Short-Term Dynamics of Vegetation Diversity and Aboveground Biomass of Picea abies (L.) H. Karst. Forests after Heavy Windstorm Disturbance

František Máliš,Jozef Pajtík,Katarína Merganičová,Bohdan Konôpka,Vladimír Šebeň

doi:10.3390/f12010097

Abstract

Although forest disturbances have become more frequent and severe due to ongoing climate change, our understanding of post-disturbance development of vegetation and tree–herb layer interactions remains limited. An extreme windstorm, which occurred on 19 November 2004, destroyed Picea abies (L.) H. Karst dominated forests in the High Tatra Mts. Here, we studied short-term changes in diversity, species composition, and aboveground biomass of trees and herb layer vegetation, including mutual relationships that elucidate tree–herb interactions during post-disturbance succession. Assessment of species composition and tree biomass measurements were performed at 50 sample plots (4 × 4 m) along two transects 12, 14, and 16 years after the forest destruction. Heights and stem base diameters of about 730 trees were measured and subsequently used for the calculation of aboveground tree biomass using species-specific allometric relationships. Aboveground biomass of herb layer was quantified at 300 subplots (20 × 20 cm) by destructive sampling. Species richness and spatial vegetation heterogeneity did not significantly change, and species composition exhibited small changes in accordance with expected successional trajectories. While aboveground tree biomass increased by about 190%, biomass of annual herb shoots decreased by about 68% and biomass of perennial herb shoots was stable during the studied period. The contribution of trees to total aboveground biomass increased from 83% to 97%. After 16 years of forest stands recovery, tree biomass represented approximately 13% of forest biomass before the disturbance. Herb layer biomass, particularly the biomass of annual herb shoots, was more closely related to tree cover than to tree biomass and its decline could be assigned to gradual tree growth. Our study provides clear evidence that short-term successional processes in post-disturbance vegetation are much better detectable by biomass than by diversity or compositional measures and emphasized the importance of light conditions in tree–herb competitive interactions.

Highlights

We aim to address the questions (i) whether plant species richness, composition, spatial heterogeneity and herb layer biomass of postdisturbance vegetation decreased over the studied period, and (ii) whether and how the tree growth affected these temporal changes of the herb layer
Our study focused on the High Tatra Mts., which form a part of the Tatra National
The DD transect was dominated by coniferous tree species, mainly Picea abies and Larix decidua, which are typical for mature stands, while at the HS transect, deciduous and early successional tree species prevailed, mainly Betula pendula. (Supplementary Tables S1 and S2, Figure 2A)

Summary

Introduction

Forest disturbances are important natural drivers of forest ecosystem dynamics and modulate their structure and functioning [1,2]. Disturbance regimes have been changing due to ongoing climate change and temperate forests are currently affected by large and heavy stand-replacing events around the globe that considerably affect their functioning [3,4,5]. In Europe, natural disturbances are temporally synchronized [6] and their current severity in Picea abies (L.) H. Karst forests is related to climate change, and to disturbance legacies. Large-scale disturbances were present in the past [7]

Methods

Results

Conclusion