forest Reserve) in northern Maine, USA. Given its size, the Reserve provides an ideal opportunity to study, at multiple scales, natural forest processes in a region that has otherwise been dramatically altered by human activities. Using dendrochronological methods, we reconstructed disturbance histories for 37 randomly located plots stratified by five forest types (hardwood forests, mixed woods forests, red spruce forests, northern white‐cedar seepage forests and northern white‐cedar swamps).
We found no evidence of stand replacing disturbance on any plot during the last 120–280 years (depending on plot). The overall mean disturbance rate was 9.6% canopy loss per decade (median 6.5%, maximum 55%, plots pooled), yet the distribution was strongly skewed toward the lower rates.
We found little differences in disturbance rates between forest types, save a slightly lower rate in the northern white‐cedar swamps. However, if we ignore forest‐type classifications, we see that disturbance rates are clearly influenced by gradients in the relative abundance of component tree species, owing to species’ relative susceptibilities to particular disturbance agents.
Synthesis. Relatively low rates of canopy disturbance allow the accrual of shade‐tolerant saplings. The abundance of this advance regeneration, coupled with the absence of stand‐replacing disturbance, has maintained canopy dominance by shade‐tolerant species in all plots, all forest types and throughout the entire landscape. Disturbance histories from individual plots coalesce to form a picture of a landscape in which pulses of moderate‐severity disturbance are interposed upon a background of scattered small‐scale canopy gaps. The landscape‐level mosaic resulting from this disturbance regime consists of patches in various stages of structural development, not various stages of compositional succession.
Aim We aim to determine the empirical relationship between above‐ground forest productivity and biomass. There are theoretical reasons to assume a relationship between forest structure and function, as both may be influenced by similar ecological factors such as moisture supply. Also, dynamic global vegetation model simulations imply that any increase in forest productivity driven by climate change will result in increases in biomass and therefore carbon storage. However, few studies have explored the strength and form of the relationship between forest productivity and biomass, whether in space or time.
Location Global scale.
Methods We collated a large data set of above‐ground biomass (AGB) and above‐ground net primary productivity (ANPP) and tested the extent to which spatial variation in forest biomass across the Earth can be predicted from forest productivity.
Results The global ANPP–AGB relationship differs fundamentally from the strongly positive, linear relationship reported in earlier analyses, which mostly lacked tropical sites. AGB begins to peak at c . 15–20 Mg ha ⁻¹ year ⁻¹ ANPP, plateaus at ANPP > 20–25 Mg ha ⁻¹ year ⁻¹ , and may actually decline at higher levels of production.
Main conclusions High turnover rates in high‐productivity forests may limit AGB by promoting the dominance of species with a low wood density. Predicted increases in ANPP will not necessarily favour increases in forest carbon storage, especially if changes in productivity are accompanied by compositional shifts.
Temporal and spatial scales of disturbance and recovery are often confounded in discussions of landscape equilibrium. We developed a broad framework for the description of landscapes that separates the spatial and temporal scales of disturbance and recovery and predicts the resultant dynamics of a landscape. Two key parameters representing time and space are used to describe potential disturbance dynamics. The temporal parameter, T, is the ratio of the disturbance interval (i.e., time between successive disturbance events) to the time required for a disturbed site to recover to a mature stage. The spatial parameter, S, is the ratio of the size of the disturbance to the size of the landscape. The use of ratios in both parameters permits the comparison of landscapes across a range of spatial and temporal scales. A simple simulation model was developed to explore the implications of various combinations of S and T. For any single simulation, disturbances of a fixed size are imposed at random locations on a gridded landscape at specified intervals. Disturbed sites recover deterministically through succession. Where disturbance interval is long relative to recovery time and a small proportion of the landscape is affected, the system is stable and exhibits low variance over time (e.g., northeastern hardwood forests). These are traditional equilibrium systems. Where disturbance interval is comparable to recovery interval and a large proportion of the landscape is affected, the system is stable but exhibits large variance (e.g., subalpine forests in Yellowstone Park). Where disturbance interval becomes much shorter than recovery time and a large proportion of the landscape is affected, the system may become unstable and shift into a different trajectory (e.g., arid ecosystems with altered fire regimes). This framework permits the prediction of disturbance conditions that lead to qualitatively different landscape dynamics and demonstrates the scale-dependent nature of concepts of landscape equilibrium.
