Drought Resistance of Norway Spruce (<i>Picea abies</i> [L.] Karst) and European Beech (<i>Fagus sylvatica</i> [L.]) in Mixed vs. Monospecific Stands and on Dry vs. Wet Sites. From Evidence at the Tree Level to Relevance at the Stand Level
Frequency of drought years is expected to increase through climate warming. Mixed stands have often shown to be more productive than monospecific stands in terms of yield and of resistance against windthrows and bark beetle attacks. Mixture of beech and spruce is of particular interest. However, lit...
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doaj-12010e1c8db04423a22c2c30f19303ca2020-11-25T03:31:11ZengMDPI AGForests1999-49072020-06-011163963910.3390/f11060639Drought Resistance of Norway Spruce (<i>Picea abies</i> [L.] Karst) and European Beech (<i>Fagus sylvatica</i> [L.]) in Mixed vs. Monospecific Stands and on Dry vs. Wet Sites. From Evidence at the Tree Level to Relevance at the Stand LevelShah Rukh0Werner Poschenrieder1Michael Heym2Hans Pretzsch3Chair of Forest Growth and Yield Science, TUM School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, 85354 Freising, GermanyChair of Forest Growth and Yield Science, TUM School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, 85354 Freising, GermanyChair of Forest Growth and Yield Science, TUM School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, 85354 Freising, GermanyChair of Forest Growth and Yield Science, TUM School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, 85354 Freising, GermanyFrequency of drought years is expected to increase through climate warming. Mixed stands have often shown to be more productive than monospecific stands in terms of yield and of resistance against windthrows and bark beetle attacks. Mixture of beech and spruce is of particular interest. However, little is known about its growth reaction to drought. Therefore, we investigated the drought reaction of beech and spruce in mixed vs. monospecific stands along an ecological gradient. In particular, we sought evidence for mixture-related resilience on the individual tree level. Therefore, we quantified the response of tree ring width to drought. Moreover, we attempted to explain the relevance of individual tree response on the stand level by quantifying the stand level loss of volume growth after drought. At the individual tree level, beech was found to be more resilient and resistant in pure vs. mixed stands. Spruce, in contrast, was favored by mixture, and this was especially evident on drier sites. Along the gradient, growth losses at stand level increased in both mixed and pure stands in 2015, with growth gains on the drier sites observed in the same drought year, in accordance with the Stress Gradient Hypothesis. However, the stand level difference of growth loss between mixed and pure stands was not statistically significant. Mitigating mixture effects on the level of the individual tree thus did not become evident on the level of the whole stand.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/11/6/639climate changeplasticityacclimationecosystemslegacy effectsbiodiversity |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Shah Rukh Werner Poschenrieder Michael Heym Hans Pretzsch |
spellingShingle |
Shah Rukh Werner Poschenrieder Michael Heym Hans Pretzsch Drought Resistance of Norway Spruce (<i>Picea abies</i> [L.] Karst) and European Beech (<i>Fagus sylvatica</i> [L.]) in Mixed vs. Monospecific Stands and on Dry vs. Wet Sites. From Evidence at the Tree Level to Relevance at the Stand Level Forests climate change plasticity acclimation ecosystems legacy effects biodiversity |
author_facet |
Shah Rukh Werner Poschenrieder Michael Heym Hans Pretzsch |
author_sort |
Shah Rukh |
title |
Drought Resistance of Norway Spruce (<i>Picea abies</i> [L.] Karst) and European Beech (<i>Fagus sylvatica</i> [L.]) in Mixed vs. Monospecific Stands and on Dry vs. Wet Sites. From Evidence at the Tree Level to Relevance at the Stand Level |
title_short |
Drought Resistance of Norway Spruce (<i>Picea abies</i> [L.] Karst) and European Beech (<i>Fagus sylvatica</i> [L.]) in Mixed vs. Monospecific Stands and on Dry vs. Wet Sites. From Evidence at the Tree Level to Relevance at the Stand Level |
title_full |
Drought Resistance of Norway Spruce (<i>Picea abies</i> [L.] Karst) and European Beech (<i>Fagus sylvatica</i> [L.]) in Mixed vs. Monospecific Stands and on Dry vs. Wet Sites. From Evidence at the Tree Level to Relevance at the Stand Level |
title_fullStr |
Drought Resistance of Norway Spruce (<i>Picea abies</i> [L.] Karst) and European Beech (<i>Fagus sylvatica</i> [L.]) in Mixed vs. Monospecific Stands and on Dry vs. Wet Sites. From Evidence at the Tree Level to Relevance at the Stand Level |
title_full_unstemmed |
Drought Resistance of Norway Spruce (<i>Picea abies</i> [L.] Karst) and European Beech (<i>Fagus sylvatica</i> [L.]) in Mixed vs. Monospecific Stands and on Dry vs. Wet Sites. From Evidence at the Tree Level to Relevance at the Stand Level |
title_sort |
drought resistance of norway spruce (<i>picea abies</i> [l.] karst) and european beech (<i>fagus sylvatica</i> [l.]) in mixed vs. monospecific stands and on dry vs. wet sites. from evidence at the tree level to relevance at the stand level |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Forests |
issn |
1999-4907 |
publishDate |
2020-06-01 |
description |
Frequency of drought years is expected to increase through climate warming. Mixed stands have often shown to be more productive than monospecific stands in terms of yield and of resistance against windthrows and bark beetle attacks. Mixture of beech and spruce is of particular interest. However, little is known about its growth reaction to drought. Therefore, we investigated the drought reaction of beech and spruce in mixed vs. monospecific stands along an ecological gradient. In particular, we sought evidence for mixture-related resilience on the individual tree level. Therefore, we quantified the response of tree ring width to drought. Moreover, we attempted to explain the relevance of individual tree response on the stand level by quantifying the stand level loss of volume growth after drought. At the individual tree level, beech was found to be more resilient and resistant in pure vs. mixed stands. Spruce, in contrast, was favored by mixture, and this was especially evident on drier sites. Along the gradient, growth losses at stand level increased in both mixed and pure stands in 2015, with growth gains on the drier sites observed in the same drought year, in accordance with the Stress Gradient Hypothesis. However, the stand level difference of growth loss between mixed and pure stands was not statistically significant. Mitigating mixture effects on the level of the individual tree thus did not become evident on the level of the whole stand. |
topic |
climate change plasticity acclimation ecosystems legacy effects biodiversity |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/11/6/639 |
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