Forest Ecology and Management

Journal: Forest Ecology and Management

Abbreviation

For. Ecol. Manag.

Publisher

Elsevier

ISSN

0378-1127
1872-7042

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Publications1 - 10 of 141

Light availability predicts mortality probability of conifer saplings in Swiss mountain forests better than radial growth and tree size
Bianchi, Eva; Bugmann, Harald; Bigler, Christof (2021)
Forest Ecology and Management
Radial and height growth rates are suitable indicators of impending tree mortality risk of adult trees, but their applicability to saplings remains unknown. We compared radial growth of living and dead saplings of different heights and quantified the effects of light availability, growth and tree size on mortality. We sampled an equal number of living and dead saplings of four coniferous tree species (Pinus cembra, Larix decidua, Picea abies, Abies alba) in nine forests along an elevational gradient of the Swiss Alps. Based on tree-ring widths reconstructed from stem disks at multiple tree heights, we calculated radial growth rates. We observed a divergent pattern in radial growth of living and dead saplings, with reduced growth of dead saplings starting several years prior to death. By matching living and dead saplings of similar ages, we tested whether mortality probabilities of saplings were influenced by light availability, recent growth rates and diameter. Mortality of coniferous saplings in mountain forests was mainly influenced by light availability, with changing effects along the elevational gradient. Recent radial growth rate and tree size were only weakly associated with sapling mortality. Our study establishes the importance of long-term predisposing factors for the mortality probability of conifer saplings in mountain forests, thus extending well-established findings from the adult stage to saplings, which represent a critical stage of forest dynamics.
Factors affecting the spatio-temporal dispersion of Ips typographus (L.) in Bavarian Forest National Park
Lausch, Angela; Fahse, Lorenz; Heurich, Marco (2011)
Forest Ecology and Management
Intensity of browsing on trees and shrubs under experimental variation of cattle stocking densities in southern Bolivia
Marquardt, Svenja; Marquez, Alfredo; Bouillot, Hélène; et al. (2009)
Forest Ecology and Management
Spatio-temporal water uptake patterns of tree saplings are not altered by interspecific interaction in the early stage of a subtropical forest
Trogisch, Stefan; Salmon, Yann; He, Jin-Sheng; et al. (2016)
Forest Ecology and Management
Managing mistletoes
Rist, Lucy; Shaanker, R. Uma; Milner-Gulland, E.J.; et al. (2008)
Forest Ecology and Management
Abiotic and biotic determinants of height growth of Picea abies regeneration in small forest gaps in the Swiss Alps
Schmid, Ueli; Bigler, Christof; Frehner, Monika; et al. (2021)
Forest Ecology and Management
In managed mountain forests, height growth of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst) regeneration is a decisive factor for the gap-filling process, especially when the silvicultural goal is to provide continuous protection against natural hazards such as snow avalanches or rockfall. For the planning of management interventions, robust predictions on height growth of regeneration at the scale of forest gaps are thus needed. However, there is a lack of such data for trees of intermediate sizes, and existing studies fail to cover large environmental gradients. The goal of our study is to identify the key factors that influence height growth of Norway spruce regeneration in small gaps of spruce-dominated forests in the Swiss Alps. Furthermore, we assess whether there are site-specific differences of height growth or whether it follows a similar pattern along a large gradient of temperature (i.e., along elevation) and of water and nutrient availability (i.e., among different phytosociological site types) within the upper montane and subalpine vegetation belts. On 124 plots, >2′000 observations of annual height increments of Norway spruce regeneration (10 cm tree height to 12 cm stem diameter) in gaps were collected. Using linear mixed effects models and cross-validation for model selection, we identified the best variable combinations to predict annual height growth. Consistently across the entire gradient, the most important factors were 1) the positive effect of tree size, 2) the negative effect of competition by the surrounding stand, and 3) local topography. We found site-specific differences in height growth patterns such as gap size and therefore direct radiation being the most important competition measure in subalpine sites, as opposed to diffuse radiation in high montane sites. However, the pooled model for the entire environmental gradient allowed for predictions of regeneration height growth with similar explanatory power as the more specific models while containing comparable effect sizes. Furthermore, competition can be equally well expressed by metrics based on basal area measurements as by metrics derived from hemispherical photography. Based on these relatively simple models, accurate and robust predictions of the development of Norway spruce regeneration in gaps of managed mountain forests are possible.
The legacy of disturbance on individual tree and stand-level aboveground biomass accumulation and stocks in primary mountain Picea abies forests
Trotsiuk, Volodymyr; Svoboda, Miroslav; Weber, Pascale; et al. (2016)
Forest Ecology and Management
Biomass carbon accumulation patterns throughout stand development in primary uneven-aged forest driven by mixed-severity natural disturbances
Seedre, Meelis; Janda, Pavel; Trotsiuk, Volodymyr; et al. (2020)
Forest Ecology and Management
Forest management affects saproxylic beetles through tree species composition and canopy cover
Edelmann, Pascal; Ambarlı, Didem; Gossner, Martin M.; et al. (2022)
Forest Ecology and Management
Forest management has been shown to affect biodiversity, but the effects vary among taxa and studies. Due to their host-tree preferences, many saproxylic, i.e. deadwood-dependent, beetle species are likely affected by forest management via changes in tree species composition. However, further structural differences caused by forest management, such as microclimatic conditions, may interfere with effects of tree species. We lack a more detailed understanding of how forest management intensity influences saproxylic beetles through tree species composition and structural properties. We analyzed the effect of forest management on saproxylic beetles using an eight-year dataset collected from 379 experimental logs of 13 different tree species, which were exposed in forests of different management intensity in three regions of Germany. To quantify forest management intensity, we first used a composite index (ForMI) which considers the share of locally non-native tree species, the origin of deadwood and the harvesting rate and then replaced it by five forest structural and compositional properties. This two-step approach allowed to assess the overall effects of management summarizing different aspects and to identify the main forest attributes driving these overall effects. We further investigated whether the effects differ between beetle assemblages emerging from conifer and broadleaf logs (host level), and between generalists, conifer-specialists, and broadleaf-specialists (beetle specialization level). Abundance and species richness increased with increasing ForMI for all beetles, generalists, and conifer-specialists, but not for broadleaf-specialists. Effects of ForMI were stronger for assemblages emerging from conifer than broadleaf logs. Among the evaluated structural and compositional variables, strongest effects were observed for conifer share at stand level and canopy cover. Conifer share positively affected the species richness of all beetles, generalists and conifer specialists, but not of broadleaf specialists. Canopy cover negatively affected all beetles, generalists and conifer specialists, but did not affect broadleaf specialists. Our results show that major drivers behind effects of forest management on saproxylic beetles are differences in tree species composition and canopy cover. Effects differ between beetle groups depending on their host specialization. Forest management decisions regarding tree species composition should therefore more strongly consider their effects on saproxylic beetle diversity to meet conservation goals also in the future.
From seedlings to trees: Using ontogenetic models of growth and survivorship to assess long-term (>100 years) dynamics of a neotropical dry forest
McLaren, Kurt P.; Lévesque, Mathieu; Sharma, Chait; et al. (2011)
Forest Ecology and Management

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