Effects of Disturbances and Climate Change on Woody Plants

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecology and Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2025 | Viewed by 3909

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Interests: woody species; forest genetics; climate change adaptation; tree ecophysiology; tropical forest restoration; sustainable forest management

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Interests: tree seed; seed production; silviculture; biodiversity conservation; woody plants; agroforestry

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In a rapidly changing world, woody plants play a pivotal role in the bio-based economy, carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, and ecosystem stability, to name a few. At the same time, their stability faces challenges from climate change and various other ecosystem disturbances. Our upcoming Special Issue, "Effects of Disturbances and Climate Change on Woody Plants", aims to foster a deeper understanding of the profound impacts that disturbances and climate change have on woody plants, encompassing both natural ecosystems and managed landscapes. This Special Issue seeks to explore the diverse facets of this critical relationship, spanning topics such as:

  • Responses and adaptation strategies of woody plants to climate change;
  • Impacts of disturbances (wildfires, pests and diseases, land use changes) on forest dynamics;
  • Ecological and economic consequences of climate-driven shifts in woody plant distributions;
  • Mitigation and management strategies to enhance resilience in woody plant ecosystems.

We welcome both original research articles and reviews that contribute to advancing our knowledge in this vital field. Your expertise will enrich the discourse on this pressing issue and aid in the development of effective conservation and management strategies.

Dr. Albin Lobo
Dr. Jens-Peter Barnekow Lillesø
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • disturbances
  • climate change
  • fire
  • grazing
  • resilience
  • vegetation dynamics
  • adaptation
  • mitigation

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 1426 KiB  
Article
Resilience of Pinus pinea L. Trees to Drought in Central Chile Based on Tree Radial Growth Methods
by Verónica Loewe-Muñoz, Rodrigo Del Río, Claudia Delard, Antonio M. Cachinero-Vivar, J. Julio Camarero, Rafael Navarro-Cerrillo and Mónica Balzarini
Forests 2024, 15(10), 1775; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15101775 - 9 Oct 2024
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Abstract
The increasing occurrence of dry and hot summers generates chronic water deficits that negatively affect tree radial growth. This phenomenon has been widely studied in natural stands of native species but not in commercial plantations of exotic tree species. In central Chile, where [...] Read more.
The increasing occurrence of dry and hot summers generates chronic water deficits that negatively affect tree radial growth. This phenomenon has been widely studied in natural stands of native species but not in commercial plantations of exotic tree species. In central Chile, where the species is increasingly planted, the dynamics of stone pine (Pinus pinea L.) growth under drought have been little explored. We studied the impact of drought on four stone pine plantations growing in central Chile. We sampled and cross-dated a total of 112 trees from four sites, measured their tree-ring width (RWL) series, and obtained detrended series of ring width indices (RWIs). Then, we calculated three resilience indices during dry years (Rt, resistance; Rc, recovery; and Rs, resilience), and the correlations between the RWI series and seasonal climate variables. We found the lowest growth rate (1.94 mm) in the driest site (Peñuelas). Wet conditions in the previous winter and current spring favored growth. In the wettest site (Pastene), the growth rates were high (4.87 mm) and growth also increased in response to spring thermal amplitude. Overall, fast-growing trees were less resilient than slow-growing trees. Drought reduced stone pine stem growth and affected tree resilience to hydric deficit. At the stand level, growth rates and resistance were driven by winter and spring precipitation. Fast-growing trees were more resistant but showed less capacity to recover after a drought. In general, stone pine showed a high post-drought resilience due to a high recovery after drought events. The fact that we found high resilience in non-native habitats, opens new perspectives for stone pine cropping, revealing that it is possible to explore new areas to establish the species. We conclude that stone pine shows a good acclimation in non-native, seasonally dry environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effects of Disturbances and Climate Change on Woody Plants)
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15 pages, 3828 KiB  
Article
Impact of Increment Coring on Growth and Mortality across Various Size Classes of Khasi Pine (Pinus kesiya) in Northern Thailand
by Kritsadapan Palakit and Nathsuda Pumijumnong
Forests 2024, 15(8), 1444; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15081444 - 16 Aug 2024
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Abstract
In response to concerns that increment coring with an increment borer might contribute to the dieback of pine trees in Thailand, this research aimed to evaluate the effects of increment coring on the growth of Khasi pine (Pinus kesiya Royle ex Gordon) [...] Read more.
In response to concerns that increment coring with an increment borer might contribute to the dieback of pine trees in Thailand, this research aimed to evaluate the effects of increment coring on the growth of Khasi pine (Pinus kesiya Royle ex Gordon) at Doi Khuntan National Park in northern Thailand. Increment coring is commonly used in dendrochronology, but its impact on tree growth needs to be better understood. This study involved the selection of pine trees of varying diameters, categorizing them into control (uncored) and experimental (cored) groups. Subsequently, data were collected bimonthly from September 2018 to April 2023, except for interruptions from February 2020 to December 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tree diameters at breast height were measured, and image analysis was used to monitor the wound healing every two months. A repeated-measures ANOVA was used to compare the growth of cored and uncored groups and the wound healing rates among small-, medium-, and large-tree groups. The growth of cored and uncored Khasi pines within the same and different diameter classes showed no significant differences nor did the wound healing rates. The findings indicated that increment coring had an insignificant impact on the tree growth across all diameter classes, with wounds healing effectively within 14 months. These results support the continued and safe use of increment coring with an increment borer as a non-destructive method for collecting tree-ring and wood samples for climate research and for providing valuable insights into forest management practices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effects of Disturbances and Climate Change on Woody Plants)
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15 pages, 5015 KiB  
Article
Characterization of Change in Tree Cover State and Condition over the Conterminous United States
by Francis K. Dwomoh and Roger F. Auch
Forests 2024, 15(3), 470; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15030470 - 2 Mar 2024
Viewed by 1572
Abstract
Variability in the effects of disturbances and extreme climate events can lead to changes in tree cover over time, including partial or complete loss, with diverse ecological consequences. It is therefore critical to identify in space and time the change processes that lead [...] Read more.
Variability in the effects of disturbances and extreme climate events can lead to changes in tree cover over time, including partial or complete loss, with diverse ecological consequences. It is therefore critical to identify in space and time the change processes that lead to tree cover change. Studies of change are often hampered by the lack of data capable of consistently detecting different types of change. Using the Landsat satellite record to create a long time-series of land cover and land cover change, the U.S. Geological Survey Land Change Monitoring Assessment and Projection (LCMAP) project has made an annual time series of land cover across the conterminous United States for the period 1985 to 2018. Multiple LCMAP products analyzed together with map validation reference plots provide a robust basis for understanding tree cover change. In LCMAP (Collection 1.2), annual change detection is based on harmonic model breaks calculated at each Landsat pixel from the Continuous Change Detection and Classification (CCDC) algorithm. The results showed that the majority of CCDC harmonic model breaks (signifying change) indicated partial tree cover loss (associated with management practices such as tree cover thinning) as compared to complete tree cover loss (associated with practices like clearcut harvest or fire disturbance). Substantially fewer occurrences of complete tree cover loss were associated with change in land cover state. The area of annual tree cover change increased after the late 1990s and stayed high for the rest of the study period. The reference data showed that tree harvest dominated across the conterminous United States. The majority of tree cover change occurred in evergreen forests. Large estimates of disturbance-related tree cover change indicated that tree cover loss may have previously been underreported due to omission of partial tree cover loss in prior studies. This has considerable implications for forest carbon accounting along with tracking ecosystem goods and services. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effects of Disturbances and Climate Change on Woody Plants)
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