The structure of natural subalpine spruce forest in the Zadná Pol’ana massif of the Western Carpathians was analysed. We focused
on the variability of different aspects of stand structure, tree decay and regeneration processes in altitudinal gradient.
We used systematic sampling, covering an area of 2km2, to detect even subtle changes in stand structure within one forest type over a range of less than 200m in elevation. Mean
stand density was 290 trees (>7cm DBH) per hectare, average basal area was 41m2ha−1, and the volume accumulation in living trees amounted to 500m3/ha−1. Stand volume decreased by more than 50% between 1,260 and 1,434m a.s.l. This means for an increase of altitude of 100m
that stand volume decreased by nearly 200m3. Neither stand density nor basal area was related to elevation. Maximum tree height was strongly correlated to elevation,
and it decreased on average by 6m for each 100m increment of altitude. No significant changes in the maximum spruce diameter
were recorded in relation to the elevation gradient. Spatial distribution of trees was biased toward regularity at lower altitudes.
Tree clustering increased with increasing altitude. The stock of coarse woody debris (CWD) decreased slightly along the altitudinal
gradient, but changes were not significant. Density of spruce saplings and their number growing on CWD significantly increased
across the elevation gradient. Despite the fact that the analysed forest tract was relatively large, highly variable in respect
to environmental factors, and that stand volume, spatial structure, and tree height displayed strong variability along the
elevation gradient, the diameter structure of stands and regeneration measures were uniform. Our results suggest that the
recruitment of new trees in the Zadná Pol’ana subalpine spruce forest is not temporally continuous even at a scale of several
square kilometres.
Norway spruce (Picea abies L.) is an important tree species with a remarkable natural range throughout Europe and Asia, ranging from the Balkan Peninsula to Siberia in the north and from the French Alps in the west to the Sea of Okhotsk in the east. Wherever it occurs, it is a key component of both natural and managed forests. Norway spruce is the most economically valuable conifer in Europe, producing high-quality timber and wood products.
This book presents a concise and comprehensive review of the biology, ecology, and management of Norway spruce. It integrates classic and contemporary literature (more than 2000 works cited in the text), highlighting basic research and forestry practices in central and eastern Europe. The topics include anatomy and morphology, physiology and nutrition, reproductive biology and genetics, and ecology.
In addition, it examines mycorrhiza, diseases and pests as well as silviculture and wood products. In the light of increasing threats to forest health from air pollution, climate change, and insects and disease, it provides an essential information source to those concerned with the ecology, conservation, and management of the species.
Mixed-severity disturbance regimes are prevalent in temperate forests worldwide, but key uncertainties remain regarding the variability of disturbance-mediated structural development pathways. This study investigates the influence of disturbance history on current structure in primary, unmanaged Norway spruce (Picea abies) forests throughout the Carpathian Mountains of central and eastern Europe, where windstorms and native bark beetle outbreaks are the dominant natural disturbances. We inventoried forest structure on 453 plots (0.1 ha) spanning a large geographical gradient (\>1,000 km), coring 15–25 canopy trees per plot for disturbance history reconstruction (tree core total n = 11,309). Our specific objectives were to: (1) classify sub-hectare-scale disturbance history based on disturbance timing and severity; (2) classify current forest structure based on tree size distributions (live, dead, standing, downed); (3) characterize structural development pathways as revealed by the association between disturbance history and current forest structural complexity. We used hierarchical cluster analysis for the first two objectives and indicator analysis for the third. The disturbance-based cluster analysis yielded six groups associated with three levels of disturbance severity (low, moderate, and high canopy loss) and two levels of timing (old, recent) over the past 200 years. The structure-based cluster analysis yielded three groups along a gradient of increasing structural complexity. A large majority of plots exhibited relatively high (53\%) or very high (26\%) structural complexity, indicated by abundant large live trees, standing and downed dead trees, and spruce regeneration. Consistent with conventional models of structural development, some disturbance history groups were associated with specific structural complexity groups, particularly low-severity/recent (very high complexity) and high-severity/recent (moderate complexity) disturbances. In other cases, however, the distribution of plots among disturbance history and structural complexity groups indicated either divergent or convergent pathways. For example, multiple disturbance history groups were significantly associated with the high complexity group, demonstrating structural convergence. These results illustrate that complex forest structure – including features nominally associated with old-growth – can be associated as much with disturbance severity as it is with conventional notions of forest age. Because wind and bark beetles are natural disturbance processes that can induce relatively high levels of tree mortality while simultaneously contributing to structural complexity and heterogeneity, we suggest that forest management plans allow for the stochastic occurrence of disturbance and variable post-disturbance development trajectories. Such applications are especially appropriate in conservation areas where biodiversity and forest resilience are management objectives, particularly given projections of increasing disturbance activity under global change.
