Abstract
The present study was focused on how cardinal directions inside gaps of different sizes (small, 200 m2; medium, 400 m2; and large, 600 m2) can affect soil characteristics and tree regeneration. Additionally, the effects of gap size on the growth dynamics of trees outside the gaps were evaluated. The study was carried out in a European beech stand located in Aspromonte National Park (Southern Apennines, Calabria, Italy). Microclimatic variables, physical, chemical, and biochemical soil properties, natural regeneration density, and growth trees outside the gaps density of natural regeneration were assessed. This study provided evidence for an important effect of cardinal points on micro-environmental parameter variability, nutrient cycle, physic-chemical soil properties, water availability, and biological processes such as trees growth and regeneration. The European beech natural regeneration was most abundant in the south part of the gaps. Thus, we can state that cardinal points affect the trees natural regeneration in a species-specific manner. The new microclimatic conditions due to the gap opening had positive effects on the tree growth located along the gap edge, especially in the trees sampled on the edges of the medium gaps. On the contrary, the trees located in the forest recorded a productivity coherent with the period prior the gap opening. In medium-sized gaps, the combination and interaction of microclimatic and soil parameters (humification and mineralization process and microbial activity) created the best conditions for beech natural regeneration and favored an increase in the productivity of the trees at the edge of the gaps.
Highlights
Forests, a provision source of raw material for industrial timber products, have always been managed to optimize timber production
We focused on the European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.), widespread across the Europe, and one of the most investigated forest species for its economic and ecological importance [25,26]
In beech forest stands located in Central Bohemia (Czech Republic), Bílek et al [90] showed that the ecological factors had an important role to explain the scarce regeneration density, as well as the limited cover of ground vegetation in large gap [54]. These findings suggested that the beech regeneration in forest stands was driven by gap openings, but not necessarily by the direct radiation [93], which mainly occurred at the northern edge of large gaps where we found a sparse beech natural regeneration
Summary
A provision source of raw material for industrial timber products, have always been managed to optimize timber production. In a forest the death of a single tree or of several neighboring trees creates gaps, which can cause changes in light levels, temperature, soil moisture, nutrient availability, and the regeneration of microsites associated with snapped or uprooted trees [10]. All of these factors, singularly or in combination with others, can affect tree growth, survival, and reproduction [9,11,12]. Apart from the gap sizes, the cardinal points inside of gaps influence the microclimatic conditions [20,21] and consequent germination and growth of tree species, playing a crucial role in the distribution of the vegetation patterns [9,22,23,24])
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