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Vigo, Marta

doi:10.3989/pirineos.1993.v141-142.167

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 3 publications

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“…This type of montane, often mixed forest is dominant in the more mesic temperate and cool sites of the Spanish Pyrenees, such as valley bottoms and north and north-west-facing slopes [58]. We selected 11 silver fir forests encompassing a gradient of environmental conditions, tree vigor and mortality rates [15][16][17][18]59].…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Pyrenean Silver Fir Forests Retain Legacies of Past Disturbances and Climate Change in Their Growth, Structure and Composition

Gazol

Andrés

Colangelo

et al. 2023

Forests

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Recent drought-induced dieback alters forest dynamics, which are also shaped by past management. In western Pyrenean silver fir (Abies alba) stands, dieback concurs in space and time with the legacies of past management, but the impacts on forest growth, structure and composition are unknown. We aim to disentangle how dieback interacts with the legacies of past human use and modulates the recent dynamics of silver fir forests. To this end, we sampled eleven silver fir forests across wide climatic gradients and included declining and non-declining sites. We measured radial growth, structure, composition, understory cover and type and amount of deadwood. Silver fir growth declines in response to late-summer drought. In declining sites, most defoliated stands showed the lowest silver fir density and were those where growth depended more on water availability. Tree death enhanced the cover of dominant understory plants such as Buxus sempervirens. Past management activities leave an imprint in the growth of silver fir, such as releases due to past logging, but also affect the number of stumps and snags and the current tree density. A more extensive monitoring will be required to fully disentangle the multiple influences of past management legacies and current climate change on forest dynamics.

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