scholarly journals Impact of Industrial Pollution on Radial Growth of Conifers in a Former Mining Area in the Eastern Carpathians (Northern Romania)

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 640
Author(s):  
Cristian Gheorghe Sidor ◽  
Radu Vlad ◽  
Ionel Popa ◽  
Anca Semeniuc ◽  
Ecaterina Apostol ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Industrial Pollution ◽  
Radial Growth ◽  
Abies Alba ◽  
Mining Operation ◽  
Mining Area ◽  
Silver Fir ◽  
Local Pollution ◽  
Eastern Carpathians ◽  
The Impact

The research aims to evaluate the impact of local industrial pollution on radial growth in affected Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) and silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) stands in the Tarnița study area in Suceava. For northeastern Romania, the Tarnița mining operation constituted a hotspot of industrial pollution. The primary processing of non-ferrous ores containing heavy metals in the form of complex sulfides was the main cause of pollution in the Tarnița region from 1968 to 1990. Air pollution of Tarnița induced substantial tree growth reduction from 1978 to 1990, causing a decline in tree health and vitality. Growth decline in stands located over 6 km from the pollution source was weaker or absent. Spruce trees were much less affected by the phenomenon of local pollution than fir trees. We analyzed the dynamics of resilience indices and average radial growth indices and found that the period in which the trees suffered the most from local pollution was between 1978 and 1984. Growth recovery of the intensively polluted stand was observed after the 1990s when the environmental condition improved because of a significant reduction in air pollution.

scholarly journals Effect of climate and air pollution on radial growth of mixed forests: Abies alba Mill. vs. Picea abies (L.) Karst.

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petr Mikulenka ◽  
Anna Prokůpková ◽  
Zdeněk Vacek ◽  
Stanislav Vacek ◽  
Daniel Bulušek ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Picea Abies ◽  
Norway Spruce ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Tropospheric Ozone ◽  
Radial Growth ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Abies Alba ◽  
Silver Fir ◽  
Pollution Load

AbstractNorway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst.) and silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) are main tree species of Central Europe that are currently highly vulnerable in times of global climate change. The research deals with the effect of climate and air pollution on radial growth of silver fir and Norway spruce in mixed age-varied (56 – 146 years) forests in the Jeseníky Protected Landscape Area, the Czech Republic. The objectives were to evaluate biodiversity, structure and production, specifically interaction of radial growth of fir and spruce to air pollution (SO2, NOX, tropospheric ozone) and climatic factors (precipitation, air temperature). Concentration of SO2 and NOX had negative effect on radial growth of fir, while radial growth of spruce was more negatively influenced by tropospheric ozone. Fir showed higher variability in radial growth and was more sensitive to climatic factors compared to spruce. On the other hand, fir was relatively adaptable tree species that regenerated very well when the pressure of stress factors subsided (air pollution load, Caucasian bark beetle, frost damage). Low temperature was a limiting factor of radial growth in the study mountainous area, especially for fir. Fir was significantly sensitive to late frost, respectively, spruce to winter desiccation and spring droughts with synergism of air pollution load. Generally, older forest stands were more negatively influenced by air pollution load and climatic extremes compared to young trees.

Growth responses to climate and drought in silver fir (Abies alba) along an altitudinal gradient in southern Kosovo

2011 ◽  
Vol 41 (9) ◽  
pp. 1795-1807 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elvin Toromani ◽  
Mitat Sanxhaku ◽  
Edmond Pasho
Keyword(s):  
Radial Growth ◽  
Ring Width ◽  
Abies Alba ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Drought Indices ◽  
Silver Fir ◽  
Growth Responses ◽  
Spring Temperatures ◽  
The Impact

This paper deals with the response of silver fir ( Abies alba Mill.) growth to climate, mainly drought, presenting data from southern Kosovo, for which only little information is available. Two cores from 55 dominant trees were extracted at two sites representing the limits of the natural distribution of silver fir. We built 80- and 112-year-long chronologies for each site. Comparison of both ring width chronologies showed that they were diverse. Pointer year analysis indicated that high spring temperatures and ample rainfall (1082 mm) influenced positively silver fir growth (wide ring), while low spring temperatures and scarce precipitation had an inverse effect. Bootstrapped response functions confirmed that April and May temperatures of the current growth year influenced positively silver fir growth at the low-elevation site, while the July precipitation of the previous growth year had a negative influence. At the high-elevation site, warm previous December temperatures had a positive influence on silver fir growth. Drought indices indicated two periods (1953–1961 and 1994–2001) with moderate drought. Correlation analysis between silver fir radial growth and drought indices revealed that the impact of drought on radial growth was significant at the time scale of 1.5 months during the summer months.

Photosynthetic performance of silver fir (Abies alba) of different origins under suboptimal growing conditions

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (11) ◽  
pp. 1007
Author(s):  
Alena Konôpková ◽  
Eva Pšidová ◽  
Daniel Kurjak ◽  
Srđan Stojnić ◽  
Peter Petrík ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Waves ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Abies Alba ◽  
Photosynthetic Performance ◽  
Population Variation ◽  
Silver Fir ◽  
Gas Exchange Parameters ◽  
Psii Photochemistry ◽  
Growing Conditions ◽  
The Impact

Understanding of the intraspecific variability in the physiological stress response of trees may enable to mitigate the impact of climate change on forest ecosystems in the future. We studied the photosynthetic performance of five silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) provenances originating from climatically distinct localities. The study was performed in the trial plot of the silver fir provenance experiment IUFRO 2005 on two dates: in the early summer and in the late summer. Heat waves and a decrease in water availability occurred between the two measurement dates, allowing us to study the response of the provenances to suboptimal growing conditions. The provenances were evaluated at the level of PSII photochemistry and CO2 assimilation by measuring photosynthesis-related pigment content, chlorophyll a fluorescence, and gas exchange parameters. Significant climatic clines were confirmed: the photosynthetic performance before and after the stress period increased with the increasing altitude and precipitation at the site of origin. In contrast, photosynthetic performance declined with the increasing temperature and Ellenberg’s quotient of the origin site. We concluded that provenances originating from high altitudes, corresponding well with more humid and colder conditions in Central Europe, showed the greatest photosynthetic performance and were less responsive to moderate heat and drought. This documents inter-population variation in physiological traits, which needs to be considered in setting rules and recommendations for the transfer of forest reproductive materials.

Mitigating climate change effects on forest growth using planting stock with high adaptive genetic capacity: results from Abies alba (Mill.) provenance trials at the southeastern distribution limit

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgeta Mihai ◽  
Alin-Madalin Alexandru ◽  
Marius-Victor Birsan ◽  
Ionel Mirancea ◽  
Paula Garbacea ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Radial Growth ◽  
Abies Alba ◽  
Forest Growth ◽  
Silver Fir ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios ◽  
Planting Stock ◽  
Climate Change Effects ◽  
Recent Climate ◽  
Romanian Carpathians

<p>European silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) is among the most important forestry species in Europe. In Romanian Carpathians, it covers about 5% of the forests area and almost two-thirds of its distribution is located in Eastern Carpathians, which is the southeastern edge of its distribution in Europe.<br>The most recent climate change scenarios for Europe suggest increases in mean annual temperature of 1-4 °C by the end of this century (Meinshausen et al. 2011). In the context of global warming, the populations living at the edge of the species distribution will be the first facing the climate change effects. In these regions, as the southeastern Europe, the main constrains are increasing the temperature, extended drought events and water availability. Forest species are particularly sensitive to climate change because the long life-span of trees does not allow for rapid adaptation to environmental changes (Lindner et al. 2010). <br>In this context, the aim of this study was to analyze the drought response of 51 European silver fir populations from: Romanian Carpathians (26), Austria (4), Germany (3), France (3), Italy (4), Slovakia (3), Czech Republic (3), Poland (1) and Bulgaria (4)  to strong drought events which have occurred in this region, in the last 30 years. The populations are tested in three provenances trials established in Romania, in 1980; two of them being located outside and one within the optimum climatic of species. The most drought years, with severe or extreme drought periods, have been identified based on the standardized precipitation index (McKee et al. 1993). The growth response of the silver fir populations to the drought events was evaluated by calculating four parameters, namely: resistance, recovery, resilience, relative resilience (Lloret et al. 2011). Results reveled that the general trend was towards decrease the stem radial growth of silver fir during the last 30 years. The provenance x year interaction was not significant which means high provenances stability over time. Significant differences were found among silver fir provenances in terms of ring width, latewood proportion, resistance, recovery and resilience in drought years. There are provenances which have highlighted high productivity and high tolerance to drought, which could be used in reforestation work, breeding and conservation programs. The radial growth of silver fir provenances was negative affected by the temperature increase during vegetation period and positive by previous autumn-spring precipitations. Therefore, the forest management strategy to mitigate negative impacts of climate change should be based on the knowledge of the intraspecific genetic variation and selection of the best performing and adapted planting stock for each region.</p>

scholarly journals Epicuticular wax on stomata of damaged silver fir trees (Abies alba Mili.)

2011 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomislav Bačić ◽  
Ljiljana Krstin ◽  
Jadranka Roša ◽  
Željko Popović
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Gas Exchange ◽  
Preliminary Report ◽  
Abies Alba ◽  
Silver Fir ◽  
Abaxial Surface ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Very High ◽  
Scanning Electron

Condition of epistomatal wax on the abaxial surface of the current and previous-year needles of damaged silver fir trees (<em>Abies alba</em> Mill.), both from the polluted Risnjak and "clean" Donja Dobra sites in Gorski Kotar region, both influenced by pollutants coming from Europe, during two years, three times a year, were examined with Scanning Electron Microscope. In the course of time the wax tubules on the epistomatal rims of stomata in polluted, but also in "clean" needles surface, become fused and agglomerated rapidly to various extents of morphologically different types of amorphous wax crusts, primarily compact and particulate ones. This process begins very early, especially in polluted Risnjak site, and may be interpreted as a possible result of air pollution. However, the recrystalization, or production of new tubules, also appears relatively quickly in mostly cases. Quantitative estimations indicate a very large total amount of amorphous wax crusts in the current-year needles, and a very high percentage of the same wax in previous-year needles. Amorphous wax crusts cover stomatal pores, as well as the rims, disturbing the normal gas exchange. Statistically there is a signicant tendency of increase in wax degradation in the needles of the polluted site in comparison with those of the unpolluted one, but there is an insignificant wax degradation among the needles of damaged trees within each site. These results confirmed most of the research done in our preliminary report.

scholarly journals Tree-Related Microhabitats Follow Similar Patterns but are More Diverse in Primary Compared to Managed Temperate Mountain Forests

Ecosystems ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Asbeck ◽  
Daniel Kozák ◽  
Andreea P. Spînu ◽  
Martin Mikoláš ◽  
Veronika Zemlerová ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Abies Alba ◽  
European Beech ◽  
Minor Role ◽  
Silver Fir ◽  
Mountain Forests ◽  
Managed Forests ◽  
A Minor ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Primary Forests

AbstractThe impact of forest management on biodiversity is difficult to scrutinize along gradients of management. A step towards analyzing the impact of forest management on biodiversity is comparisons between managed and primary forests. The standardized typology of tree-related microhabitats (TreMs) is a multi-taxon indicator used to quantify forest biodiversity. We aim to analyze the influence of environmental factors on the occurrence of groups of TreMs by comparing primary and managed forests. We collected data for the managed forests in the Black Forest (Germany) and for the primary forests in the Western (Slovakia) and Southern Carpathians (Romania). To model the richness and the different groups of TreMs per tree, we used generalized linear mixed models with diameter at breast height (DBH), altitude, slope and aspect as predictors for European beech (Fagus sylvatica (L.)), Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.)) and silver fir (Abies alba (Mill.)) in primary and managed temperate mountain forests. We found congruent results for overall richness and the vast majority of TreM groups. Trees in primary forests hosted a greater richness of all and specific types of TreMs than individuals in managed forests. The main drivers of TreMs are DBH and altitude, while slope and aspect play a minor role. We recommend forest and nature conservation managers to focus: 1) on the conservation of remaining primary forests and 2) approaches of biodiversity-oriented forest management on the selection of high-quality habitat trees that already provide a high number of TreMs in managed forests based on the comparison with primary forests.

scholarly journals Post-glacial re-colonization and natural selection have shaped growth responses of silver fir across Europe

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabet Martínez-Sancho ◽  
Christian Rellstab ◽  
Frédéric Guillaume ◽  
Christof Bigler ◽  
Patrick Fonti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Ring Width ◽  
Abies Alba ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Extreme Drought ◽  
Silver Fir ◽  
Severe Drought ◽  
Growth Responses ◽  
Bioclimatic Variables ◽  
The Impact