Natural disturbance regimes are changing substantially in forests around the globe. However, large-scale disturbance change is modulated by a considerable spatiotemporal variation within biomes. This variation remains incompletely understood particularly in the temperate forests of Europe, for which consistent large-scale disturbance information is lacking. Here our aim was to quantify the spatiotemporal patterns of forest disturbances across temperate forest landscapes in Europe using remote sensing data, and determine their underlying drivers. Specifically, we tested two hypotheses: (1) Topography determines the spatial patterns of disturbance, and (2) climatic extremes synchronize natural disturbances across the biome. We used novel Landsat-based maps of forest disturbances 1986-2016 in combination with landscape analysis to compare spatial disturbance patterns across five unmanaged forest landscapes with varying topographic complexity. Furthermore, we analyzed annual estimates of disturbance change for synchronies and tested the influence of climatic extremes on temporal disturbance patterns. Spatial variation in disturbance patterns was substantial across temperate forest landscapes. With increasing topographic complexity, natural disturbance patches were smaller, more complex in shape, more dispersed, and affected a smaller portion of the landscape. Temporal disturbance patterns, however, were strongly synchronized across all landscapes, with three distinct waves of high disturbance activity between 1986 and 2016. All three waves followed years of pronounced drought and high peak wind speeds. Natural disturbances in temperate forest landscapes of Europe are thus spatially diverse but temporally synchronized. We conclude that the ecological effect of natural disturbances (i.e., whether they are homogenizing a landscape or increasing its heterogeneity) is strongly determined by the topographic template. Furthermore, as the strong biome-wide synchronization of disturbances was closely linked to climatic extremes, large-scale disturbance episodes are likely in Europe's temperate forests under climate changes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Forest disturbances are sensitive to climate. However, our understanding of disturbance dynamics in response to climatic changes remains incomplete, particularly regarding large-scale patterns, interaction effects and dampening feedbacks. Here we provide a global synthesis of climate change effects on important abiotic (fire, drought, wind, snow and ice) and biotic (insects and pathogens) disturbance agents. Warmer and drier conditions particularly facilitate fire, drought and insect disturbances, while warmer and wetter conditions increase disturbances from wind and pathogens. Widespread interactions between agents are likely to amplify disturbances, while indirect climate effects such as vegetation changes can dampen long-term disturbance sensitivities to climate. Future changes in disturbance are likely to be most pronounced in coniferous forests and the boreal biome. We conclude that both ecosystems and society should be prepared for an increasingly disturbed future of forests.
In order to gauge ongoing and future changes to disturbance regimes, it is necessary to establish a solid baseline of historic disturbance patterns against which to evaluate these changes. Further, understanding how forest structure and composition respond to variation in past disturbances may provide insight into future resilience to climate-driven alterations of disturbance regimes.
The first edition of this book has established itself as one of the leading references on generalized additive models (GAMs), and the only book on the topic to be introductory in nature with a wealth of practical examples and software implementation. It is self-contained, providing the necessary background in linear models, linear mixed models, and generalized linear models (GLMs), before presenting a balanced treatment of the theory and applications of GAMs and related models. The author bases his approach on a framework of penalized regression splines, and while firmly focused on the practical aspects of GAMs, discussions include fairly full explanations of the theory underlying the methods. Use of R software helps explain the theory and illustrates the practical application of the methodology. Each chapter contains an extensive set of exercises, with solutions in an appendix or in the book’s R data package gamair, to enable use as a course text or for self-study.
