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Trees (2019) 33:1345–1359
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-019-01862-1
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Increased sensitivity todrought acrosssuccessional stages innatural
Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) forests oftheCalimani
Mountains, Romania
K.Svobodová1,2 · T.Langbehn2· J.Björklund2· M.Rydval2· V.Trotsiuk2· R.C.Morrissey2· V.Čada2· P.Janda2·
K.Begovič2· J.Ágh‑Lábusová2· J.S.Schurman2· M.Nováková2· D.Kozák2· O.Kameniar2· M.Synek2· M.Mikoláš2·
M.Svoboda2
Received: 25 September 2018 / Accepted: 23 April 2019 / Published online: 6 May 2019
© Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019
Abstract
Key message Winter drought becomes a limiting factor of forest stand growth by the end of the twentieth century.
Abstract Disturbances strongly influence the structure of natural forests. The frequency and severity of natural disturbances,
as well as drought events, are expected to increase with climate change. Our study investigated if forests with differing forest
structures related to disturbance histories also differed in sensitivity to drought. In a natural forest landscape in the Calimani
Mountains of the Eastern Carpathians, Romania, we used six forest patches to represent different successional stages, from
early- to late-successional stages. We used two temporal resolutions of the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration
Index to describe short and long water resource dynamics within or between hydrological years, respectively. We detected
an increase in the importance of winter drought across all successional stages; it was first identified in the oldest patch in the
1970s, and it consecutively affected younger patches. We observed that different forest structures do not lead to substantial
differences in trends in drought–growth relationships. A shift in sensitivity to water availability from early spring to winter
occurred over the twentieth century. These findings suggest that the impact of climate change on Norway spruce forest
ecosystems of the Eastern Carpathians will likely be difficult to mitigate at a local scale using traditional forestry practices.
Keywords Disturbance history· SPEI· Synchronized tree growth· Climate change· Carpathians
Introduction
Droughts are predicted to become more frequent and hotter
(IPCC 2013), and they may become lethal for many plants
under warming conditions (Allen etal. 2015) in European
temperate forests (Lindner etal. 2010). The considerable
influence of climate change on natural disturbance regimes
in forests has been recognized for the past two centuries
(Schelhaas etal. 2003). An increase in natural disturbance
frequency and severity is expected (Dale etal. 2001; Seidl
etal. 2017). To understand the possible consequences of
climate change on future forest growth, it is necessary to
characterize current and past drought–growth relationships.
Ongoing climate change has yielded increasing tempera-
tures and changes in precipitation regimes (IPCC 2013). In
a warmer world, intensification of the hydrologic cycle is
expected (Dore 2005). A simple climatic water balance can
be represented by the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotran-
spiration Index (SPEI; Vicente-Serrano etal. 2010), which
characterizes monthly differences between precipitation
and potential evapotranspiration. Different time resolutions
of SPEI can help us better understand and manage forest
growth–drought interactions (McKee etal. 1993), because
seasonal water deficits may not be restricted only to drier
Communicated by A. Geßler.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this
article (https ://doi.org/10.1007/s0046 8-019-01862 -1) contains
supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
* K. Svobodová
kristynaxsvobodova@gmail.com
1 Faculty ofEnvironmental Sciences, Czech University ofLife
Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, Suchdol, 16500Prague,
CzechRepublic
2 Faculty ofForestry andWood Sciences, Czech University
ofLife Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, Suchdol,
16500Prague, CzechRepublic
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