scholarly journals The Impact of Adverse Weather and Climate on the Width of European Beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) Tree Rings in Southeastern Europe

Atmosphere ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Stjepanović ◽  
Bratislav Matović ◽  
Dejan Stojanović ◽  
Branislava Lalić ◽  
Tom Levanič ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fagus Sylvatica ◽  
Tree Rings ◽  
Ring Width ◽  
European Beech ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Deciduous Tree ◽  
Beech Forests ◽  
Adverse Weather ◽  
Fagus Sylvatica L ◽  
The Impact

European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) is the most important deciduous tree species in Europe. According to different climate scenarios, there is a relatively high probability of a massive decline in and loss of beech forests in southern Europe and in the southern part of central Europe. Thus, the authors of this study explored the dynamics of tree diameter increments and the influence of extremely dry years on the width of tree rings. This study used dendroecological methods to analyze the growth and diameter increments of European beech trees at locations in Serbia and the Republic of Srpska. The sampling was conducted along the vertical distribution of beech forests, at five sites at the lower limit of the distribution, at five optimal sites of the distribution, and at five sites at the upper limit of the distribution. Long-term analyses indicate that dry conditions during a growing season can reduce tree-ring width, but a reduction in tree growth can be expected as a result of more than one season of unfavorable conditions. Low temperatures in autumn and winter and prolonged winters can strongly affect upcoming vegetation and reduce tree development even under normal thermal conditions during a growing season.

scholarly journals How Does Radial Growth of Water-Stressed Populations of European Beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) Trees Vary under Multiple Drought Events?

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 129
Author(s):  
Tamalika Chakraborty ◽  
Albert Reif ◽  
Andreas Matzarakis ◽  
Somidh Saha
Keyword(s):  
Soil Water ◽  
Fagus Sylvatica ◽  
Tree Growth ◽  
Radial Growth ◽  
Basal Area ◽  
European Beech ◽  
Canopy Openness ◽  
Fagus Sylvatica L ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Neighborhood Competition

European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) trees are becoming vulnerable to drought, with a warming climate. Existing studies disagree on how radial growth varies in European beech in response to droughts. We aimed to find the impact of multiple droughts on beech trees’ annual radial growth at their ecological drought limit created by soil water availability in the forest. Besides, we quantified the influence of competition and canopy openness on the mean basal area growth of beech trees. We carried out this study in five near-natural temperate forests in three localities of Germany and Switzerland. We quantified available soil water storage capacity (AWC) in plots laid in the transition zone from oak to beech dominated forests. The plots were classified as ‘dry’ (AWC < 60 mL) and ‘less-dry’ (AWC > 60 mL). We performed dendroecological analyses starting from 1951 in continuous and discontinuous series to study the influence of climatic drought (i.e., precipitation-potential evapotranspiration) on the radial growth of beech trees in dry and less-dry plots. We used observed values for this analysis and did not use interpolated values from interpolated historical records in this study. We selected six drought events to study the resistance, recovery, and resilience of beech trees to drought at a discontinuous level. The radial growth was significantly higher in less-dry plots than dry plots. The increase in drought had reduced tree growth. Frequent climatic drought events resulted in more significant correlations, hence, increased the dependency of tree growth on AWC. We showed that the recovery and resilience to climatic drought were higher in trees in less-dry plots than dry plots, but it was the opposite for resistance. The resistance, recovery, and resilience of the trees were heterogeneous between the events of drought. Mean growth of beech trees (basal area increment) were negatively impacted by neighborhood competition and positively influenced by canopy openness. We emphasized that beech trees growing on soil with low AWC are at higher risk of growth decline. We concluded that changes in soil water conditions even at the microsite level could influence beech trees’ growth in their drought limit under the changing climate. Along with drought, neighborhood competition and lack of light can also reduce beech trees’ growth. This study will enrich the state of knowledge about the ongoing debate on the vulnerability of beech trees to drought in Europe.

scholarly journals Mitochondrial Genome of Fagus sylvatica L. as a Source for Taxonomic Marker Development in the Fagales

Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1274
Author(s):  
Malte Mader ◽  
Hilke Schroeder ◽  
Thomas Schott ◽  
Katrin Schöning-Stierand ◽  
Ana Paula Leite Montalvão ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mitochondrial Genome ◽  
Dna Sequence ◽  
Fagus Sylvatica ◽  
European Beech ◽  
Illumina Miseq ◽  
Wood Products ◽  
Rrna Genes ◽  
Deciduous Tree ◽  
Protein Coding ◽  
Fagus Sylvatica L

European beech, Fagus sylvatica L., is one of the most important and widespread deciduous tree species in Central Europe and is widely managed for its hard wood. The complete DNA sequence of the mitochondrial genome of Fagus sylvatica L. was assembled and annotated based on Illumina MiSeq reads and validated using long reads from nanopore MinION sequencing. The genome assembled into a single DNA sequence of 504,715 bp in length containing 58 genes with predicted function, including 35 protein-coding, 20 tRNA and three rRNA genes. Additionally, 23 putative protein-coding genes were predicted supported by RNA-Seq data. Aiming at the development of taxon-specific mitochondrial genetic markers, the tool SNPtax was developed and applied to select genic SNPs potentially specific for different taxa within the Fagales. Further validation of a small SNP set resulted in the development of four CAPS markers specific for Fagus, Fagaceae, or Fagales, respectively, when considering over 100 individuals from a total of 69 species of deciduous trees and conifers from up to 15 families included in the marker validation. The CAPS marker set is suitable to identify the genus Fagus in DNA samples from tree tissues or wood products, including wood composite products.

