Back
Are forest disturbances amplifying or canceling out climate change-induced productivity changes in European forests?
Journal article

Are forest disturbances amplifying or canceling out climate change-induced productivity changes in European forests?

  • Reyer CPO Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Telegrafenberg, P.O. Box 601203, 14412 Potsdam, Germany.
  • Bathgate S Forest Research, Northern Research Station, Roslin, Midlothian, EH25 9SY, United Kingdom.
  • Blennow K Dept. of Landscape architecture, Planning and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), P.O. Box 66, 230 53 Alnarp, Sweden.
  • Borges JG Forest Research Centre, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal.
  • Bugmann H Forest Ecology, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
  • Delzon S BIOGECO, INRA-Univ. Bordeaux, Talence, France.
  • Faias SP Forest Research Centre, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal.
  • Garcia-Gonzalo J Forest Research Centre, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal.
  • Gardiner B Forest Research, Northern Research Station, Roslin, Midlothian, EH25 9SY, United Kingdom.
  • Gonzalez-Olabarria JR Forest Sciences Centre of Catalonia (CTFC-CEMFOR), Ctra. de St. Llorenç de Morunys, km 2, 25280 Solsona, Spain.
  • Gracia C Department de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Universitat de Barcelona. Av. Diagonal 643, 08028, Barcelona, Spain.
  • Hernández JG Forest Research Centre, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal.
  • Kellomäki S University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, P.O. BOX 101, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland.
  • Kramer K Wageningen University and Research Centre, 6700AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
  • Lexer MJ Institute of Silviculture, Department of Forest and Soil Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Peter Jordan Straße 82, 1190 Vienna, Austria.
  • Lindner M European Forest Institute, Yliopistokatu 6, 80100 Joensuu, Finland.
  • van der Maaten E Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Soldmannstr. 15, 17487 Greifswald, Germany.
  • Maroschek M Institute of Silviculture, Department of Forest and Soil Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Peter Jordan Straße 82, 1190 Vienna, Austria.
  • Muys B European Forest Institute, Mediterranean Regional Office (EFIMED), Sant Pau Historic Site, Sant Leopold Pavilion, Carrer St. Antoni M. Claret 167, 08025 Barcelona, Spain.
  • Nicoll B Forest Research, Northern Research Station, Roslin, Midlothian, EH25 9SY, United Kingdom.
  • Palahi M European Forest Institute, Yliopistokatu 6, 80100 Joensuu, Finland.
  • Palma JH Forest Research Centre, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal.
  • Paulo JA Forest Research Centre, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal.
  • Peltola H University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, P.O. BOX 101, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland.
  • Pukkala T University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, P.O. BOX 101, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland.
  • Rammer W Institute of Silviculture, Department of Forest and Soil Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Peter Jordan Straße 82, 1190 Vienna, Austria.
  • Ray D Forest Research, Northern Research Station, Roslin, Midlothian, EH25 9SY, United Kingdom.
  • Sabaté S Department de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Universitat de Barcelona. Av. Diagonal 643, 08028, Barcelona, Spain.
  • Schelhaas MJ Wageningen University and Research Centre, 6700AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
  • Seidl R Institute of Silviculture, Department of Forest and Soil Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Peter Jordan Straße 82, 1190 Vienna, Austria.
  • Temperli C Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Landscape Dynamics, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland.
  • Tomé M Forest Research Centre, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal.
  • Yousefpour R Chair of Forestry Economics and Forest Planning, University of Freiburg, Tennenbacherstr. 4, 79106 Freiburg, Germany.
  • Zimmermann NE Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Landscape Dynamics, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland.
  • Hanewinkel M Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Landscape Dynamics, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland.
Show more…
  • 2017-09-01
Published in:
  • Environmental research letters : ERL [Web site]. - 2017
fire
forest models
forest productivity-disturbances-climate change interactions
insects
storms
trade-offs
English Recent studies projecting future climate change impacts on forests mainly consider either the effects of climate change on productivity or on disturbances. However, productivity and disturbances are intrinsically linked because 1) disturbances directly affect forest productivity (e.g. via a reduction in leaf area, growing stock or resource-use efficiency), and 2) disturbance susceptibility is often coupled to a certain development phase of the forest with productivity determining the time a forest is in this specific phase of susceptibility. The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of forest productivity changes in different forest regions in Europe under climate change, and partition these changes into effects induced by climate change alone and by climate change and disturbances. We present projections of climate change impacts on forest productivity from state-of-the-art forest models that dynamically simulate forest productivity and the effects of the main European disturbance agents (fire, storm, insects), driven by the same climate scenario in seven forest case studies along a large climatic gradient throughout Europe. Our study shows that, in most cases, including disturbances in the simulations exaggerate ongoing productivity declines or cancel out productivity gains in response to climate change. In fewer cases, disturbances also increase productivity or buffer climate-change induced productivity losses, e.g. because low severity fires can alleviate resource competition and increase fertilization. Even though our results cannot simply be extrapolated to other types of forests and disturbances, we argue that it is necessary to interpret climate change-induced productivity and disturbance changes jointly to capture the full range of climate change impacts on forests and to plan adaptation measures.
Language
  • English
Open access status
gold
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/185712
Statistics
Document views: 54 File downloads: