Dendroecological assessment of climate resilience of the rare and scattered forest tree species Tilia cordata Mill. in northwestern Europe

2020 ◽  
Vol 93 (5) ◽  
pp. 675-684
Author(s):  
Nicolas Latte ◽  
Philippe Taverniers ◽  
Tanguy de Jaegere ◽  
Hugues Claessens
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climatic Change ◽  
Tree Ring ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Forest Tree ◽  
Tilia Cordata ◽  
The Past ◽  
Lime Tree ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Forest Managers

Abstract To increase forest resilience to global change, forest managers are often directing forest stands towards a broader diversity of tree species. The small-leaved lime (Tilia cordata Mill.), a rare and scattered species in northwestern Europe, is a promising candidate for this purpose. Its life traits suggest a high resilience to climate change and a favourable impact on forest ecosystem services. This study used a dendroecological approach to assess how lime tree radial growth had responded to the past climatic change. First, 120 lime trees from nine sites were selected in southern Belgium based on criteria adapted to the rareness of the species. Chronology quality was assessed and resulting tree-ring series were validated at site and region levels. Second, a range of dendrochronological methods was used to analyze the changes over time in the variability and long-term trends of lime tree growth and their relation to climate during the period 1955–2016. Last, behaviour of lime trees was compared with that of beech from the same region and time period. For this purpose, the same methodology was applied to an additional beech tree-ring dataset (149 trees from 13 sites). Beech is the climax tree species of the region, but is known to be drought-sensitive and has shown weaknesses in the current climate. The quality of our tree-ring series attests that dendroecological investigation using rare and scattered species is possible, opening the way to further analysis on other such lesser-known forest tree species. The analysis showed that the small-leaved lime had been resilient to the past climatic change in multiple ways. Lime growth increased during the preceding decades despite an increased frequency and intensity of stressful climatic events. Lime growth quickly recovered in the years following the stresses. The growth–climate relationships were either stable over time or had a positive evolution. The behaviour of lime contrasted strongly with that of beech. Lime performed better than beech in every analysis. Small-leaved lime is thus a serious candidate for addressing climate change challenges in the region. It should be considered by forest managers planning to improve the sustainability and resilience of their forests, in particular in vulnerable beech stands.

Maladaptation, migration and extirpation fuel climate change risk in a forest tree species

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 166-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew V. Gougherty ◽  
Stephen R. Keller ◽  
Matthew C. Fitzpatrick
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Forest Tree ◽  
Climate Change Risk ◽  
Forest Tree Species

scholarly journals Community harvesting of trees used as dens and for food by the tree hyrax (Dendrohyrax arboreus) in the Pirie forest, South Africa

Koedoe ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth J. Opperman ◽  
Michael I. Cherry ◽  
Nokwanda P. Makunga
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Forest Tree ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Annual Basis ◽  
The Past ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Commercial Harvesting

Forests in South Africa are harvested by local communities for multiple purposes and this affects the animals that inhabit them. The tree hyrax (Dendrohyrax arboreus) has a restricted distribution and utilises various tree species as dens and a source of food. In this article, we determined, through a series of interviews in the communities surrounding the Pirie forest, which plant species are harvested by local people and whether these overlap with those used by the tree hyrax. In addition, we determined the extent to which tree hyraxes are hunted by these communities. Of the trees used by the hyrax as dens in the Pirie forest, Afrocarpus falcatus, Schotia latifolia, Andrachne ovalis, Teclea natalensis and Apodytes dimidiata are important resources for local communities. But as these are harvested at relatively low levels, it is unlikely that current harvesting has a large impact on the tree hyrax. Opportunistic hunting occurs, but the hyrax is not targeted by hunters. Very limited commercial harvesting of A. falcatus has been taking place in the Pirie forest since 1975, but its impact on the hyrax population, although undetermined, is also unlikely to be high. We recommend that the Pirie forest tree hyrax population should be monitored by forest management in order to ascertain the impact of both commercial and community harvesting over the past quarter-century.Conservation implications: Tree hyrax populations in the Pirie forest should be actively monitored by management on an annual basis.

scholarly journals Fate of forest tree biotechnology facing climate change

2021 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-136
Author(s):  
M. R. Ahuja
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Somatic Embryogenesis ◽  
Loblolly Pine ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Forest Tree ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Forest Trees ◽  
Forest Tree Species ◽  
Tree Biotechnology

Abstract Woody plants have been cultured in vitro since the 1930s. After that time much progress has been made in the culture of tissues, organs, cells, and protoplasts in tree species. Tree biotechnology has been making strides in clonal propagation by organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis. These regeneration studies have paved the way for gene transfer in forest trees. Transgenics from a number of forest tree species carrying a variety of recombinant genes that code for herbicide tolerance, pest resistance, lignin modification, increased woody bio-mass, and flowering control have been produced by Agrobacterium-mediated and biolistic methods, and some of them are undergoing confined field trials. Although relatively stable transgenic clones have been produced by genetic transformation in trees using organogenesis or somatic embryogenesis, there were also unintended unstable genetic events. In order to overcome the problems of randomness of transgene integration and instability reported in Agrobacterium-mediated or biolistically transformed plants, site-specific transgene insertion strategies involving clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR-Cas9) platform offer prospects for precise genome editing in plants. Nevertheless, it is important to monitor phenotypic and genetic stability of clonal material, not just under greenhouse conditions, but also under natural field conditions. Genetically modified poplars have been commercialized in China, and eucalypts and loblolly pine are expected to be released for commercial deployment in USA. Clonal forestry and transgenic forestry have to cope with rapid global climate changes in the future. Climate change is impacting species distributions and is a significant threat to biodiversity. Therefore, it is important to deploy Strategies that will assist the survival and evolution of forest tree species facing rapid climate change. Assisted migration (managed relocation) and biotechnological approaches offer prospects for adaptation of forest trees to climate change.

scholarly journals Challenges and Perspectives in the Epigenetics of Climate Change-Induced Forests Decline

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel García-García ◽  
Belén Méndez-Cea ◽  
David Martín-Gálvez ◽  
José Ignacio Seco ◽  
Francisco Javier Gallego ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Forest Tree ◽  
Epigenetic Modifications ◽  
Sequencing Technologies ◽  
Induced Stress ◽  
Generation Times ◽  
Reference Genomes ◽  
Sessile Organisms

Forest tree species are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. As sessile organisms with long generation times, their adaptation to a local changing environment may rely on epigenetic modifications when allele frequencies are not able to shift fast enough. However, the current lack of knowledge on this field is remarkable, due to many challenges that researchers face when studying this issue. Huge genome sizes, absence of reference genomes and annotation, and having to analyze huge amounts of data are among these difficulties, which limit the current ability to understand how climate change drives tree species epigenetic modifications. In spite of this challenging framework, some insights on the relationships among climate change-induced stress and epigenomics are coming. Advances in DNA sequencing technologies and an increasing number of studies dealing with this topic must boost our knowledge on tree adaptive capacity to changing environmental conditions. Here, we discuss challenges and perspectives in the epigenetics of climate change-induced forests decline, aiming to provide a general overview of the state of the art.

scholarly journals Species-specific trajectories of nitrogen isotopes in Indiana hardwood forests, USA

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 867-874 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. K. McLauchlan ◽  
J. M. Craine
Keyword(s):  
Tree Species ◽  
N Deposition ◽  
Fagus Grandifolia ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Quercus Alba ◽  
N Availability ◽  
Deposition Rates ◽  
The Past ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Over Time

Abstract. Humans have drastically altered the global nitrogen (N) cycle, and these alterations have begun to affect a variety of ecosystems. In North America, N deposition rates are highest in the central US, yet there are few studies that examine whether N availability has been increasing to different tree species in the forests of the region. To determine the species-specific trajectories of N availability in secondary temperate forests experiencing high N deposition, we measured the N concentrations and composition of stable N isotopes in wood of four tree species from six hardwood forest remnants in northern Indiana, USA. Annual nitrogen deposition rates averaged 5.8 kg ha−1 from 2000 to 2008 in this region. On average, wood δ15N values in Quercus alba have been increasing steadily over the past 100 years. In contrast, wood δ15N values have been declining in three other hardwood species – Acer saccharum, Carya ovata, and Fagus grandifolia – over the same time period. The species-specific trends suggest a change in the partitioning of ammonium and nitrate among species, due to an increase in nitrification rates over time. With no apparent net change in wood δ15N over the past century at the stand level, there is currently little evidence for consistent trends in stand-level N availability over time in the Indiana forests.

scholarly journals Regional analysis of climate change impact on Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst.) growth in Slovak mountain forests

2012 ◽  
Vol 52 (No. 7) ◽  
pp. 306-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Ďurský ◽  
J. Škvarenina ◽  
J. Minďáš ◽  
A. Miková
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climatic Change ◽  
Norway Spruce ◽  
Tree Ring ◽  
Statistical Evaluation ◽  
Regional Analysis ◽  
Climate Modelling ◽  
Radial Increment ◽  
Change Impact ◽  
Climatic Characteristics

