Unfavourable microsites, competing vegetation and browsing restrict post-disturbance tree regeneration on extreme sites in the Northern Calcareous Alps

Pröll, Gisela; Darabant, András; Gratzer, Georg; Katzensteiner, Klaus

doi:10.1007/s10342-014-0851-1

Cited by 40 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…Forest litter is acknowledged to constitute a major component of forest ecosystems. Indeed, this layer, consisting essentially of shed vegetative parts and organic matter in various stages of decomposition at the soil surface, plays an important role in a series of ecosystem processes such as, notably, soil carbon sequestration [ Liski et al , ; Jonard et al , ], nutrient storage and progressive release through decomposition [ Attiwill and Adams , ; Sayer , ; Jonard et al , ], soil water retention and dynamics [ Putuhena and Cordery , ; Tamai et al , ; Gerrits et al , ; Rasoulzadeh and Homapoor Ghoorabjiri , ], buffering of soil temperature variations [ Sharratt , ], tree regeneration [ Kostel‐Hughes et al , ; Barna , ; Cleavitt et al , ; Pröll et al , ], and population dynamics of ground vegetation and soil fauna [ Ponge , ]. Therefore, detailed characterization of litter horizons is required for proper understanding and modeling of ecosystem functioning and is furthermore essential in the actual context of global warming, litter being mainly composed of labile carbon and nutrient pools more sensitive to climate changes than the corresponding stocks in the mineral soil [ Conant et al , ; Schmidt et al , ; Erhagen et al , ; Kruse et al , ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In situ characterization of forest litter using ground‐penetrating radar

André

Jonard

et al. 2016

JGR Biogeosciences

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Decomposing litter accumulated on the soil surface in forests plays a major role in several ecosystem processes; its detailed characterization is therefore essential for thorough understanding of ecosystem functioning. In addition, litter is known to affect remote sensing radar data over forested areas and their proper processing requires accurate quantification of litter scattering properties. In the present study, ultrawideband (0.8-2.2 GHz) ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data were collected in situ for a wide range of litter types to investigate the potential of the technique to reconstruct litter horizons in undisturbed natural conditions. Radar data were processed resorting to full-wave inversion. Good agreement was generally found between estimated and measured litter layer thicknesses, with root-mean-square error values around 1 cm for recently fallen litter (OL layer) and around 2 cm for fragmented litter in partial decomposition (OF layer) and total litter (OL + OF). Nevertheless, significant correlations between estimated and measured thicknesses were found for total litter only. Inaccuracies in the reconstruction of the individual litter horizons were mainly attributed to weak dielectric contrasts amongst litter layers, with absolute differences in relative dielectric permittivity values often lower than 2 between humus horizons, and to uncertainties in the ground truth values. Radar signal inversions also provided reliable estimates of litter electromagnetic properties, with average relative dielectric permittivity values around 2.9 and 6.3 for OL and OF litters, respectively. These results are encouraging for the use of GPR for noninvasive characterization and mapping of forest litter. Perspectives for the application of the technique in biogeosciences are discussed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In situ characterization of forest litter using ground‐penetrating radar

André

Jonard

et al. 2016

JGR Biogeosciences

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“…Special microsites (e.g., pit and mound topography, exposed mineral soil) may slow down the development of ground vegetation or mitigate the ecological extremes of the non-forest climate. Thus, the importance of microsites for post-disturbance regeneration of weaker competitor species may be greater than that of regular regeneration fellings, where light incidence is controlled [40,108,119]. Any attempt to generalize should therefore carefully address these factors.…”

Section: Microsite Variabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, overbrowsing can also decrease the commercial value of future stands, since it increases undesirable seedling growth patterns (e.g., multi-trunking, stem forking) and stem decay [142][143][144][145]. This is particularly a problem for post-disturbance regeneration where saplings are unevenly distributed and their density is low [38,40,109,119]. In areas with high deer densities, as is the case in most of Slovenia [146], browsing should be carefully monitored with regular inspection of selected seedlings, monitoring of browsing with deer exclosures, and culling measures should be implemented if needed.…”