scholarly journals Radial patterns of 13 elements in the tree rings of beech trees from Mavrovo National park, FYROM

2010 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 351-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Hristovski ◽  
L. Melovski
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Fagus Sylvatica ◽  
Tree Rings ◽  
National Park ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
European Beech ◽  
Middle Part ◽  
Biogenic Elements ◽  
Fagus Sylvatica L ◽  
Individual Trees

The radial patterns of 13 elements (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Na, Mn, Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd and Co) were analyzed in the tree rings of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.). The study site was located in an 'unpolluted' beech ecosystem in Mavrovo National Park. Thus, the obtained radial patterns in the beech trees were considered to be physiologically driven without significant pollution influence. The influence of the main climatic factors (temperature and rainfall) was tested. The radial patterns of individual trees were compared in order to find individual responses to environmental impacts. For most of the elements, higher concentrations were recorded in the pith and outer-most rings and lower in the middle part of the wood. The concentration of heavy metals was low, and followed the physiological patterns of other biogenic elements.

scholarly journals Resilience of European beech forests (Fagus sylvatica L.) after fire in a global change context

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Maringer ◽  
Marco Conedera ◽  
Davide Ascoli ◽  
Dirk R. Schmatz ◽  
Thomas Wohlgemuth
Keyword(s):  
Fagus Sylvatica ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
European Beech ◽  
Burn Severity ◽  
Ground Vegetation ◽  
European Alps ◽  
Beech Forests ◽  
Fagus Sylvatica L

The European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) is one of the most ecologically and economically important tree species in Europe. Nonetheless, post-fire ecological processes in beech forests have only been marginally studied although they might become more important for forest management in the light of global climate change drought effects. Focusing on the Southern European Alps, where numerous forest fires have affected beech stands, we assessed temporal trends and detected factors that influence beech regeneration in beech forests burnt between 1970 and 2012. Beech regeneration was found to occur abundantly in fire sites of mixed burn severity, and often co-occurred with light-demanding pioneer trees (mostly Betula pendula Roth). These pioneers declined in abundance from 20 years post-fire onwards, whereas beech dominance increased. Beech regeneration density was best explained in regression models by the canopy of remnant trees and the abundance of competing ground vegetation. As fire-injured beech trees slowly die back, the canopy gradually opens, favouring beech recruitment for as long as decades, depending on the light conditions. In contrast, dense layers of early post-fire colonisers may delay beech regeneration for many years. Generally, single fire events favour beech regeneration except in areas where the burn severity is extraordinarily high.

scholarly journals Identification of stress biomarkers for drought and increased soil temperature in seedlings of European beech (Fagus sylvatica)

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (11) ◽  
pp. 1517-1526
Author(s):  
Milica Popović ◽  
Marco Gregori ◽  
Dominik Vodnik ◽  
Mitja Ferlan ◽  
Tanja Mrak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drought Stress ◽  
Soil Temperature ◽  
Fagus Sylvatica ◽  
Radical Scavenging ◽  
European Beech ◽  
Glutathione Peroxidases ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Fagus Sylvatica L ◽  
Rain Events ◽  
The Impact

Drought is an environmental stress that impacts plant productivity. Projections show both an increase in intense rain events and a reduction in the number of rain days, conditions that leads to increased risk of drought. Consequently, the identification of molecular biomarkers suitable for evaluating the impact of water deprivation conditions on forest plant seedlings is of significant value for monitoring purposes and forest management. In this study, we evaluated a biochemical methodology for the assessment of drought stress coupled with variable soil temperature in European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) seedlings by analyzing a set of metabolites and enzymes involved in free radical scavenging and cell wall synthesis. The results indicate that the specific activities and isoform profile of superoxide dismutases and glutathione peroxidases together with the variation of phenolic compounds enable discrimination between seedlings with different degrees of photosynthetic activity. This approach represents a promising platform for the assessment of drought stress in forest trees and could serve for enhancing selection and breeding practices, allowing for plants that are more tolerant of abiotic stress.

scholarly journals Identification of SNPs in candidate genes potentially involved in bud burst in European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.)

2015 ◽  
Vol 64 (1-6) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Müller ◽  
S. Seifert ◽  
R. Finkeldey
Keyword(s):  
Candidate Genes ◽  
Fagus Sylvatica ◽  
European Beech ◽  
Deciduous Tree ◽  
Bud Burst ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Adaptive Traits ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Genetic Studies ◽  
Fagus Sylvatica L

Abstract European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) is one of the most important deciduous tree species in Central Europe. Higher annual mean temperatures caused by climate change lead to earlier bud burst in spring and/or a delay of leaf senescence in autumn. Since earlier bud burst might increase the late frost risk, adaptive traits like bud burst may gain more importance in the future. Nevertheless, knowledge of the genetic background of leaf unfolding is still scarce for European beech. In the present study, we analyzed parts of ten different candidate genes for bud burst with a total length of 12,290 bp. Comparative sequencing with plant material of 12 different beech populations distributed over Germany revealed 116 SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) and 20 indels. A subset of 46 SNPs was successfully used for genotyping of 100 offspring of a beech population in Germany confirming the suitability of the newly developed SNP set for population genetic studies. The provided data may be useful for further investigations of adaptation in F. sylvatica.

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