Project title: Dynamics, structure and biodiversity in mountain spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) forests in Central and Eastern Europe (CIGA #20154316)
Overview:
Forest ecosystems are dynamic; their composition and structure are in a continuous state of change. These changes are driven by a variety of processes that operate at different spatial and temporal scales, ranging from small-scale competitive interactions to millennial scale changes in climate. One of the most important drivers of forest dynamics is natural disturbance. Understanding of the ecological value of disturbances as drivers of forest structure and development has increasingly influenced our understanding of forest dynamics and forest management paradigms.
A major obstacle to integrating natural disturbance patterns into stand and landscape forest management planning is the lack of landscape scale reference conditions where disturbance processes and forest dynamics can be studied. Understanding the common pathways to stand and landscape structures and their historical range of variability to inform forest management often requires retrospective studies in primary forests that have been relatively uninfluenced by human activities.
The project aims to quantify how the heterogeneity of disturbances and resultant multiple pathways of stand development influence forest structure, and understand potential drivers that may influence those patterns. We set our study cites in Central and Southern Europe, the Carpathian Mountains that represent some of the most extensive remnants of primary subalpine Picea abies forests.
Results shows that spatial and temporal variability in disturbance processes is greater than that suggested by traditional models. This would imply that landscape scale management should not only mimic late successional forest structure and composition, but successional stages and structural complexity that arise from moderate to high severity disturbances as well.
Fig 1. Hypothetical patterns in large-scale disturbance chronologies indicating regional vs. local determination.
Fig. 2. Geographical location of the study stands with 560 plots within central Europe.
Project outputs:
- - Trotsiuk V., Svoboda M., Weber P., Klesse S., Pederson N., Janda P., Martin-Benito D., Mikolas M., Seedre M., Bace R., Mateju L., Frank D. 2016 “The legacy of disturbances on individual tree and stand-level above ground biomass accumulation and stocks in primary mountain Picea abies forests”. For. Ecol. Manag. 376, 108-115.
- - Primicia I., Camarero J.J., Janda P., Čada V., Morrissey R.C., Trotsiuk V., Bače R., Teodosiu M., Svoboda M. 2015. “Age, competition, disturbance and elevation effects on tree and stand growth response of primary Picea abies forest to climate“. For. Ecol. Manag. 354, 77–86.
- - Zemanová L., Trotsiuk V., Mikoláš M., Bače R., Svoboda M., Morrissey R.S. 2017 “Old trees as a key source of epiphytic lichens persistence and spatial distribution in mountain Norway spruce forest”. Forest Ecology and Management. doi:10.1007/s10531-017-1338-4
- - Mikoláš, Martin, Marek Svitok, Martin Tejkal, Pedro J. Leitao, Robert C. Morrissey, Miroslav Svoboda, Meelis Seedre, and Joseph B. Fontaine. "Evaluating forest management intensity on an umbrella species: Capercaillie persistence in central Europe." Forest Ecology and Management 354 (2015): 26-34.
- - Bosela M., Lukac M., Castagneri D., Sedmak R., Biber P., Carrerd M., Konopka B., Nola P., Nagel T., Popa I., Roibu C.C., Svoboda M., Trotsiuk V., Bu¨ntgen U. 2017. “Contrasting effects of environmental change factors on the radial growth of co-occurring beech and fir trees across Europe”. Science of the Total Environmnet.
- - Mrhalova H., Trotsiuk V., Svoboda M., Janda P., Bace R., Cada V., Mikolas M. 2015 “Canopy accession strategies of Norway spruce [Picea abies (L.) Karst.] in primeval mountain forests of Calimani and Giumalau, Romania“. Reports of Forestry Research. 60, 211-217. (In Czech. “Strategie dosažení horního stromového patra smrku ztepilého [Picea abies (L.) Karst.] v přirozených lesích Rumunska”).