Tree Growth and Physiological Properties under Ongoing Global Climate Change

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecophysiology and Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2024 | Viewed by 2356

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Forestry and Game Management Research Institute, Research Station at Opočno, Na Olivě 550, 517 73 Opočno, Czech Republic
Interests: silviculture; forest ecology; forest management; climate change; tree adaptation; resource use

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Guest Editor
Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology (FFWT), Mendel University, Zemedelska 1, 61300 Brno, Czech Republic
Interests: forestry; woody plants ecology; dragon trees; frankincense trees; nature conservation; Socotra
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Department of Forest Management and Applied Geoinformatics (FFWT), Mendelova Univerzita v Brne, Brno, Czech Republic
Interests: forest; digital mapping; geoinformation; geospatial science; geographic information system

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is known that forest ecosystems, as a significant sink of atmospheric carbon, play a pivotal role in the global carbon cycle, especially under ongoing global climate change (GCC). GCC, characterized by weather and climatic anomalies that primarily include increasing air temperatures and changes in the precipitation distribution during the growing season, significantly affect the provision of forest ecosystem services. GCC also increases forest ecosystems' vulnerability to abiotic and biotic stressors. Therefore, forest adaptation measures promoting tree/ecosystem resistance, resilience, vitality, growth, stability, and sustainability of material and energy fluxes are necessary to ensure secure and sustainable producing and non-producing forest functions.

New original research and review papers devoted to "carbon forestry" worldwide will be appreciated and are encouraged to be published in this Special Issue.

Potential topics include, for instance:

  • Adaptation strategy;
  • Anatomical/Physiological/ Morphological adaptability;
  • Carbon sequestration;
  • GCC mitigation;
  • Multiple ecosystem services;
  • Resource use;
  • Resilience/Resistance of tree species;
  • Sustainable forest management.

Dr. Jakub Černý
Prof. Dr. Petr Maděra
Dr. Zdeněk Patočka
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • forest management
  • forest growth and productivity
  • sustainable silviculture
  • forest adaptation
  • tree resilience
  • physiological traits
  • forest acclimation
  • resource use
  • carbon sequestration
  • global climate change

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 4704 KiB  
Article
Effects of Climate Change on Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) Growth across Europe: Decrease of Tree-Ring Fluctuation and Amplification of Climate Stress
by Jakub Brichta, Václav Šimůnek, Lukáš Bílek, Zdeněk Vacek, Josef Gallo, Stanisław Drozdowski, José Alfredo Bravo-Fernández, Bill Mason, Sonia Roig Gomez, Vojtěch Hájek, Stanislav Vacek, Václav Štícha, Pavel Brabec and Zdeněk Fuchs
Forests 2024, 15(1), 91; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f15010091 - 03 Jan 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1161
Abstract
From an economic perspective, Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) is one of Europe’s most important tree species. It is characterized by its wide ecological adaptability across its natural range. This research aimed to evaluate the forest structure, productivity and especially radial growth [...] Read more.
From an economic perspective, Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) is one of Europe’s most important tree species. It is characterized by its wide ecological adaptability across its natural range. This research aimed to evaluate the forest structure, productivity and especially radial growth of heterogenous pine stands in 16 research plots in the Czech Republic, Poland, Spain and Great Britain. The study assessed the tree-ring formation and its relationship to climate change for each country, using 163 dendrochronological samples. The stand volume of mature pine forest ranged between 91 and 510 m3 ha−1, and the carbon sequestration in the tree biomass was 40–210 t ha−1. The stands had a prevailing random distribution of trees, with a high vertical structure close to selection forests (forest stands with typical very diverse height, diameter and age structure). Spectral analyses showed a substantial decrease in fluctuations in the tree-ring index and a loss in natural growth cyclicity in the last thirty years. The results also evinced that mean air temperature was the most important factor influencing the radial growth compared to precipitation totals. Pine thrives in precipitation-stable locations, as shown by the results from Great Britain. The conclusions of this study confirm the fundamental effect of ongoing global climate change on the dynamics and growth of pine forests in Europe. Full article
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22 pages, 3395 KiB  
Article
Different Adaptive Potential of Norway Spruce Ecotypes in Response to Climate Change in Czech Long-Term Lowland Experiment
by Václav Šimůnek, Jan Stejskal, Jaroslav Čepl, Jiří Korecký, Zdeněk Vacek, Stanislav Vacek, Lukáš Bílek and Michal Švanda
Forests 2023, 14(9), 1922; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f14091922 - 21 Sep 2023
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Abstract
As a result of climate change, Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst.) is dying across Europe. One of the primary reasons for this is the cultivation of unsuitable spruce provenances and ecotypes. This study deals with the growth and genetics of the [...] Read more.
As a result of climate change, Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst.) is dying across Europe. One of the primary reasons for this is the cultivation of unsuitable spruce provenances and ecotypes. This study deals with the growth and genetics of the ecotypes of Norway spruce, the most important tree species of the Czech Republic. At the study site, namely Cukrák, an experimental site was established in 1964 to plant three basic spruce ecotypes: low-elevation (LE), medium-elevation (ME) and high-elevation (HE) ecotype. A dendrometric inventory, dendrochronological sampling and genetic analyses were carried out on individual trees in 45 to 46 years old spruce stands. The ME ecotype was the most productive in terms of its carbon sequestration potential, while the HE ecotype had the lowest radial growth. All ecotypes exhibited a noteworthy negative correlation between tree-ring growth and seasonal temperature, annual temperature, previous year September to current year August temperature, June to July temperature, as well as individual monthly temperatures from previous May to current August. The relationship of annual and seasonal precipitation to growth was significant only for the LE and ME ecotypes, but precipitation from previous year September to current year August and precipitation from current June to July were the most significant for all ecotypes, where the ME had the highest r value. The HE ecotype does not adapt well to a dry climate and appears to be unsuitable compared to the other ecotypes under the studied conditions. This study also documented intra-population genetic variation within years of low growth, as evidenced by significant clonal heritability. The selection of the appropriate spruce ecotypes is essential for the stability and production of future stands and should become an important pillar of forest adaptation to climate change. Full article
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