Disturbances shape forest structure and composition, but the temporal dynamics of disturbance patterns, their influence on dynamics of forest structural complexity, and the potential impacts of ongoing climate changes are not fully understood. We addressed these issues by focusing on (1) long-term, landscape level retrospective analysis of disturbance dynamics of mountain Norway spruce (Picea abies) forest; (2) testing for the prevailing disturbance agent; and (3) the detection of disturbance drivers, particularly site conditions, using a dendrochronological approach.
Good understanding of forest productivity and carbon (C) storage capacity is essential for better understanding of C dynamics and climate modeling. Studies of old-growth forest C dynamics from central and eastern Europe are rare and the few remaining pristine forests represent a unique opportunity to study natural forest dynamics in an otherwise managed landscape. We studied protected old-growth Norway spruce (Picea abies L.) stands in the Bohemian Forest, Czech Republic, to explore total ecosystem C pool (live and dead biomass and soil) variability in forest ecosystem as a function of stand age and elevation. These old-growth forest ecosystems store very high amounts of C, up to 570 t C ha -1 , and 393 t C ha -1 on average. Live biomass is the dominant C pool followed by mineral soil, forest floor and dead biomass. We found that total C significantly decreased with increasing elevation (1025–1338 m a.s.l) from 456 to 294 t C ha -1 , predominantly driven by decreases in live biomass and forest floor C pools. Significant changes take place in individual pools based on age and elevation gradients, but total C was not significantly different between stands age 116–145 years. Contrary to some recent findings that old-growth forest ecosystems continue to sequester C long after maturity, our data supports the hypothesis that old-growth forests reach a steady state and become C neutral. They accumulate same amount of C through photosynthesis than is lost by decay and leaching. This study provides a detailed overview of C pools of old-growth Bohemian Forests and highlights the importance of including all major C pools in forest ecosystem C studies.
Disturbances from wind, bark beetles, and wildfires have increased in Europe's forests throughout the 20(th) century (1). Climatic changes were identified as a main driver behind this increase (2), yet how the expected continuation of climate change will affect Europe's forest disturbance regime remains unresolved. Increasing disturbances could strongly impact the forest carbon budget (3,4), and are hypothesized to contribute to the recently observed carbon sink saturation in Europe's forests (5). Here we show that forest disturbance damage in Europe has continued to increase in the first decade of the 21(st) century. Based on an ensemble of climate change scenarios we find that damage from wind, bark beetles, and forest fires is likely to increase further in coming decades, and estimate the rate of increase to +0.91·10(6) m(3) of timber per year until 2030. We show that this intensification can offset the effect of management strategies aiming to increase the forest carbon sink, and calculate the disturbance-related reduction of the carbon storage potential in Europe's forests to be 503.4 Tg C in 2021-2030. Our results highlight the considerable carbon cycle feedbacks of changing disturbance regimes, and underline that future forest policy and management will require a stronger focus on disturbance risk and resilience.
The model of developmental dynamics has grown in recent years to include the role of disturbances, but few studies have examined fine-scale spatio-temporal dynamics. We present a unique study from mountain Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) forests in central Europe to evaluate the role of disturbances in spatio-temporal tree distribution patterns.
We established three one-hectare permanent study plots (PSP) in an old-growth mountain Norway spruce forest in a strictly protected nature reserve in central Europe. We mapped the spatial positions of all trees >1.3 m in height and extracted increment cores of all canopy trees >6 m in height. Disturbance chronologies were reconstructed based on dendroecological approaches indicating disturbance events from: (1) abrupt increases in radial growth (release) and (2) intensive juvenile growth (open canopy recruitment). Spatio-temporal patterns were detected using Moran’s I.
Recruitment and canopy accession were discontinuous over time. Synchronous radial growth release events were observed during 1750–1770 and 1810–1830 and synchronous new recruitment was observed in 1770–1800. Most of the detected disturbances could be associated with historical records of strong winds or bark beetle outbreaks of moderate severity. Most trees ascended into the canopy via open canopy recruitment and many formed distinct patches (about 20–50 m in diameter) with a similar date of canopy accession.
Our study provides evidence of a mixed historical disturbance regime including large-scale infrequent moderate intensity disturbance combined with frequent low severity events. These disturbances created large-scale synchronous periods of recruitment and canopy accession. The resulting developmental model indicates a complex spatio-temporal pattern of tree death and establishment across a large range of patch sizes. For ecologically based management systems we suggest the application of a mixed harvest intensities at different spatial and temporal scales to better replicate natural disturbance patterns and associated legacies.
