scholarly journals Assessing Understory Complexity in Beech-dominated Forests (Fagus sylvatica L.) in Central Europe—From Managed to Primary Forests

Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 1684 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Willim ◽  
Melissa Stiers ◽  
Peter Annighöfer ◽  
Christian Ammer ◽  
Martin Ehbrecht ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
Fagus Sylvatica ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
European Beech ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Tree Regeneration ◽  
Understory Vegetation ◽  
Fagus Sylvatica L ◽  
Primary Forests

Understory vegetation influences several ecosystem services and functions of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) forests. Despite this knowledge on the importance of understory vegetation, it is still difficult to measure its three-dimensional characteristics in a quantitative manner. With the recent advancements in terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), we now have the means to analyze detailed spatial patterns of forests. Here, we present a new measure to quantify understory complexity. We tested the approach for different management types, ranging from traditionally and alternatively managed forests and national parks in Germany to primary forests of Eastern Europe and the Ukraine, as well as on an inventory site with more detailed understory reference data. The understory complexity index (UCI) was derived from point clouds from single scans and tested for its relationship with forest management and conventional inventory data. Our results show that advanced tree regeneration is a strong driver of the UCI. Furthermore, the newly developed index successfully measured understory complexity of differently managed beech stands and was able to distinguish scanning positions located on and away from skid-trails in managed stands. The approach enables a deeper understanding of the complexity of understory structures of forests and their drivers and dependents.

Competition improves quality-related external stem characteristics of Fagus sylvatica

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (12) ◽  
pp. 1603-1613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten Höwler ◽  
Peter Annighöfer ◽  
Christian Ammer ◽  
Dominik Seidel
Keyword(s):  
Fagus Sylvatica ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
European Beech ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
Optimal Timing ◽  
Competition Intensity ◽  
Timber Quality ◽  
Standing Trees ◽  
Fagus Sylvatica L

Accurate information on the timber quality of hardwoods is often lacking, in particular for standing trees. In situ measurements of timber quality have the potential to improve the economic yield of a stand and may contribute to the optimal timing of a harvest and, in general, to improving forest management. Here, we used terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) to assess external timber quality metrics nondestructively. We investigated how competition intensity affected the metrics of 118 European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) trees. We found that two newly developed TLS-based measures of external stem characteristics (number of bark anomalies per metre and stem non-circularity) were affected by competition intensity, suggesting that regulating competition levels may improve timber quality. Our study confirms empirical findings indicating a positive relationship between competition intensity and timber quality of European beech and offers a new methodology to assess external timber quality measures in the field objectively and nondestructively.

scholarly journals Differences in Soil Fungal Communities between European Beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) Dominated Forests Are Related to Soil and Understory Vegetation

PLoS ONE ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. e47500 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tesfaye Wubet ◽  
Sabina Christ ◽  
Ingo Schöning ◽  
Steffen Boch ◽  
Melanie Gawlich ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fagus Sylvatica ◽  
European Beech ◽  
Understory Vegetation ◽  
Fungal Communities ◽  
Fagus Sylvatica L

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 Potential Elevation Shift of the European Beech Stands (Fagus sylvatica L.) in Serbia

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lazar Pavlović ◽  
Dejan Stojanović ◽  
Emina Mladenović ◽  
Milena Lakićević ◽  
Saša Orlović
Keyword(s):  
Fagus Sylvatica ◽  
European Beech ◽  
Fagus Sylvatica L
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