Climate-change-driven growth decline of European beech forests

The growth of past, present, and future forests was, is and will be affected by climate variability. This multifaceted relationship has been assessed in several regional studies, but spatially resolved, large-scale analyses are largely missing so far. Here we estimate recent changes in growth of 5800 beech trees (Fagus sylvatica L.) from 324 sites, representing the full geographic and climatic range of species. Future growth trends were predicted considering state-of-the-art climate scenarios. The validated models indicate growth declines across large region of the distribution in recent decades, and project severe future growth declines ranging from −20% to more than −50% by 2090, depending on the region and climate change scenario (i.e. CMIP6 SSP1-2.6 and SSP5-8.5). Forecasted forest productivity losses are most striking towards the southern distribution limit of Fagus sylvatica, in regions where persisting atmospheric high-pressure systems are expected to increase drought severity. The projected 21st century growth changes across Europe indicate serious ecological and economic consequences that require immediate forest adaptation.

Publikationsart
Zeitschriftenbeiträge (peer-reviewed)
Titel
Climate-change-driven growth decline of European beech forests
Medien
Communications Biology
Band
5
Artikelnummer
163
Autoren
Edurne Martinez del Castillo, Prof. Dr. Christian Zang , Allan Buras, Andrew J. Hacket-Pain, Jan Esper, Roberto Serrano-Notivoli, Claudia Hartl, Robert Weigel, Stefan Klesse, Victor Resco de Rios, Tobias Scharnweber, Isabel Dorado-Liñán, Marieke van der Maaten-Theunissen, Ernst van der Maaten, Alistair S. Jump, Sjepan Mikac, Bat-Enerel Banzragch, Wolfgang Beck, Liam Cavin, Hugues Claessens, Vojtech Čada, Katarina Cufar, Choimaa Dulamsuren, Jozica Gricar, Eustaquio Gil-Pelegrín, Pavel Janda, Marko Kazimirovic, Jürgen Kreyling, Nicolas Latte, Christoph Leuschner, Luis Alberto Longares, Prof. Dr. Annette Menzel, Maks Merala, Renzo Motta, Lena Muffler, Paola Nola, Any Mary Petritan, Ion Catalin Petritan, Peter Prislan, Álvaro Rubio-Cuadadro, Miloš Rydval, Branko Stajič, Miroslav Svoboda, Elvin Toromani, Volodymyr Trotsiuk, Martin Wilmking, Tzvetan Zlatanov, Martin de Luis
Veröffentlichungsdatum
10.03.2022
Zitation
Martinez del Castillo, Edurne; Zang, Christian; Buras, Allan; Hacket-Pain, Andrew J.; Esper, Jan; Serrano-Notivoli, Roberto; Hartl, Claudia; Weigel, Robert; Klesse, Stefan; Resco de Rios, Victor; Scharnweber, Tobias; Dorado-Liñán, Isabel; van der Maaten-Theunissen, Marieke; van der Maaten, Ernst; Jump, Alistair S.; Mikac, Sjepan; Banzragch, Bat-Enerel; Beck, Wolfgang; Cavin, Liam; Claessens, Hugues; Čada, Vojtech; Cufar, Katarina; Dulamsuren, Choimaa; Gricar, Jozica; Gil-Pelegrín, Eustaquio; Janda, Pavel; Kazimirovic, Marko; Kreyling, Jürgen; Latte, Nicolas; Leuschner, Christoph; Longares, Luis Alberto; Menzel, Annette; Merala, Maks; Motta, Renzo; Muffler, Lena; Nola, Paola; Petritan, Any Mary; Petritan, Ion Catalin; Prislan, Peter; Rubio-Cuadadro, Álvaro; Rydval, Miloš; Stajič, Branko; Svoboda, Miroslav; Toromani, Elvin; Trotsiuk, Volodymyr; Wilmking, Martin; Zlatanov, Tzvetan; de Luis, Martin (2022): Climate-change-driven growth decline of European beech forests. Communications Biology 5, 163. DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03107-3