TY - JOUR

T1 - Environmental drivers interactively affect individual tree growth across temperate European forests

AU - Maes, Sybryn L.

AU - Perring, Michael P.

AU - Vanhellemont, Margot

AU - Depauw, Leen

AU - Van den Bulcke, Jan

AU - Brūmelis, Guntis

AU - Brunet, Jörg

AU - Decocq, Guillaume

AU - den Ouden, Jan

AU - Härdtle, Werner

AU - Hédl, Radim

AU - Heinken, Thilo

AU - Heinrichs, Steffi

AU - Jaroszewicz, Bogdan

AU - Kopecký, Martin

AU - Máliš, František

AU - Wulf, Monika

AU - Verheyen, Kris

PY - 2019/1

Y1 - 2019/1

N2 - Forecasting the growth of tree species to future environmental changes requires a better understanding of its determinants. Tree growth is known to respond to global-change drivers such as climate change or atmospheric deposition, as well as to local land-use drivers such as forest management. Yet, large geographical scale studies examining interactive growth responses to multiple global-change drivers are relatively scarce and rarely consider management effects. Here, we assessed the interactive effects of three global-change drivers (temperature, precipitation and nitrogen deposition) on individual tree growth of three study species (Quercus robur/petraea, Fagus sylvatica and Fraxinus excelsior). We sampled trees along spatial environmental gradients across Europe and accounted for the effects of management for Quercus. We collected increment cores from 267 trees distributed over 151 plots in 19 forest regions and characterized their neighbouring environment to take into account potentially confounding factors such as tree size, competition, soil conditions and elevation. We demonstrate that growth responds interactively to global-change drivers, with species-specific sensitivities to the combined factors. Simultaneously high levels of precipitation and deposition benefited Fraxinus, but negatively affected Quercus’ growth, highlighting species-specific interactive tree growth responses to combined drivers. For Fagus, a stronger growth response to higher temperatures was found when precipitation was also higher, illustrating the potential negative effects of drought stress under warming for this species. Furthermore, we show that past forest management can modulate the effects of changing temperatures on Quercus’ growth; individuals in plots with a coppicing history showed stronger growth responses to higher temperatures. Overall, our findings highlight how tree growth can be interactively determined by global-change drivers, and how these growth responses might be modulated by past forest management. By showing future growth changes for scenarios of environmental change, we stress the importance of considering multiple drivers, including past management and their interactions, when predicting tree growth.

AB - Forecasting the growth of tree species to future environmental changes requires a better understanding of its determinants. Tree growth is known to respond to global-change drivers such as climate change or atmospheric deposition, as well as to local land-use drivers such as forest management. Yet, large geographical scale studies examining interactive growth responses to multiple global-change drivers are relatively scarce and rarely consider management effects. Here, we assessed the interactive effects of three global-change drivers (temperature, precipitation and nitrogen deposition) on individual tree growth of three study species (Quercus robur/petraea, Fagus sylvatica and Fraxinus excelsior). We sampled trees along spatial environmental gradients across Europe and accounted for the effects of management for Quercus. We collected increment cores from 267 trees distributed over 151 plots in 19 forest regions and characterized their neighbouring environment to take into account potentially confounding factors such as tree size, competition, soil conditions and elevation. We demonstrate that growth responds interactively to global-change drivers, with species-specific sensitivities to the combined factors. Simultaneously high levels of precipitation and deposition benefited Fraxinus, but negatively affected Quercus’ growth, highlighting species-specific interactive tree growth responses to combined drivers. For Fagus, a stronger growth response to higher temperatures was found when precipitation was also higher, illustrating the potential negative effects of drought stress under warming for this species. Furthermore, we show that past forest management can modulate the effects of changing temperatures on Quercus’ growth; individuals in plots with a coppicing history showed stronger growth responses to higher temperatures. Overall, our findings highlight how tree growth can be interactively determined by global-change drivers, and how these growth responses might be modulated by past forest management. By showing future growth changes for scenarios of environmental change, we stress the importance of considering multiple drivers, including past management and their interactions, when predicting tree growth.

KW - basal area increment

KW - climate change

KW - Fagus

KW - Fraxinus

KW - historical ecology

KW - nitrogen deposition

KW - Quercus

KW - tree-ring analysis

KW - Ecosystems Research

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85056845291&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/gcb.14493

DO - 10.1111/gcb.14493

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 30346104

AN - SCOPUS:85056845291

VL - 25

SP - 201

EP - 217

JO - Global Change Biology

JF - Global Change Biology

SN - 1354-1013

IS - 1

ER -