Climate warming predispose sessile oak forests to drought-induced tree mortality regardless of management legacies

FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT

卷:491

Article

Petritan, Any Mary¹  Petritan, Ion Catalin²  Hevia, Andrea^3,4  Walentowski, Helge⁵  Bouriaud, Olivier^6,7  Sanchez-Salguero, Raul⁴ 

[1] Natl Inst Res & Dev Forestry Marin Dracea, Eroilor 128, Voluntari 077190, Romania

[2] Transilvania Univ, Sirul Beethoven 1, ROU-500123 Brasov, Romania

[3] Univ Huelva, Escuela Tecn Super Ingn, Dept Ciencias Agroforestales, Palos De La Frontera 21819, Spain

[4] Univ Pablo Olavide, Dept Sistemas Fis Quim & Nat, Crta Utrera Km 1, Seville 41013, Spain

[5] HAWK Univ Appl Sci & Arts, Fac Resource Management, Busgenweg 1a, D-37077 Gottingen, Germany

[6] Univ Stefan cel Mare Suceava, Str Univ 13, Suceava 720229, Romania

[7] Inst Natl Informat Geograph & Forestiere, Lab Inventaire Forestier, F-54000 Nancy, France

关键词: Dendroecology;    Quercus petraea;    Forest dieback;    Old-growth forests;    Managed forests;    Romania;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.foreco.2021.119097

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Climate warming-related drought could become a major driver of large-scale forest dieback. However, little is known about how past management legacies modulate the climate-growth responses during recent dieback episodes in central European oak forests. Here, we examine the role played by past management ?unmanaged old-growth vs. managed forests? in recent tree mortality events occurring in Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl. stands across large areas of western Romania. We analyze how stand structure (tree size, competition) and climatic factors (drought, temperature and precipitation) drive tree radial growth patterns in neighboring standing dead and living trees. We analyzed basal area increments (BAI) trends, past management legacies and climate- and drought-growth relationships during the 20th century to distinguish the roles and interactions on recent warming-induced dieback. We observed that temperature rises and changes in atmospheric water demand during growing season let to increasing drought stress during the late 20th century affecting both managed and unmanaged forests. Dead trees from old-growth and managed forests showed lower growth than living trees after dieback onset. In both forests, dead and living trees displayed divergent growth patterns after dry 1980s, indicating that dieback was triggered by severe extreme conditions. Dead trees from managed stands experienced significant stronger growth reductions after 1980s though they experienced less tree-to-tree competition than dead trees in old-growth forest. High stand density negatively drove growth and enhanced climate sensitivity in old-growth stands. Competition acted synergistically with climate warming and drought causing tree mortality regardless of the management legacies in of Q. petraea forests. Our retrospective assessment of growth rates in relation with climate and structure changes offers valuable information for further forest conservation and management decisions of Q. petraea forests. These findings highlight the importance of past uses legacies driving recent forest dieback in temperate oak forests, making them more vulnerable under forecasted climate-warming related droughts in central Europe.

【 授权许可】

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