Species-specific responses of wood growth to flooding and climate in floodplain forests in central Germany

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Heike Heklau
  • Gottfried Jetschke
  • Helge Bruelheide
  • Gunnar Seidler
  • Sylvia Haider

With ongoing climate change, episodes of severe flooding are predicted to become more frequent despite a general trend towards increasing summer drought. We investigated how wood growth of adult trees of two species characteristic of floodplain forests in Central Germany (Fraxinus excelsior L., Quercus robur L.) and two less-typical species (Acer pseudoplatanus L., Carpi-nus betulus L.) responded to both maximum stream water level and climate, with a special focus on the effects of the extraordinary flood of the Saale River in June 2013 and the extreme drought in summer 1976. Tree-ring widths were measured on wood cores, and standardized ARSTAN tree-ring chronologies were produced. Using variance partitioning as well as linear mixed-effects models, we compared the effects of monthly values for maximum water level, temperature and precipitation sum on tree-ring width. Further, we calculated resistance, resilience and recovery of the tree species to the extreme events of flooding in 2013 and drought in 1976. Wood growth of all species studied, and particularly of F. excelsior, responded positively to the extraordinary flooding in June 2013. However, in the best models for the characteristic floodplain forest species (F. excelsior and Q. robur), mainly precipitation (F. excelsior) or a combination of precipitation and wood growth of the previous year (Q. robur) acted as drivers of wood growth of the current year. In contrast, growth of the less habitat-specific species (A. pseudoplatanus) mainly showed a significant response to the combination of temperature and wood growth of the previous year. C. betulus was the only species studied that benefited from the extreme drought in 1976. However, two years afterwards, only the wood growth of A. pseudoplatanus was still reduced, while F. excelsior and Q. robur fully recovered. In comparison to other regions in Central Europe, the moderate flood regime of the Saale River seems to have the potential to mitigate effects of summer drought in this region, which is one of the driest in Germany. Thus, increased flooding frequency might, to some degree, reduce drought effects brought about by climate change as well.

Original languageEnglish
JournalIForest
Volume12
Issue number3
Pages (from-to)226-236
Number of pages11
ISSN1971-7458
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 30.06.2019
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© SISEF.

Documents

DOI

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. Bewältigung von Nicht-Anerkennung
  2. Compression creep at 240°C of extruded magnesium alloys containing gadolinium
  3. Biodegradable Magnesium Implants - How Do They Corrode in-vivo?
  4. Jean Piaget zur Einführung
  5. Political orientations do not cancel out, and politics is not about truth
  6. Repatriate knowledge transfer
  7. Art. 116: Begriff des "Deutschen"
  8. Foreword
  9. Skål, Admiral von Schneider!
  10. Die "Leute" und die "Kunst" - eine "Heisenberg'sche Unschärferelation" der Stadtplanung
  11. The Pervasive Role of Pragmatics in Early Language
  12. Zwischen Umwelt und milieu: Zur Begriffsgeschichte von environment in der Evolutionstheorie
  13. Transdisciplinarity in social-ecological research: Constraints, challenges and opportunities
  14. Investigation of the spray formation of solketal under diesel engine conditions and the influence on Diesel R33.
  15. Management Control for Sustainability
  16. Environmental Management Accounting: Innovation or Managerial Fad?
  17. Effect of thermal and mechanical treatments on the hot working response of Mg-3Sn-1Ca alloy
  18. Fluchtbewegung in Variationen
  19. A Single Swing of the Shovel
  20. § 286 bis § 292 BGB Verzug des Schuldners
  21. Schulleitung
  22. Earnings baths by bank CEOs during turnovers
  23. Corona-Solidaritäten
  24. Alternative Modelle zur Ausgestaltung von Gemeindesteuern : mikroanalytische Quantifizierung der Einnahme-, der Einkommens- und der Verteilungseffekte
  25. Schaffen aus Fülle.
  26. International Generalizability of Expatriate Success Project (iGOES)
  27. Die heimlichen Spielregeln der Karriere
  28. Kleine und mittlere Unternehmen
  29. Review of John Christman, The Politics of Persons: Individual Autonomy and Socio-historical Selves
  30. Das Binnenmarktziel in der europäischen Verfassung
  31. Der EU-Emissionshandel
  32. Regenerativer Überschussstrom für Power-to-Heat
  33. Climate change and aviation
  34. Effects of NH3-Volatilization from Biogas Residues on the Environmental Protection Potential of Energy Cropping in Northern Germany
  35. Der Mensch beeinflusst das Klima - was muss er dafür bezahlen?
  36. Sustainability communication
  37. Lekcja 7-8