First signs of old-growth structure and composition of an oak forest after four decades of abandonment

Aszalós, Réka; Horváth, Ferenc; Mázsa, Katalin; Odór, Péter; Lengyel, Attila; Kovács, Gabriella; Bölöni, János

doi:10.1515/biolog-2017-0139

Cited by 9 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…More data would be required to make inferences based on 'latent reserves' free of management for more than 70 years. Indeed, longer than 40-70 years of abandonment seems necessary to fully recover from past management, as proposed by other studies in Europe (Aszalós et al, 2017;Heiri et al, 2009;Paillet et al, 2015). The time required for forests to reach naturalness likely varies with past management intensity and differs between ecosystems (McRoberts et al, 2012;Paillet et al, 2015).…”

Section: F I G U R Ementioning

confidence: 82%

‘Latent reserves’: A hidden treasure in National Forest Inventories

et al. 2020

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In a Europe shaped by centuries of forest management, the task of today's scientists in characterising, understanding and modelling natural forests is highly challenging. Although numerous forest reserves exist, most remain hardly comparable case studies. Contrarily, National Forest Inventories (NFIs) consist of systematically distributed sample plots with varying time since last intervention and provide representative data. These characteristics make NFIs a unique opportunity to investigate hidden natural forests. Here we propose using NFI plots free of human influence for >40 to >70 years (‘latent reserves’) to conduct large‐scale studies on near‐natural forests. We tested this original concept in Swiss forests. We characterised compositional and structural attributes of ‘latent reserves’ and compared them with those of managed forests to assess whether the former demonstrated more signs of naturalness than the latter. As an example of an application, we analysed the tree‐ and stand‐level factors affecting natural tree mortality in ‘latent reserves’. Up to 15.3% of Swiss NFI plots fulfilled the criteria of ‘latent reserves’, and most of these plots were distributed at mid‐ to high elevations where accessibility and management opportunities are limited. ‘Latent reserves’ showed more signs of naturalness than managed forests—a higher proportion of broadleaves, higher mortality rates, higher stand density and more deadwood. However, their size structure and basal area did not differ from those of managed forests, most likely because of a lower site productivity. Although ‘latent reserves’ were transitioning towards a natural state, more time without management might be required for these forests to become fully detached from the effects of past management, especially at high elevations. Mortality analyses in ‘latent reserves’ showed that species‐specific tree mortality had a U‐shaped response to tree size, was negatively related to tree growth and was higher when competition was stronger. Synthesis. Our findings demonstrate the potential of ‘latent reserves’ to study near‐natural forests at the country level, and point to further opportunities for larger‐scale collaborations. Investigating ‘latent reserves’ represents a first step towards a deeper understanding of such forests using existing long‐term data and shows promise for further research in Europe.

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Section: F I G U R Ementioning

confidence: 82%

‘Latent reserves’: A hidden treasure in National Forest Inventories

et al. 2020

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“…The 94 ha core area of the reserve is covered mainly by close-to-nature oak-dominated forests typical for the oak woodland zone of the region, also with beech stands on northwest slopes. The main Natura 2000 habitat types are 9130 -Asperula-Fagetum beech forests, 91G0 -Pannonic woods with Quercus petraea and Carpinus betulus, 91H0 -Pannonian woods with Quercus pubescens, 91M0 -Pannonian-Balkanic Turkey oak-sessile oak forests (CEC 1992) The core area has been set aside for preservation in 1991, though several previous conservation acts had already secured spontaneous natural development of the VSFR stands (Aszalós et al 2017). Most of the stands are classi ed/considered as 'long untouched' forests according to Sabatini et al (2018).…”

Section: Site Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The history of the study site can be traced back by archive documents and by the detailed data of forest management plans of the second part of the last century (Aszalós et al 2017;Mázsa et al 2009). According to a title deed dating from 1261, a forest area of approximately 6000 ha around the VSFR had been an estate of the Episcopate in Eger from then until the 2nd World War.…”

