Trends in background mortality in unmanaged forests across Europe over the last century

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00027073%3A_____%2F25%3AN0000029" target="_blank" >RIV/00027073:_____/25:N0000029 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1365-2745.70135?getft_integrator=clarivate&src=getftr&utm_source=clarivate" target="_blank" >https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1365-2745.70135?getft_integrator=clarivate&src=getftr&utm_source=clarivate</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.70135" target="_blank" >10.1111/1365-2745.70135</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Trends in background mortality in unmanaged forests across Europe over the last century

Original language description

Anthropogenic climate change has led to increasing background tree mortality rates worldwide. Tree species have different ways of dealing with changing environmental conditions due to their life-history strategies and location within their ecological niche. Trees growing further from the centre of their niche are likely to experience higher levels of climatic stress and potentially higher mortality, whereas trees growing closer to the niche centre may experience higher intraspecific competition. To study the complex interplay of abiotic and biotic factors leading to tree mortality, we used a comprehensive network of permanent plots with repeated censuses spanning from 1936 to 2020 in 299 unmanaged forest reserves across Europe. The database includes 1.5 million stem records covering a total sampled area of 853.7 ha. We (1) calculated background mortality rates, (2) analysed trends in mortality rates and (3) investigated how the trends relate to the location of each tree within its ecological niche. We used Species Distribution Models (SDMs) to locate trees within their niche and generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) to model mortality. We observed an overall median annual background mortality rate of 1.1%. Spruce-dominated forests had the largest increase in annual mortality from 1.5% to 3%. Similarly, the models showed a significant increase in oak-dominated forests, whereas beech-dominated forests showed a significant decrease in annual mortality rates over time. We identified three distinct mortality responses with respect to the location of trees in their ecological niche. For oak, spruce and mountain pine, higher mortality probabilities occurred when they were located further from their niche centre. Hornbeam, ash and Scots pine showed the opposite pattern and beech and fir featured an almost negligible effect of distance from the niche centre. Synthesis. In contrast to previous studies, our results suggest that dominant tree species in European natural forests have not consistently experienced increasing background mortality under anthropogenic climate change. Conversely, forest reserves dominated by competitive species such as beech may have benefitted from warmer growing conditions. Most studied tree species show no clear effect of distance from the niche centre, indicating high resilience and adaptability to environmental stress.

Czech name

—

Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10618 - Ecology

Project

<a href="/en/project/GA24-11119S" target="_blank" >GA24-11119S: A global model of treethrow forms and the role of tree mortality in carbon storage</a><br>

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

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

Name of the periodical

JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY

ISSN

0022-0477

e-ISSN

1365-2745

Volume of the periodical

113

Issue of the periodical within the volume

10

Country of publishing house

US - UNITED STATES

Number of pages

16

Pages from-to

2905-2920

UT code for WoS article

001543729100001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-105012581385