Forest regeneration within the treeline ecotone in the Giant Mountains under climate change

0485242 - ÚVGZ 2019 RIV CZ eng C - Conference Paper (international conference)
Cudlín, Ondřej - Chumanová-Vávrová, Eva - Edwards-Jonášová, Magda - Heřman, Michal - Štěpánek, Petr - Cudlín, Pavel
Forest regeneration within the treeline ecotone in the Giant Mountains under climate change.
Quo vaditis agriculture, forestry and society under global change? Conference proceeding. Brno: Global change research institute, 2017 - (Urban, O.; Šprtová, M.; Klem, K.), s. 86-90. ISBN 978-80-87902-22-6.
[Quo vaditis agriculture, forestry and society under Global Change? Velké Karlovice (CZ), 02.10.2017-04.10.2017]
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT(CZ) LO1415; GA MŠMT(CZ) LD14039; GA MŠMT LD15044
Institutional support: RVO:86652079
Keywords : forest regeneration * Giant mountains * climate change
OECD category: Forestry

Natural regeneration of mountain spruce forests began in the Giant Mountains 25 years ago after a reduction
of severe and long-enduring air pollution. This process has been influenced by climatic change.
The aim of our contribution was to present background data for the potential elevational shift of spruce
regeneration under conditions of climate change. These upslope shifts may also depend on constraints
such as climate extremes, unfavourable soil conditions, absence of ectomycorrhizal symbionts, and lack of
microsites suitable for seedlings. Since 2014, we have studied the main driving factors affecting Norway
spruce regeneration, and in particular soil conditions, ectomycorrhizal symbionts, ground vegetation cover,
and forest health, in six transects across the treeline ecotone located on a NW-to-NE transect through
the Giant Mountains. Microclimatic measurements showed that the mean difference in growing season
temperature between the montane spruce forests and forests at the treeline was −0.54°C. The model
HADGEM2 predicted that in 20 years the temperature at the treeline will be similar to the current one at
montane elevations. The difference in prevailing soil types between the montane spruce forests and forests
at the current treeline (i.e. podzol vs. ranker type) could be an important factor limiting success of the
upslope spreading of spruce. Furthermore, areas covered by microsites favourable for natural spruce regeneration,
especially spruce litter patches, decaying wood, mosses, and Avenella flexuosa stands, were
shown to decrease with increasing elevation. It is likely that spruce will move upslope in response to climate
change, but the process is likely to be slow or even blocked for some periods, especially by unfavourable
soil conditions and climatic extremes.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0280309