Abstract
Climate change manifests itself as a change in the probability of extreme weather events, and it is projected that windstorms will become more frequent and intense in Northern Europe. Additionally, the frequency and length of warm periods with wet, unfrozen soil in winter will rise in this region. These factors will lead to an increased risk of storm damages in forests. Factors affecting trees’ resistance to wind uprooting have been well quantified for some species but not for a common and economically important tree, the silver birch (Betula pendula Roth.). Therefore, this study aimed to assess the root-soil plate characteristics of silver birch on wet and dry mineral soils in hemiboreal forests. The root-soil plate and aboveground parameters were measured for 56 canopy trees uprooted in destructive, static-pulling experiments. The shape of the root-soil plate corresponds to the elliptic paraboloid. A decreasing yet slightly different trend was observed in root depth distribution with increasing distance from the stem in both soils. The main factors determining root-soil plate volume were width, which was notably larger on wet mineral soils, and tree diameter at breast height. Consequently, the root-soil plate volume was significantly larger for trees growing on wet mineral soils than for trees growing on dry soils, indicating a wind adaptation.
Highlights
Storm damage intensity in Europe increased notably and significantly in the last three decades, indicating the impact of climate change on the North Atlantic weather system [1]
The results present a moderate correlation (r = 0.42; r = 0.54) between HD2 and root-soil plate volume on dry and wet mineral soils, with increasing root-plate volume, an increase in HD2 can be observed in birch stands on mineral soils (Figure 4)
The results present a moderate correlation (r = 0.42; r = 0.54) between HD2 and root-soil plate volume on dry and wet mineral soils, with increasing root-plate volume, an increase in H6 oDf 92 can be observed in birch stands on mineral soils (Figure 4)
Summary
Storm damage intensity (primary damage/total growing stock) in Europe increased notably and significantly in the last three decades, indicating the impact of climate change on the North Atlantic weather system [1]. It is projected that the frequency of extreme weather events, including windstorms, will increase in the near future [2] These storms will lead to lost productivity and carbon stock in forests, causing notable economic damages, as well as reduced value of other ecosystem services [3,4,5]. One of the effects of climate change is the projected warming of the winter season, causing longer and more frequent periods of wet, unfrozen soil [3]. In such conditions, tree anchorage in the soil is weak. With increasing climate change, northern forests are expected to be more susceptible to wind impact during summer thunderstorms and extra-tropical cyclones [6,7]
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