Abstract
Abstract Mixed mountain forests of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.), Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst), and silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) cover a total area of more than 10 million hectares in Europe. Due to altitudinal zoning, these forests are particularly vulnerable to climate change. However, as little is known about the long-term development of the productivity and the adaptation and mitigation potential of these forest systems in Europe, reliable information on productivity is required for sustainable forest management. Using generalized additive mixed models this study investigated 60 long-term experimental plots and provides information about the productivity of mixed mountain forests across a variety of European mountain areas in a standardized way for the first time. The average periodic annual volume increment (PAI) of these forests amounts to 9.3 m3ha−1y−1. Despite a significant increase in annual mean temperature the PAI has not changed significantly over the last 30 years. However, at the species level, we found significant changes in the growth dynamics. While beech had a PAI of 8.2 m3ha−1y−1 over the entire period (1980–2010), the PAI of spruce dropped significantly from 14.2 to 10.8 m3ha−1y−1, and the PAI of fir rose significantly from 7.2 to 11.3 m3ha−1y−1. Consequently, we observed stable stand volume increments in relation to climate change.
Highlights
Mixed mountain forests of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.), Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst), and silver fir (Abies albaMill.; hereinafter referred to as beech, spruce, and fir, respecitvely) at elevations between ~600–1 400 m above sea level cover an area of more than 10 million hectares in Europe (Brus et al, 2012; EUFORGEN, 2017)
Our study focused on the periodic annual increment at the stand level (PAI)
The most important factors influencing the volume increment of beech in mixed mountain forests were the consolidation of the dominant parental material and the volume of the remaining stand (+)
Summary
Mixed mountain forests of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.), Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst), and silver fir (Abies albaMill.; hereinafter referred to as beech, spruce, and fir, respecitvely) at elevations between ~600–1 400 m above sea level cover an area of more than 10 million hectares in Europe (Brus et al, 2012; EUFORGEN, 2017). Mixed mountain forests of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.), Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst), and silver fir Mixed mountain forests are of high ecological and (socio-) economic importance in Central and Eastern Europe due to their provision of various ecosystem goods and services Connecting deciduous forests in lowlands and coniferous tree communities at high elevations, the coexistence of beech, spruce, and fir has lasted for many centuries locally, depending on the distance from glacial refugia (Magin and Mayer, 1959; Mosandl, 1984). Previous investigations on the productivity of mixed mountain forests have concentrated mainly on mixtures of two of the three species and indicate that beech generally achieves higher growth rates when grown in mixtures with conifers, because intraspecific competition is reduced (Pretzsch et al, 2010; Bosela et al, 2015). Spruce and fir benefit from growing in two-species mixtures (Forrester et al, 2013)
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