Section: Site Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most of the present VSFR area was cut around 1880; however, several over-mature trees were retained. The last management action with a commercial goal took place in 1968/69 when partial preparation-cutting of the shelterwood forestry system was performed on half of the study site (Aszalós et al 2017). There are four cohorts to be distinguished in the stand.…”

Section: Site Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Tracking tree history to understand better natural dynamics of old-growth forest stands

Szegleti

Vig

Ortmann‐Ajkai

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The long-term study of old-growth forest stands helps to understand the small-scale natural forest dynamic processes driven by the population biology of trees. The sampled trees can be considered from the viewpoint of their life and death cycle from establishment through to growing and death to full degradation. We provide a methodological framework for tracking and interpreting tree history in interaction with resurvey sampling events. The history of living and dead trees is consecutive and closely related to each other due to mortality events. The evanescent rate of disintegrated and decomposed dead trees is also a substantial dynamic characteristic of stands like regeneration, maturation, and mortality rates. They all form the intrinsic stand dynamic profile based on the whole life-dead-decomposed cycle of trees. This framework fills a knowledge gap in the European forest dynamic studies, where most of the research approaches point the focus on forest structure and pattern of developmental stages, and separately on living population dynamic features and deadwood structure and decay processes. In our pilot study, we performed resurvey of 53 Permanent Sampling Plots of a long untouched forest at Várhegy Strict Forest Reserve, Hungary. We estimated annual rates of ingrowth regeneration, maturation, mortality (13.2, 1.5, and 10.0 tree/hectare/year respectively), and 2.4 tree/hectare/year evanescence of disintegrated and decomposed dead trees. Apparent trends that accumulation of dead trees increases considerably – especially in oak-hornbeam stands, while 67% of annual regeneration ingrowth density is produced by shrubs, and only 9% by upper canopy trees.

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“…Oak (Quercus spp. L.) is an important genus throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere, though its abundance has declined in recent years, largely due to regeneration failures [1,2] caused by changes to disturbance regimes [3,4], browsing by white tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus Zimmerman) [5], fire suppression [6,7] and interference from invasive plant species [8]. A robust field of research focusing on silvicultural methods for increasing oak advance regeneration has developed to address these declines, e.g., [9,10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Seedling Quality and Family on Performance of Northern Red Oak Seedlings on a Xeric Upland Site

Pinchot¹,

Hall²,

Saxton³

et al. 2018

Forests

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Cultural practices to develop larger, more robust oak seedlings have been developed, however, the potential improvement conferred by these larger seedlings has received limited testing in the Northeast. We evaluated the effect of seedling size and pedigree on the survival, growth, and competitive ability of northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.) seedlings planted on a xeric site in northeastern Pennsylvania. We planted seedlings from a state tree nursery that represented locally available seedling stock, as well as high-quality seedlings from seven half-sibling families grown following improved nursery protocol. Half-sibling families were split into three size classes based on their root collar diameter and height; large, average, and poor. Eleven years after planting, survival across seedling treatments ranged from 45 percent for locally available seedlings, to 96 percent for one half-sibling family. Two families showed superior growth, survival, and competitive ability compared with the others. Seedling size class conferred moderate height and diameter advantage in four and three of the families, respectively. Initial seedling size was an important variable in models predicting survival, diameter, and dominance (competitive ability). Over time, the relationship between initial diameter and height diminished.

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First signs of old-growth structure and composition of an oak forest after four decades of abandonment

Cited by 9 publications

References 62 publications

‘Latent reserves’: A hidden treasure in National Forest Inventories

‘Latent reserves’: A hidden treasure in National Forest Inventories

Tracking tree history to understand better natural dynamics of old-growth forest stands

Effects of Seedling Quality and Family on Performance of Northern Red Oak Seedlings on a Xeric Upland Site

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