Climate Warming-Related Growth Decline Affects Fagus sylvatica, But Not Other Broad-Leaved Tree Species in Central European Mixed Forests

Zimmermann, Jorma; Hauck, Markus; Dulamsuren, Choimaa; Leuschner, Christoph

doi:10.1007/s10021-015-9849-x

Cited by 165 publications

(132 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Furthermore, networks of tree-ring chronologies from across species' distributions can be used to identify populations that have higher or lower sensitivity to predict future climate changes, either using measurement of growth trends (Cavin and Jump 2016;Galvan et al 2014) or by comparing the strength of growth-climate relationships (Carrer et al 2010). Analysis of tree-ring chronologies may therefore be utilised to identify potential sources of provenances that are preadapted to climatic conditions predicted for the future, improve predictions of the impact of climate change on forest ecosystem services that are dependent on forest growth or inform efforts to conserve forest-based biodiversity (Dobbertin 2005;Gessler et al 2007;Zimmermann et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…F. sylvatica has been extensively studied due to its economic and ecological importance (Gessler et al 2007), and various recent studies have indicated a widespread response to climate (Latte et al 2015;Zimmermann et al 2015). We test the potential of a novel meta-analysis approach, supplementing our own data with growth-climate relationships reported in the literature.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Consistent limitation of growth by high temperature and low precipitation from range core to southern edge of European beech indicates widespread vulnerability to changing climate

et al. 2016

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The aim of our study was to determine variation in the response of radial growth in Fagus sylvatica L (European Beech) to climate across the species full geographical distribution and climatic tolerance. We combined new and existing data to build a database of 140 tree-ring chronologies to investigate patterns in growth-climate relationships. Our novel meta-analysis approach has allowed the first investigation of the effect of climate on tree growth across the entire geographical distribution of the species. We identified key climate signals in tree-ring chronologies and then investigated how these varied geographically and according to mean local climate, and by tree age and size. We found that the most important climate variables significantly correlated with growth did not show strong geographical patterns. Growth of trees in the core and at the southern edge of the distribution was reduced by high temperature and low precipitation during the growing season, and by high temperatures in the previous summer. However, growth of trees growing in warmer and drier locations was more frequently significantly correlated with summer precipitation than other populations. Additionally, the growth of older and larger trees was more frequently significantly correlated with previous summer temperature than younger and smaller trees. Trees growing at the south of the species geographical distributions are often considered most at risk from climate change, but our results indicate that radial growth of populations in other areas of the distribution is equally likely to be significantly correlated with summer climate and may also be vulnerable. Additionally, tree-rings from older trees contain particular growth-climate relationships that are rarely found in younger trees. These results have important implications for predicting forest carbon balance, resource use and likely future changes to forest composition across the continent.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consistent limitation of growth by high temperature and low precipitation from range core to southern edge of European beech indicates widespread vulnerability to changing climate

et al. 2016

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“…Beech and oak form pure and mixed stands, but productivity of mixed beech-oak forests might be superior to pure stands depending on site conditions , and the importance of mixed stands might increase with the consequences of climate changes . However, the future status of beech and oak forests affected by climate changes remains unclear and it is currently under intensive debate (Geßler et al, 2006;Kramer et al, 2010;Czucz et al, 2011;Scharnweber et al, 2011;Mette et al, 2013;Zimmermann et al, 2015). Succession from oak-to beech-dominated forest stands is often observed (Rohner et al, 2012;Petritan et al, 2014), but this process is usually long and complex, involving a variable pattern of competition for light, moisture and nutrient resources at the stage of regeneration, but also a variable pattern of mortality of senescent individuals (Vera et al, 2006;Bontemps et al, 2012;Ligot et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic Insights into Ecological Succession from Oak- (Quercus robur L.) to Beech- (Fagus sylvatica L.) Dominated Forest Stands

Sandurska¹,

Ulaszewski²,

Burczyk³

2017

Acta Biologica Cracoviensia S. Botanica

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Genetic diversity is often considered a major determinant of long term population persistence and its potential to adapt to variable environmental conditions. The ability of populations to maintain their genetic diversity across generations seems to be a major prerequisite for their sustainability, which is particularly important for keystone forest tree species. However, little is known about genetic consequences of demographic alterations occurring during natural processes of ecological succession involving changes in the species composition. Using microsatellites, we investigated genetic diversity of adult and offspring generations in beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and oak (Quercus robur L.) populations coexisting in a naturally established old-growth forest stand, showing some symptoms of ongoing ecological succession from oak-to beech-dominated forest. In general, adult generations of both species exhibited high levels of genetic diversity (0.657 for beech; 0.821 for oak), which, however, depended on the sets of selected genetic markers. Nevertheless, several symptoms such as differences in genetic diversity indices between generations, significant levels of inbreeding (up to 0.029) and low estimates of effective population size (48-80) confirmed the declining status of the oak population. On the other hand, the uniform distribution of genetic diversity indices across generations, low levels of inbreeding (0.004), low genetic differentiation among adults and offspring and, most importantly, large estimates of effective population size (119-716), all supported beech as a successive and successful tree species in the studied forest stand.

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“…PCA of the whole data set. The symbol form represents the forest type, its size indicates the coverage of the species 2007, Scharnweber et al, 2011, Cavin et al, 2013, Tegel et al, 2014, Zimmermann et al, 2015. An increase in temperature alone can be tolerated by beech as it is able to grow in regions with a mean annual temperature of 14 o C (Peters, 1997, Kölling et al, 2007 and may even grow faster when sufficiently supplied with water (Felbermeier, 1993, Pretzsch andĎurský, 2002)).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Floristic Change at the Drought Limit of European Beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) to Downy Oak (Quercus pubescens) Forest in the Temperate Climate of Central Europe

Reif

Xystrakis

Gärtner

et al. 2017

Not Bot Horti Agrobo

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An increase in drought could cause shifts in species composition and vegetation structure. In forests it limits the occurrence of drought sensitive tree species which become replaced by drought tolerant tree species and forest communities. Under temperate macroclimatic conditions, European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) naturally dominates the forested landscape, except on extremely shallow soil in combination with high irradiation. On these sites beech reaches its drought limit, and is replaced by forests dominated by species like downy oak (Quercus pubescens s.l.) and English oak (Quercus petraea L). Phytosociological and ecological data were collected in the transition (ecotone) between European beach stands and stands of more drought tolerant species in order to quantify the drought intensity threshold, above which beech is replaced by drought tolerant species. It was shown that favourable topographic and soil conditions partially compensated the unsuitable climatic conditions for beech. The ecotone between these forest types was found to be characterized by shallow soils with an available soil water storage capacity of 73 l/m² or less, and an irradiation intensity of 6000 MJ/m 2 or more during the growing season. This indicates that under conditions of climate change beech would naturally still remain the dominant tree species on the majority of central European forest sites.

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Climate Warming-Related Growth Decline Affects Fagus sylvatica, But Not Other Broad-Leaved Tree Species in Central European Mixed Forests

Cited by 165 publications

References 31 publications

Consistent limitation of growth by high temperature and low precipitation from range core to southern edge of European beech indicates widespread vulnerability to changing climate

Consistent limitation of growth by high temperature and low precipitation from range core to southern edge of European beech indicates widespread vulnerability to changing climate

Genetic Insights into Ecological Succession from Oak- (Quercus robur L.) to Beech- (Fagus sylvatica L.) Dominated Forest Stands

Floristic Change at the Drought Limit of European Beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) to Downy Oak (Quercus pubescens) Forest in the Temperate Climate of Central Europe

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