For many types of forest studies, it is essential to identify the exact years of formation of annual rings in increment cores taken from living trees. To accomplish this, dendrochronologists employ cross dating, which involves both ring counting and ring-width pattern matching, to ensure against counting error, or errors, caused by missing or false rings. To date, published accounts of the cross-dating process generally describe a graphical method for achieving cross dating, known as skeleton plotting. However, when working with cores from living trees, skeleton plotting is seldom necessary. Such cores can commonly be cross-dated more quickly and easily by listing the narrow rings that are present in each core in a laboratory notebook and then comparing core notes for shared narrow rings. The latter approach permits faster recognition of ring-width patterns because calendar-year, rather than relative-year, dates are assigned to rings in cores. It also allows cross-dating records to be stored in a more concise manner.
An outbreak of spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus [L.]) in the Tatra Mountains in the Slovak Republic and Poland, Central Europe, was analysed. The study area was nearly 3000 ha.
The 11 year outbreak lasted from 1990 to 2000. Three outbreak phases were identified: 1990–1994 (incipient epidemic), 1995–1996 (epidemic) and 1997–2000 (post-epidemic). More than 118,000 m3 of trees were damaged by wind and bark beetles. The analysis considered the relationship and succession of these two types of disturbances.
Discrimination analysis, a multiple linear regression and boosted regression trees were used to determine the influence of 11 variables on tree mortality initiation and severity.
The wind–bark beetles disturbance system was primarily influenced by stand related factors. Tree mortality initiation primarily depends on stand age and related changes in Norway spruce size and vitality. Wind caused tree mortality severity was primarily related to the tree or stand characteristics as well. The roles of host and environmental factors in the initiation and severity of tree mortality were influenced by the I. typographus outbreak phase. Stand, site and solar radiation variables were the most important factors impacting tree mortality severity caused by this disturbance system, especially in the epidemic phase. However, the severity of tree mortality caused by wind was primarily correlated with the stand characteristics. With the exception of elevation, the roles of the studied factors were similar in all gradation phases.
Analysis of the frequency of past moderate and high-intensity disturbances has been hindered in forests of complex age structure by methodological problems. A methodology is proposed for developing a disturbance chronology in such stands by identifying the probable date of canopy accession for each sample tree. Canopy accession dates are based on an evaluation of radial growth pattern and early growth rates of existing canopy trees. Canopy disturbance intensity is defined as the percentage of sample trees with canopy accession events in each decade. Rotation periods for disturbances of various intensities are calculated from the chronology. The method was evaluated using 893 increment cores from 70 plots in northern hardwood stands of western Upper Michigan. The estimated average disturbance rate for all plots and decades was 5.7–6.9% of land area per decade, with an implied average canopy tree residence time of 145–175 years. These estimates are similar to those obtained by on-site estimates of canopy tree residence time and studies in the literature on the rate of gap formation. Problems in radial increment analysis and possible solutions are discussed.
The frequency of natural disturbances and their influence on the forest landscape mosaic were investigated on three large tracts of primary forest in Upper Michigan. Seventy 0.5-ha plots were randomly distributed in a total forest area of 23 000 ha dominated by sugar maple (Acer saccharum) and eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis). Radial increment patterns were used to estimate canopy accession dates for each of a number of randomly selected overstory trees on each plot. From these data a disturbance chronology, representing the percentage of stand area occupied by cohorts originating during each decade over the last 130 yr, was compiled for each plot. Average rates of disturbance or canopy mortality are estimated at 5.7 to 6.9% per decade. The corresponding average canopy residence time of a tree is 145-175 yr. No significant differences were detected in average disturbance rates among the three study areas, between plots near the coast of Lake Superior and inland plots, among several different aspects, and among several different slope positions. Natural rotation periods increase exponentially with increasing disturbance intensity, which is defined as the approximate percentage of the plot area converted to gaps during a disturbance episode. Estimates of rotation periods range from 69 yr for greater-than-or-equal-to 10% canopy removal to 1920 yr for greater-than-or-equal-to 60% canopy removal. Spatial autocorrelation analysis indicated that plots with light and medium disturbances (< 40%) are randomly distributed over the landscape. Plots with heavy disturbances (greater-than-or-equal-to 40%) are clustered with a patch radius of almost-equal-to 2 km, consistent with the sizes of thunderstorm downbursts. The data indicate that light and medium disturbances dominate the disturbance regime. The majority of stands on the landscape are composed of several major and many minor age classes. Even-aged stands with one predominant age class are uncommon. The age distribution of individual patches or cohorts in the two larger study areas (14 500 and 6073 ha) follows a nearly uniform distribution. None of the three study areas had more than 15% of the forest area converted to gaps in a single decade. The two larger areas meet most of the criteria that have been proposed for equilibrium landscapes.
