Windthrown elements: a key point improving microsite amelioration and browsing protection to transplanted seedlings

Marangon, Davide; Marchi, Niccolò; Lingua, Emanuele

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2022.120050

Cited by 16 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 63 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Yet, uncertainty in the effects of deadwood on regeneration was very large, indicating that the number of plots per deadwood treatment ( n = 10) was not sufficient to identify a distinct signal. Downed deadwood might support seedlings by creating a favorable microclimate very close to logs (Seibold et al 2015 ; Marangon et al 2022 ) or by preserving them from browsing (Hagge et al 2019 ). Yet, our study cannot conclusively confirm these potential effects of deadwood on tree regeneration.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nurse logs also raise seedlings above late spring snow cover and thus extend the growing season for regenerating trees (de Andrés et al 2014 ). Moreover, deadwood ameliorates microsite conditions by regulating local temperatures and storing and releasing water and nutrients, potentially supporting the growth of regenerating tree cohorts (Bonetti et al 2021 ; Marangon et al 2022 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Regeneration in European beech forests after drought: the effects of microclimate, deadwood and browsing

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

With progressing climate change, increasing weather extremes will endanger tree regeneration. Canopy openings provide light for tree establishment, but also reduce the microclimatic buffering effect of forests. Thus, disturbances can have both positive and negative impacts on tree regeneration. In 2015, three years before an extreme drought episode hit Central Europe, we established a manipulation experiment with a factorial block design in European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.)-dominated forests. At five sites located in southeastern Germany, we conducted three censuses of tree regeneration after implementing two different canopy disturbances (aggregated and distributed canopy openings), and four deadwood treatments (retaining downed, standing, downed + standing deadwood and removing all deadwood), as well as in one untreated control plot. In addition, we measured understory light levels and recorded local air temperature and humidity over five years. We (i) tested the effects of experimental disturbance and deadwood treatments on regeneration and (ii) identified the drivers of regeneration density as well as seedling species and structural diversity. Regeneration density increased over time. Aggregated canopy openings supported species and structural diversity, but reduced regeneration density. Tree regeneration was positively associated with understory light levels, while maximum vapor pressure deficit influenced tree regeneration negatively. Deadwood and browsing impacts on regeneration varied and were inconclusive. Our study indicates that despite the drought episode regeneration in beech-dominated forests persisted under moderately disturbed canopies. However, the positive effect of increased light availability on tree regeneration might have been offset by harsher microclimate after canopies have been disturbed.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regeneration in European beech forests after drought: the effects of microclimate, deadwood and browsing

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…These positive effects were attributed to the ecological functions of deadwood residuals. Besides the protective effects of deadwood on plant desiccation by providing more favorable site conditions for tree growth, deadwood significantly reduces herbivorous browsing through increased surface roughness (Marangon et al, 2022). Beschta et al (2004) conducted a literature review investigating the ecological effects of common post-fire treatments and concluded that post-fire forest restoration aiming to maintain the stands' ecological functions should include the retention of large, living or dead, standing or lying trees.…”

Section: Deadwood Retentionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystemic resilience of a temperate post-fire forest under extreme weather conditions

Blumroeder

Schmidt

Gordon

et al. 2022

Front. For. Glob. Change

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

IntroductionThe effects of climate change are exacerbating the fire risk in forests worldwide. Conifer plantations in particular are especially vulnerable to fire outbreaks. At the end of the extraordinarily hot and dry summer of 2018, a forest pine plantation burned in Brandenburg, NE Germany. Different forestry interventions were carried out after the fire, while one area of the damaged plantation remained untouched.MethodsWe investigated the resilience of the forest ecosystem and the effectiveness of different active and passive forest restoration measures during the subsequent relatively warm and dry years 2019–2021.ResultsOne year after the fire, Populus tremula showed strong spontaneous colonization at all sites. In contrast, the majority of planted Pinus sylvestris plantlets died on the plots that had been salvage-logged after the fire. Three years after the fire, Populus tremula successfully established itself as the dominant tree species on all plots, with the highest abundance on the plot where the overstorey of the dead pines was left. Betula pendula, Salix caprea, and Pinus sylvestris showed lower abundance, with their proportion increasing with decreasing cover by dead trees. The distribution of regrowing trees is very heterogeneous across the different treatments and plots. In the clear-cut plots, the extreme microclimatic conditions expose the young trees to additional heat and drought, while the retention of deadwood measurably buffers the temperature and water stress.DiscussionThe resilience and adaptability of naturally regenerating forests that develop into ecosystems that are more diverse seem more promising than restoration through intervention. Apart from hampering restoration under extreme weather conditions, post-fire salvage logging contributes to soil degradation and loss of organic carbon.

show abstract

“…In particular, historical land use and forest management practices can affect disturbance legacies, that is, organisms and biologically derived patterns that persist following a disturbance (Johnstone et al., 2016; Seidl & Rammer, 2014). For example, salvage logging is routinely conducted following disturbances, although it is a controversial practice in the context of forest recovery because it can inadvertently damage advanced regeneration and remove legacies such as deadwood and surviving trees and shrubs that together contribute to recovery via seed sources, erosion control, and microclimate amelioration (Leverkus et al., 2021; Lindenmayer et al., 2017; Marangon et al., 2022; Taeroe et al., 2019; cf. Konôpka, Šebeň, & Merganičová, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recovery and resilience of European temperate forests after large and severe disturbances

Cerioni,

Brabec,

Bače

et al. 2024

Global Change Biology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent observations of tree regeneration failures following large and severe disturbances, particularly under warm and dry conditions, have raised concerns about the resilience of forest ecosystems and their recovery dynamics in the face of climate change. We investigated the recovery of temperate forests in Europe after large and severe disturbance events (i.e., resulting in more than 70% canopy loss in patches larger than 1 ha), with a range of one to five decades since the disturbance occurred. The study included 143 sites of different forest types and management practices that had experienced 28 disturbance events, including windthrow (132 sites), fire (six sites), and bark beetle outbreaks (five sites). We focused on assessing post‐disturbance tree density, structure, and composition as key indicators of forest resilience. We compared post‐disturbance height‐weighted densities with site‐specific pre‐disturbance densities to qualitatively assess the potential for structural and compositional recovery, overall and for dominant tree species, respectively. Additionally, we analyzed the ecological drivers of post‐windthrow tree density, such as forest management, topography, and post‐disturbance aridity, using a series of generalized additive models. The descriptive results show that European temperate forests have been resilient to past large and severe disturbances and concurrent climate conditions, albeit with lower resilience to high‐severity fire compared with other disturbance agents. Across sites and disturbance agents, the potential for structural recovery was greater than that of compositional recovery, with a large proportion of plots becoming dominated by early‐successional species after disturbance. The models showed that increasing elevation and salvage logging negatively affect post‐windthrow regeneration, particularly for late‐successional species, while pioneer species are negatively affected by increasing summer aridity. These findings provide a key baseline for assessing future recovery and resilience following the recent occurrence of widespread disturbance in the region and in anticipation of future conditions characterized by increasing heat and drought stress.

show abstract

Windthrown elements: a key point improving microsite amelioration and browsing protection to transplanted seedlings

Cited by 16 publications

References 63 publications

Regeneration in European beech forests after drought: the effects of microclimate, deadwood and browsing

Regeneration in European beech forests after drought: the effects of microclimate, deadwood and browsing

Ecosystemic resilience of a temperate post-fire forest under extreme weather conditions

Recovery and resilience of European temperate forests after large and severe disturbances

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About