 The paper presents the results of a regional analysis of climate change impacts on Norway spruce growth in the north-western part of Slovakia(Orava region). Radial increment was determined from nine X-tree sample plots established in the forests of natural character in the region. The analysis of PTT radial increment was done on tree disks cut from a height of 1.3 m by measurements of four perpendicular directions corresponding to the cardinal points. It was derived from the tree-ring width measured at breast height (1.3 m) while all the basic principles of tree-ring analyses were observed (transport and borehole treatment, measurements with digital positiometer to the nearest 0.01 mm, synchronisation of the tree-ring diagrams). A dendroclimatic model belongs to the category of empirical models based on the statistical evaluation of empirically derived dependences between the time series of tree-ring parameters and the monthly climatic characteristics. This statistical evaluation is based on a multiple linear regression model. Climatic models were used as basic tools for climatic change prediction. There is a scenario coming from the GCM category, which is derived from the models of Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis in Victoria (British Columbia, Canada), used for a solution of this task. It is the latest connected model from the second generation designated CCCM 2000. For the purpose of this study the area averages were modified for the meteorological station Oravská Polhora with the 1951–1980 reference period. The modification includes two climatic characteristics, total monthly precipitation and monthly temperature means. The frequency analysis indicates that 24.4% of trees would react to the assumed climatic change negatively, i.e. by decreasing the increment, and 75.6% of trees would react positively. Most of the reactions are moderately positive. It is to conclude that 14.6% of trees will react to a climatic change significantly in a negative way, the reactions of 34.1% trees are considered to be unchanged and 51.3% of trees should react to the assumed climatic change positively (P = 0.95). It results from the analysis of the climatic change impact that the highest effect on stands situated on the upper forest limit can be expected.

How much does climate change threaten European forest tree species distributions?

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 1150-1163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcin K. Dyderski ◽  
Sonia Paź ◽  
Lee E. Frelich ◽  
Andrzej M. Jagodziński
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Species Distributions ◽  
Forest Tree ◽  
Forest Tree Species ◽  
European Forest ◽  
Tree Species Distributions

Lichenometric dating using Rhizocarpon subgenus Rhizocarpon in the Patagonian Andes, Argentina

2009 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Adriana Garibotti ◽  
Ricardo Villalba
Keyword(s):  
Tree Ring ◽  
Growth Rates ◽  
Growth Curves ◽  
The Past ◽  
Glacier Fluctuations ◽  
Andean Cordillera ◽  
Latitudinal Difference ◽  
Patagonian Andes ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Lichen Growth

AbstractThis study represents the first attempt to develop and apply lichenometric dating curves of Rhizocarpon subgenus Rhizocarpon for dating glacier fluctuations in the Patagonian Andes. Six glaciers were studied along the Patagonian Andes. Surfaces of known ages (historical evidences and tree-ring analyses) were used as control sites to develop indirect lichenometric dating curves. Dating curves developed for the studied glaciers show the same general logarithmic form, indicating that growth rate of subgenus Rhizocarpon decreases over time. The strong west–east precipitation gradient across the Andean Cordillera introduces statistically significant differences in the growth curves, with faster growth rates in the moist west sites than the drier eastern sites. Latitudinal difference among the studied glaciers does not appear to be a major factor regulating lichen growth rates. Therefore, we developed two lichenometric curves for dating glacier fluctuations in wetter and drier sites in the Patagonian Andes during the past 450 yrs. Application of the developed curves to moraine dating allowed us to complement glacial chronologies previously obtained by tree-ring analyses. A first chronosequence for moraine formation in the Torrecillas Glacier (42°S) is presented. Our findings confirm the utility of lichenometry to date deglaciated surfaces in the Patagonian Andes.

scholarly journals Pine Looper Bupalus piniaria (L.) Outbreaks Reconstruction: A Case Study for Southern Siberia

Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 90
Author(s):  
Denis A. Demidko ◽  
Olga V. Trefilova ◽  
Sergey S. Kulakov ◽  
Pavel V. Mikhaylov
Keyword(s):  
Tree Ring ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Ring Width ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
New Method ◽  
Pine Forests ◽  
Northern Eurasia ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
The Past

The pine looper Bupalus piniaria is one of the most widespread phyllophagous insect species across Northern Eurasia, defoliating Scots pine forests over vast territories. Since there are not enough long-term documented observations on a series of outbreaks, there is a need for methods allowing them to be reconstructed to study their dynamics patterns. Previously, dendrochronological methods were successfully used to solve such issues. However, the most common approach is not applicable for the Western Siberian forest-steppe since it requires comparison with a non-damaged tree species close to pine in terms of longevity and resistance to rot. In the pine forests of the steppe and forest-steppe zones of Western Siberia, there are no species that are not damaged by the pine looper that meets these requirements. Methods allowing not using control species are also not free from disadvantages (e.g., weak specificity). Therefore, we have developed a new method based on the analysis, not of the tree-ring width but the early- and latewood width to reconstruct past defoliation events. The past defoliation by the pine looper is indicated by the presence of a negative pointer year for latewood, followed by a negative pointer year for earlywood in a subsequent year among the majority of individuals. Linear modeling showed a difference between the climate impact on radial growth and the defoliation one. The obtained reconstruction was compared with the results of other methods (mowing window, OUTBREAK, independent component analysis), literature, and Forest Service data. The developed new method (pointer year method; PYM) showed high efficiency confirmed by results of the tree-ring series analysis (11 revealed outbreaks in the past). Compared with other reconstruction techniques under the given conditions (a favorable combination of heat and humidity; probably low-intense and short defoliation), the proposed method provided more precise results than those proposed earlier. Due to high accuracy, the PYM can be useful for detecting late-summer and autumn past defoliations of tree species with clear difference between early- and latewood even though the damage was weak.

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