Temperate-zone forests have been shaped by fire, wind and grazing over thousands of years. This book provides a major contribution to the study of their dynamics by considering three important themes: • The combined influence of wind, fire and herbivory on the successional trajectories and structural characteristics of forests • The interaction of deciduous and evergreen tree species to form mosaics which, in turn, influence the environment and disturbance regime • The significance of temporal and spatial scale with regard to the overall impact of disturbances These themes are explored via case studies from the forests in the Lake States of the USA (Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan) where the presence of large primary forest remnants provides a unique opportunity to study the long-term dynamics of near-boreal, pine and hardwood-hemlock forests. The comparability of these forests to forests in other temperate zones allows generalizations to be made that may apply more widely.
Macroclimatic variation along latitudinal gradients provides an excellent natural laboratory to investigate the role of temperature and the potential impacts of climate warming on terrestrial organisms.
Here, we review the use of latitudinal gradients for ecological climate change research, in comparison with altitudinal gradients and experimental warming, and illustrate their use and caveats with a meta‐analysis of latitudinal intraspecific variation in important life‐history traits of vascular plants.
We first provide an overview of latitudinal patterns in temperature and other abiotic and biotic environmental variables in terrestrial ecosystems. We then assess the latitudinal intraspecific variation present in five key life‐history traits [plant height, specific leaf area ( SLA ), foliar nitrogen:phosphorus ( N : P ) stoichiometry, seed mass and root:shoot ( R : S ) ratio] in natural populations or common garden experiments across a total of 98 plant species.
Intraspecific leaf N:P ratio and seed mass significantly decreased with latitude in natural populations. Conversely, the plant height decreased and SLA increased significantly with latitude of population origin in common garden experiments. However, less than a third of the investigated latitudinal transect studies also formally disentangled the effects of temperature from other environmental drivers which potentially hampers the translation from latitudinal effects into a temperature signal.
Synthesis . Latitudinal gradients provide a methodological set‐up to overcome the drawbacks of other observational and experimental warming methods. Our synthesis indicates that many life‐history traits of plants vary with latitude but the translation of latitudinal clines into responses to temperature is a crucial step. Therefore, especially adaptive differentiation of populations and confounding environmental factors other than temperature need to be considered. More generally, integrated approaches of observational studies along temperature gradients, experimental methods and common garden experiments increasingly emerge as the way forward to further our understanding of species and community responses to climate warming.
The 1988 Yellowstone fires resulted in a complex mosaic within which postfire lodgepole pine seedling densities varied by over five orders of magnitude. Investigators have speculated that such postfire mosaics of vegetation structure may persist until the next large disturbance, but the fate of the initial structural variability of postfire communities is currently poorly understood. We studied lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia Englem. ex Wats.) stands in Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming, USA) unburned by the 1988 fires to determine how variation in stand structure changes with increasing stand age. The coefficient of variation in stand density decreased from 231% in 12-yr-old stands to 91% in stands aged 50–100 yr, and to 37% for stands ages 200–250 yr. Substantial variability in age distributions both within and among age classes suggested that both gradual infilling of initially sparse stands and self-thinning of initially dense stands are important processes affecting variation in stand density. Variation in stand density was explained primarily by stand age (p < 0.0001) and by geographic location (p < 0.01). Field estimates and reconstructions of stand density trajectories suggest the importance of biotic processes and the contingent effects that produce initial patterns of stand density. Variation in stand density is substantially reduced 125 yr following fire and remains relatively unchanged beyond approximately 200 yr. These results suggest that large, infrequent fires impose a pattern of stand structural variability that may persist for centuries, but stand density likely converges within the fire-free interval in this landscape.