&lt;p&gt;Warmer climate and more frequent extreme droughts will pose major threats to forest ecosystems. Persistence of intra-specific populations of tree species will depend on their tolerance and adaptive capacities to forthcoming climate conditions. However, past demography processes due to post-glacial recolonization can also contribute to the genetic-based differences in growth responses among provenances. In this study, we investigated the impact of climatic conditions on growth traits among 18 provenances of silver fir (&lt;em&gt;Abies alba &lt;/em&gt;Mill.) from west, south and eastern Europe growing in two provenance trials established in Switzerland in 1980s. We further assessed whether the differences in growth-related traits across provenances were linked to their genetic differences due to recolonization history and natural selection processes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In total 250 individuals were measured and cored for dendrochronological analyses, and different growth-related traits were calculated: i) total tree height and diameter at breast height (DBH), ii) growth-climate relationships using correlations between tree-ring width and monthly climate parameters as well as levels of autocorrelation, and iii) short-term responses to extreme drought using resilience components (resilience, resistance, and recovery) to the severe drought that occurred in the study area in 2003. We also genotyped all the individuals in 150 putatively neutral single nucleotide polymorphisms to define the neutral genetic structure of the population, the neutral genetic differentiation among provenances (&lt;em&gt;F&lt;sub&gt;ST&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/em&gt;) and the genetic variation among provenances in relation to the total genetic variance in a trait (&lt;em&gt;Q&lt;sub&gt;ST&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/em&gt;). Signs of natural selection were assessed by two approaches: i) Pearson correlations between the least-square means of provenances of the traits and bioclimatic variables from the seed origin, and ii) &lt;em&gt;Q&lt;sub&gt;ST&lt;/sub&gt;-F&lt;sub&gt;ST&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/em&gt; comparison.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The studied provenances grouped into three longitudinal clusters reassembling the genetic lineages of refugia from the last glacial maximum: the provenance of the Pyrenees as a sole member of the westernmost cluster, the Central European provenances representing the central cluster and all the eastern European provenances forming the eastern cluster. These three lineages showed differences in growth performance traits (height and DBH), with the trees from the eastern cluster being the top performers. The Pyrenees cluster showed significantly lower recovery and resilience to the extreme drought of 2003 as well as lower values of growth autocorrelation. A &lt;em&gt;Q&lt;sub&gt;ST&lt;/sub&gt;-F&lt;sub&gt;ST&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;/em&gt; and correlation analyses with climate of provenance origin suggest that the differences among provenances found in some traits result from natural selection. Our study suggests that post-glacial re-colonization and natural selection are the major drivers explaining the intra-specific variability in growth of silver fir across Europe. These findings provide insights to support assisted gene flow to ensure the persistence of the species in European forests.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals Tarnita Polluted Area: Accumulation of Heavy Metals and Nutrients from the Soil by Woody Species

2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 753-758 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Iacoban ◽  
Ioan Marian Risca ◽  
Catalin Roibu ◽  
Elena Todirascu Ciornea ◽  
Radu Necula ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Abies Alba ◽  
Woody Species ◽  
European Beech ◽  
Mining Area ◽  
Polluted Area ◽  
Silver Fir ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Area North

Heavy metals are destructive environmental stressors that greatly reduce plant growth and productivity. Here, the content of some heavy metals (Fe, Cu, Zn and Mn) and mineral nutrients (Ca, Mg and K) in silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) wood from two sites in the Tarni�a mining area (North-Est Romania) was analyzed. The first site (no. 1) is located near a big tailings dump, whereas the other one (no. 2) is situated 6 km South, in a less polluted area. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the present-date levels of such elements in the investigated biological materials and to compare them. Measurements of heavy metal content in wood were performed with an AAS flame spectrometer, whereas an ICP-OES spectrometer was used for soil and tailings dump samples. The Mn content was higher in the site no. 1 located near the dump, for both species, but the difference was statistically significant only for the European beech trees. The Zn content of samples from the site no. 1 was lower than that corresponding to the second one (no. 2) for both species, but significant for the silver fir only. However, there was not found a significant difference in respect to both iron and copper in the samples collected from the two species and two different sites. Furthermore, the content of Ca and Mg of both species was found higher for the site no. 2, suggesting a better state of nutrition of the investigated trees than of those located near the tailings dump. The content of calcium and magnesium of silver fir was negatively correlated with the diameter of the trees collected from both sites.

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