Forest regeneration within the treeline ecotone in the Giant Mountains under climate change

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00020699%3A_____%2F17%3AN0000043" target="_blank" >RIV/00020699:_____/17:N0000043 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

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DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Forest regeneration within the treeline ecotone in the Giant Mountains under climate change

Original language description

Natural regeneration of mountain spruce forests began in the Giant Mountains 25 years ago after a reduction of severe and long-enduring air pollution. This process has been influenced by climatic change. The aim of our contribution was to present background data for the potential elevational shift of spruce regeneration under conditions of climate change. These upslope shifts may also depend on constraints such as climate extremes, unfavourable soil conditions, absence of ectomycorrhizal symbionts, and lack of microsites suitable for seedlings. Since 2014, we have studied the main driving factors affecting Norway spruce regeneration, and in particular soil conditions, ectomycorrhizal symbionts, ground vegetation cover, and forest health, in six transects across the treeline ecotone located on a NW-to-NE transect through the Giant Mountains. Microclimatic measurements showed that the mean difference in growing season temperature between the montane spruce forests and forests at the treeline was −0.54°C. The model HADGEM2 predicted that in 20 years the temperature at the treeline will be similar to the current one at montane elevations. The difference in prevailing soil types between the montane spruce forests and forests at the current treeline (i.e. podzol vs. ranker type) could be an important factor limiting success of the upslope spreading of spruce. Furthermore, areas covered by microsites favourable for natural spruce regeneration, especially spruce litter patches, decaying wood, mosses, and Avenella flexuosa stands, were shown to decrease with increasing elevation. It is likely that spruce will move upslope in response to climate change, but the process is likely to be slow or even blocked for some periods, especially by unfavourable soil conditions and climatic extremes.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

O - Miscellaneous

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10509 - Meteorology and atmospheric sciences

Project

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Continuities

V - Vyzkumna aktivita podporovana z jinych verejnych zdroju

Publication year

2017

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů