A tree-ring reconstruction of wind disturbances in a forest of the Slovakian Tatra Mountains, Western Carpathians

Abstract

Question: Have past windstorm events influenced the structure and composition of mountain forests in the Tatra Mountains? Can severe and infrequent wind disturbances lead to dynamic coexistence of two tree species with different ecological requirements? Location: Subalpine mixed spruce-larch forest at 1200-1300 m a.s.l. in the Slovakian Tatra Mountains. A forested site affected by catastrophic largescale windthrow on 19 November 2004. Methods: Sixty-seven spruce and 30 larch crosssections from the oldest cohorts were collected in a regular pattern in a 100-ha plot. Tree-ring series were analysed to reconstruct growth releases associated with past windthrows. A boundary-line release criterion was applied to detect disturbance year. Spatial patterns of release signals were statistically detected with Mantel's test. We compared reconstructed years of disturbance events with historical records. Results: Releases in both species showed three main pulses. More than 85% showed major or moderate releases in 1865-1879, 48% in 1915-1924, and 25% in 1940-1949. All of these disturbance events affected the whole 100-ha area. Releases were spatially patterned in the first disturbances, but distributed randomly in the last. Releases co-occurred in time with enhanced production of compression wood, suggesting disturbances were of wind origin. Reconstructed dates of windthrows were confirmed using historical data on storms. Conclusions: At least three windthrows of major and moderate severity took place in the last 150 years on southern slopes of the Tatra Mountains. This disturbance regime may contribute to coexistence of spruce and larch through differences in vulnerability and response to heavy windstorms.

Toward a definition of the range of variability of central European mixedFagus–Abies–Piceaforests: the nearly steady-state forest of Lom (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

“…Norway spruce (Jonášovã and Prach 2004;Svoboda et al 2010;Zielonka et al 2010). At the same time there is no evidence of fire as a disturbance agent as has been observed and hypothesized in the central-southern…”

Structure and dynamics of spruce-beech-fir forests in Nature Reserves of the Orlické hory Mts. in relation to ungulate game

“…The dynamics of natural forests could not continually take place without rather pronounced anthropogenic and biogenic disturbances (Vrška et al 2009). Nevertheless, disturbances caused by climate extremes, air pollution, bark beetles, windstorms or fires do not avoid natural forests (Borůvka et al 2005;Zielonka et al 2010;Král et al 2015;Bošela et al 2016). Among these disturbances the ungulates are considered as the most important driver of the metacommunity structure of temperate forests that is able to substantially influence the regeneration process and subsequently the forest development (Senn & Suter 2003;Suzuki 2013;Mattila & Kjellander 2017).…”

The wind and fire disturbance in Central European mountain spruce forests: the regeneration after four years

“…Strong winds, described as "bora" winds, affected the southern slopes of the mountains below 1300 m a.s.l. [16]. The gusts reached 170 km/h, and affected an area of 12600 ha from villages Podbanské to Tatranská Lomnica [17].…”