Managing drought-sensitive forests under global change. Low competition enhances long-term growth and water uptake in Abies pinsapo

Lechuga, Víctor; Carraro, Vinicio; Viñegla, Benjamı́n; Carreira, José A.; Linares, Juan Carlos

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2017.10.017

Cited by 53 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Taller trees are also more prone to xylem embolism, which typically occurs when water is in short supply. In addition, the high density of stock volume could be driven by the high number of small-intermediate stems, which cause the growth of forests with high stock volume density, to stagnate and creates intense competition for water [69]. Above all, given that forests with high stock volume density are more sensitive to drought and have low resistance to drought, they are more likely to be affected by droughts that become more frequent and more severe as a result of global climate change, a link worthy of attention by future forest administrations [63].…”

Section: Differences In Response Due To Differences In Stock Volume Dmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stock Volume Dependency of Forest Drought Responses in Yunnan, China

Luo

Zhou

et al. 2018

Forests

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Abstract:Revealing forest drought response characteristics and the potential impact factors is quite an important scientific issue against the background of global climate change, which is the foundation to reliably evaluate and predict the effects of future drought. Due to the high spatial heterogeneity of forest properties such as biomass, forest age, and height, and the distinct differences in drought stress in terms of frequency, intensity, and duration, current studies still contain many uncertainties. In this research, we used the forests in Yunnan Province in Southwest China as an example and aimed to reveal the potential impacts of forest properties (i.e., stock volume) on drought response characteristics. Specifically, we divided the forest into five groups of stock volume density values and then analyzed their drought response differences. To depict forest response to drought intensity, the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) was chosen as the explanatory variable, and the change in remote sensing-based enhanced vegetation index (deficit of MODIS-EVI, dEVI) was chosen as the response variable of drought stress. Given that the SPEI has different time scales, we first analyzed the statistical dependency of SPEIs with different time scales (1 to 36 months) to the response variable (i.e., dEVI). The optimal time scale of SPEI (SPEI opt ) to interpret the maximum variation of dEVI (R-square) was then chosen to build the ultimate statistical models for the five groups of stock volume density. The main findings were as follows: (1) the impacts of drought showed hysteresis and cumulative effects, and the length of the hysteresis increased with stock volume densities; (2) forests with high stock volume densities required more soil water and were therefore more sensitive to the changes in water deficit; (3) compared with the optimal time scale of SPEI (SPEI opt ), the SPEI with the commonly used time scale (e.g., 1, 6, and 12 months) could not well reflect the impacts of drought on forests and the simulation error of dEVI increased with stock volume densities; and (4) forests with higher stock volume densities were likely to experience a greater risk of degradation following higher atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5). As a result, both the time scale of the meteorological drought index and the spatial difference in forest stock volumes should be considered when evaluating forest drought responses at regional and global scales.

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Section: Differences In Response Due To Differences In Stock Volume Dmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stock Volume Dependency of Forest Drought Responses in Yunnan, China

Luo

Zhou

et al. 2018

Forests

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“…Despite in our study area mortality was inversely related to soil deep (Table 2), there were not consistent patterns regarding soil texture or the amount of organic material and nitrogen. These results suggest that factors other than (or perhaps in addition to) soil properties, topography and aspect, such as species composition, tree age and size structure, and competition, are important determinants of oak decline, likely confounding climate-and siterelated influences (Ogaya & Peñuelas, 2007;Bordbar et al, 2010;Lechuga et al, 2017).…”

Section: Site Factors Modulating Persian Oak Decline and Mortalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Understanding tree mortality patterns is crucial to understand current forest community composition and to predict changes in stand structure and species composition (Chapman et al, 2006;Heitzman et al, 2007;Galiano et al, 2010;Carnicer et al, 2011;Lechuga et al, 2017). At a regional scale, tree mortality may be mainly influenced by climate, for instance extreme events, such as drought and high temperatures (Anderegg et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tree decline has been related to stand structure, otherwise supporting that tree response to water stress also relies on tree-to-tree competition (Das et al, 2011;Lechuga et al, 2017). Episodic tree mortality is usually related to dry site conditions and high stand density (Chapman et al, 2006;Gea-Izquierdo et al, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, trees subjected to higher competition show lower radial growth and they are more prone to die following extreme drought events (Das et al, 2008;Galiano et al, 2010;Linares et al, 2010;Colangelo et al, 2017b). As a result, contrasting stand structure may act modulating the individual tree responses to drought (Lechuga et al, 2017). Persian oak forests display a wide range of stand structural heterogeneity (Erfanifard et al, 2009), which might be, at least in part, due to contrasting land use practices (Fatahi, 1995;Urbieta et al, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Site factors and stand conditions associated with Persian oak decline in Zagros mountain forests

Hosseini

Linares

2018

For. syst.

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Aim of study: Drought and stand structure are major and interconnected drivers of forest dynamics. Water shortage and tree-to-tree competition may interact under the current climate change scenario, increasing tree mortality. In this study, we aimed to investigate climate trends, site and stand structure effects on tree mortality, with the main hypothesis that drought-induced mortality is higher as competition increases.Area of study: Persian oak forests from Zagros Range, western Iran. Material and methods:We split the study area into 20 topographical units (TUs), based on aspect, slope and elevation. In each TU, three 0.1 ha plots were established to quantify site and stand characteristics, namely the diameter of all trees and shrubs, stand density and basal area, canopy dieback and mortality. In addition, soil profiles were analyzed to obtain physical and chemical soil properties. Six transects 100 m length were established per TU to measure tree-to-tree competition for alive and dead trees.Main results: The highest mortality rates and crown dieback were found at higher elevations and southern and western aspects. Our findings confirm increasing rates of tree mortality in stands with higher tree density and shallow soils. As regard links between climate change and forest decline, our results suggest that changing forest structure may have a significant impact on dust emission.Research highlights: Despite severe dry years occurred recently the study area, they are not significantly different than those recorded in the past. Stand structure appears as a modulating factor of climate change effects, linked to competition-related tree vulnerability to drought.

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