Abstract
Forest ecosystems in Europe undergo cyclic fluctuations with alternating periods of forest prosperity and disturbances. Forest disturbances are caused by large-scale calamities (climate-induced and unforeseen events) resulting in an increased volume of salvage logging. In recent decades, climate change (warming, long-term droughts, more frequent storms, bark beetle outbreaks) has contributed to an increased frequency of salvage logging. However, until now, it has not been revealed what triggers national-scale forest calamities. All of the above-mentioned natural disturbances are connected to solar activity, which is the driver of climate change. This research relates the total volume of harvested timber and salvage logging to the climate and cosmic factors in the Czech Republic, Central Europe. Data of total and salvage logging are compared with air temperatures, precipitation, extreme climatic events, sunspot areas, and cosmic ray intensities. The results document a significant effect of average annual temperatures on the total and salvage logging for the entire period of observations since 1961. A significant correlation of salvage logging to the sunspot area and cosmic ray intensity was observed. The link between salvage logging and sunspots and cosmic ray intensity is supported by spectral analysis in which a significant 11-year cycle was observed since 1973. The results also show an increasing significant effect of sunspots and cosmic ray intensity on logging in recent years in connection with synergism of extreme climate events and the subsequent bark beetle outbreaks. Space and cosmic effects are factors that substantially influence forest ecosystems. Therefore, this paper provides new knowledge about, and possible predictions of, the forest response under climate change.
Highlights
Forest ecosystems play a crucial role in climate stabilization and in the mitigation of global climate changes on the earth [1,2,3]
An inversion relationship between the sunspot area and cosmic ray intensity has been studied previously [47,107], and is evident from Figures 6–9, when the response of salvage logging to cosmic ray intensity is the highest (Table 1)
Salvage logging and the total volume of harvested timber indicate the overall condition of the forest sector
Summary
Forest ecosystems play a crucial role in climate stabilization and in the mitigation of global climate changes on the earth [1,2,3]. Better comprehension of how and to what extent different cultural practices in forests can affect their ecological stability under ongoing global climate change will lead to mitigation of climate change [4,5]. In the period 1950–2000 in Europe, 35 million m3 of timber per year was damaged and subsequently harvested, accounting for ca. In the Czech Republic during the same period, harvesting of damaged timber accounted for 37% [14], and in the period 2007–2018, because of forest disturbances (salvage logging), 8.9 million m3 of timber were harvested per year on average, i.e., 51%
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