Spatio-temporal dispersal of pest species such as bark beetles plays a key role in their population ecology and outbreak dynamics. Understanding the underlying patterns is crucial for applying appropriate management strategies.In contrast to most existing studies which focus on dispersing beetles, we analysed patches of killed trees resulting from bark beetle infestation. The study was based on a 22-year time series of annually captured colour-infrared (CIR) images of the Bavarian Forest National Park (Germany), where Ips typographus L. (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Scolytinae) propagates undisturbed by human activity. Newly infested patches comprising at least 5 spruce trees were identified in every time step. This investigation of spatio-temporal spread of infestations primarily focused on (i) parameterizing the size and shape of infestation patches, (ii) modelling an infestation gradient and (iii) evaluating the risk of subsequent infestations on landscape scale. We developed a GIS-based distance ring approach to quantify the distance relation of subsequent infestations, including the distribution of potential hosts.Infestation spread was revealed to be strongly distance dependent, following an inverse power law function: on average 65% of new infestations occurred within a 100 m radius of the previous year’s infestations, and 95% within 500 m. ‘Distance’ proved to be a major determinant of I. typographus dispersal on the landscape scale in each time step of the 22-year series we investigated. Infestation distance thus describes the outcome of beetle dispersal very accurately. The time series showed two alternating periods of epidemic and non-epidemic infestation. These gradation stages did not affect the size and shape of infested patches, but epidemics correlated significantly with a higher percentage of infestations within short distances. Additionally, the resulting infestation risk is highly sensitive to the gradation stage, particularly within the first 100 m around source spots where it increases up to 30%.Our study therefore contributes to a better understanding of the outbreak dynamics of I. typographus and suggests concentrating efficient bark beetle management on areas in the close vicinity of previous years’ infestations.Graphical abstractHighlights► The study bases on aerial surveyed spatially extensive data, covering 22 years. ► Subsequent infestations generally follow an inverse power law on a distance gradient. ► Epidemics cause a more leptokurtic distribution compared to non-epidemics. ► Infestation risk correlates with gradation stage (+) and the distance to source (−). ► Gradation stage does not affect size and shape of infestation patches.
Forest age, which is affected by stand-replacing ecosystem disturbances (such as forest fires, harvesting, or insects), plays a distinguishing role in determining the distribution of carbon (C) pools and fluxes in different forested ecosystems. In this synthesis, net primary productivity (NPP), net ecosystem productivity (NEP), and five pools of C (living biomass, coarse woody debris, organic soil horizons, soil, and total ecosystem) are summarized by age class for tropical, temperate, and boreal forest biomes. Estimates of variability in NPP, NEP, and C pools are provided for each biome-age class combination and the sources of variability are discussed. Aggregated biome-level estimates of NPP and NEP were higher in intermediate-aged forests (e.g., 30–120 years), while older forests (e.g., >120 years) were generally less productive. The mean NEP in the youngest forests (0–10 years) was negative (source to the atmosphere) in both boreal and temperate biomes (−0.1 and –1.9 Mg C ha−1 yr−1, respectively). Forest age is a highly significant source of variability in NEP at the biome scale; for example, mean temperate forest NEP was −1.9, 4.5, 2.4, 1.9 and 1.7 Mg C ha−1 yr−1 across five age classes (0–10, 11–30, 31–70, 71–120, 121–200 years, respectively). In general, median NPP and NEP are strongly correlated (R2=0.83) across all biomes and age classes, with the exception of the youngest temperate forests. Using the information gained from calculating the summary statistics for NPP and NEP, we calculated heterotrophic soil respiration (Rh) for each age class in each biome. The mean Rh was high in the youngest temperate age class (9.7 Mg C ha−1 yr−1) and declined with age, implying that forest ecosystem respiration peaks when forests are young, not old. With notable exceptions, carbon pool sizes increased with age in all biomes, including soil C. Age trends in C cycling and storage are very apparent in all three biomes and it is clear that a better understanding of how forest age and disturbance history interact will greatly improve our fundamental knowledge of the terrestrial C cycle.