Section: Browsingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges for Uneven-Aged Silviculture in Restoration of Post-Disturbance Forests in Central Europe: A Synthesis

Diaci

Roženbergar

Fidej

et al. 2017

Forests

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Forest managers are often required to restore forest stands following natural disturbances, a situation that may become more common and more challenging under global change. In parts of Central Europe, particularly in mountain regions dominated by mixed temperate forests, the use of relatively low intensity, uneven-aged silviculture is a common management approach. Because this type of management is based on mimicking less intense disturbances, the restoration of more severe disturbance patches within forested landscapes has received little attention. The goal of this paper is to synthesize research on the restoration of forests damaged by disturbances in temperate forests of Slovenia and neighbouring regions of Central Europe, where uneven-aged silviculture is practiced. Research indicates that active management aimed at favouring mixed uneven-aged forest reduces the risk of disturbance and improves the resilience of stands. Salvage logging may have positive or negative effects on regeneration, much of which is due to the method applied and the quality of work. The most prominent factors that negatively affect restoration are: lack of advanced regeneration and decomposed woody debris, high altitude, steep slopes, dense ground vegetation, and overbrowsing. Planting or sowing should be applied in post-disturbance forests where many negative factors interact and where a high demand for sustainability of forest ecosystem services is present.

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“…With tree regeneration, it takes roughly one to two decades until disturbed forests become CO 2 neutral again (Amiro et al 2010;Matthews et al 2017;Yamanoi et al 2015). Across many European forests, tree regeneration is, however, delayed or completely inhibited following disturbance, often as a result of ungulate herbivory (Ammer 1996;Pröll et al 2014;Ramirez et al 2019;Thrippleton et al 2018). In Austria, for example, about 60% of the regenerating forests are heavily affected by browsing from deer and chamois (Schodterer 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, herbaceous species such as Calamagrostis sp. can represent strong competitors for seedlings and saplings and once a dense ground vegetation layer has established, sites can remain in herbaceous dominated, non-forest states for several decades post-disturbance (Kupferschmid and Bugmann 2005;Pröll et al 2014;Rebele and Lehmann 2001;Thrippleton et al 2018). This raises the question of whether ungulate herbivory and accompanied shifts in the functional Communicated by Christian Ammer.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Herbivory modulates soil CO2 fluxes after windthrow: a case study in temperate mountain forests

2019

Self Cite

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Ungulate herbivory can alter functional plant communities of early-successional forest ecosystems. The consequences of such vegetation changes on soil carbon cycling are still not fully understood. Here, we used an ungulate exclusion experiment to investigate how different levels of herbivory and associated changes in vegetation succession modulate soil CO 2 efflux and its heterotrophic and autotrophic sources following windthrow in temperate mountain forests. Our results indicate that only high levels of ungulate herbivory and associated vegetation shifts from tree to rather grass dominated plant communities affect soil CO 2 fluxes. We did not find evidence that a moderate herbivory level and accompanied smaller shifts in the functional plant community affect soil CO 2 fluxes. A greater soil CO 2 efflux under the influence of high herbivory pressure was primarily attributed to accelerated heterotrophic respiration, likely due to warmer soil conditions. Moreover, autotrophic respiration from grass roots and associated microbial communities is suggested to contribute to higher soil CO 2 fluxes. We conclude that intense herbivory and accompanied successional changes in the functional plant community enhance soil carbon losses following forest windthrow. This might have negative consequences for the soil carbon stocks and for the climate system.

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Unfavourable microsites, competing vegetation and browsing restrict post-disturbance tree regeneration on extreme sites in the Northern Calcareous Alps

Cited by 40 publications

References 80 publications

In situ characterization of forest litter using ground‐penetrating radar

In situ characterization of forest litter using ground‐penetrating radar

Challenges for Uneven-Aged Silviculture in Restoration of Post-Disturbance Forests in Central Europe: A Synthesis

Herbivory modulates soil CO2 fluxes after windthrow: a case study in temperate mountain forests

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