Abstract
Picea abies L. Karst is undeniably one of the most important tree species growing in Slovakia. In addition to natural mountain spruce forests, monocultures planted in lower areas are also quite common. In this article, we analyze the climate–growth response differences between these two types of spruce stands in the context of local climate change consequences. The study area representing natural mountain spruce forests is located under Osobitá Mt. (Tatra Mountains, Slovakia), while the analyzed low-lying planted monoculture is situated near Biely kríž (Malé Karpaty Mountains, Slovakia). Temporal variation of the dendroclimatological relationships was expressed by the running Spearman correlation coefficient during the observed period 1961–2018. The results showed crucial differences in the dendroclimatological relationships between the selected study areas. For the natural mountain spruce stand, consistent, weak, and positive correlations to the temperature variables were typical, with negative relationships to precipitation during the growing season. In this case, the negative impact of a recent temperature rise was limited. In contrast, the monoculture reacted to the temperature variation during the growing season with fluctuations, while in the case of precipitation, almost no dependence was found. Such incoherency may be a consequence of worsened health conditions, as well as insufficient resiliency to climate-driven stress. The importance of this paper is in its wide applicability, mainly in forestry.
Highlights
At present, a notable amount of studies are being completed in order to understand the spatial and temporal impact of ongoing climate change since it undeniably influences all land components
When comparing the detrended chronologies of both study areas (Figure 3), significantly higher sensitivity can be observed in the case of the planted, low-lying spruce monoculture at Biely kríž
The possibility of inspection of such changes is a crucial advantage of the method of running correlations, especially under conditions of dynamic environmental changes that are connected to anthropogenetic pressure and the related climate change
Summary
A notable amount of studies are being completed in order to understand the spatial and temporal impact of ongoing climate change since it undeniably influences all land components. Dendroclimatology focuses on the relationship between climate trends and radial tree growth. It is a scientific field that contributes significantly to the growing knowledge related to climate change. Karst) is considered to be the most important tree species in Slovakia, both ecologically and economically. The area of its natural distribution is spread out on mountain slopes with a minimum altitude of approximately 1100 m
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