TY - JOUR

T1 - Higher drought sensitivity of radial growth of European beech in managed than in unmanaged forests

AU - Mausolf, Katharina

AU - Wilm, Paul

AU - Härdtle, Werner

AU - Jansen, Kirstin

AU - Schuldt, Bernhard

AU - Sturm, Knut

AU - von Oheimb, Goddert

AU - Hertel, Dietrich

AU - Leuschner, Christoph

AU - Fichtner, Andreas

N1 - Funding text We thank the ‘Stadtwald Lübeck’ for allowing us to take increment cores and are grateful to the technicians of the Dept. of Plant Ecology, University of Goettingen for the assistance with soil analyses. KM was funded by a doctoral fellowship from the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU; AZ20013/279).

PY - 2018/11/15

Y1 - 2018/11/15

N2 - Climate extremes are predicted to become more frequent and intense in future. Thus, understanding how trees respond to adverse climatic conditions is crucial for evaluating possible future changes in forest ecosystem functioning. Although much information about climate effects on the growth of temperate trees has been collected in recent decades, our understanding of the influence of forest management legacies on climate-growth relationships is still limited. We used individual tree-ring chronologies from managed and unmanaged European beech forests, located in the same growth district (i.e. with almost identical climatic and soil conditions), to examine how forest management legacies (recently managed with selection cutting, >20 years unmanaged, >50 years unmanaged) influence the radial growth of Fagus sylvatica during fluctuating climatic conditions. On average, trees in managed stands had higher radial growth rate than trees in unmanaged stands during the last two decades a 50%. However, the beech trees in the unmanaged stands were less sensitive to drought than those in the managed stands. This effect was most pronounced in the forest with longest management abandonment (>50 years), indicating that the drought sensitivity of mature beech trees is in these forests the lower, the longer the period since forest management cessation is. Management-mediated modifications in crown size and thus water demand are one likely cause of the observed higher climate sensitivity of beech in the managed stands. Our results indicate a possible trade-off between radial growth rate and drought tolerance of beech. This suggests that reducing stem density for maximizing the radial growth of target trees, as is common practice in managed forests, can increase the trees' drought sensitivity. In the prospect of climate change, more information on the impact of forest management practices on the climate-growth relationships of trees is urgently needed.

AB - Climate extremes are predicted to become more frequent and intense in future. Thus, understanding how trees respond to adverse climatic conditions is crucial for evaluating possible future changes in forest ecosystem functioning. Although much information about climate effects on the growth of temperate trees has been collected in recent decades, our understanding of the influence of forest management legacies on climate-growth relationships is still limited. We used individual tree-ring chronologies from managed and unmanaged European beech forests, located in the same growth district (i.e. with almost identical climatic and soil conditions), to examine how forest management legacies (recently managed with selection cutting, >20 years unmanaged, >50 years unmanaged) influence the radial growth of Fagus sylvatica during fluctuating climatic conditions. On average, trees in managed stands had higher radial growth rate than trees in unmanaged stands during the last two decades a 50%. However, the beech trees in the unmanaged stands were less sensitive to drought than those in the managed stands. This effect was most pronounced in the forest with longest management abandonment (>50 years), indicating that the drought sensitivity of mature beech trees is in these forests the lower, the longer the period since forest management cessation is. Management-mediated modifications in crown size and thus water demand are one likely cause of the observed higher climate sensitivity of beech in the managed stands. Our results indicate a possible trade-off between radial growth rate and drought tolerance of beech. This suggests that reducing stem density for maximizing the radial growth of target trees, as is common practice in managed forests, can increase the trees' drought sensitivity. In the prospect of climate change, more information on the impact of forest management practices on the climate-growth relationships of trees is urgently needed.

KW - Ecosystems Research

KW - canopy release

KW - climate change

KW - drought sensitivity

KW - forest thinning

KW - management legacy

KW - radial growth

KW - Canopy release

KW - Drought sensitivity

KW - Forest thinning

KW - Management legacy

KW - Radial growth

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85048800419&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.06.065

DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.06.065

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 30045501

VL - 642

SP - 1201

EP - 1208

JO - The Science of The Total Environment

JF - The Science of The Total Environment

SN - 0048-9697

ER -