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A dendroecological reconstruction of disturbance in an old-growth Fagus-Abies forest in Slovenia

Reconstruction dendroécologique des perturbations dans une hêtraie sapinière ancienne en Slovénie

Annals of Forest Science volume 64, pages 891–897 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

The scarcity of large old-growth forests has made it challenging to quantify disturbance regimes in Central Europe. The objective of this study was to reconstruct the history of disturbance in an old-growth Fagus-Abies forest reserve in Slovenia using a dendroecological approach. We extracted cores from canopy trees blown down during a recent windthrow event and identified growth releases in the tree-ring series using boundary-line release criteria to infer past disturbances. A total of 216 release events were identified from 88 trees. Between 1790 and 1990, moderate, asynchronous release events were present in nearly every decade of the disturbance chronology, suggesting a history of frequent, low severity disturbance. However, there were also peaks in the chronology corresponding to synchronous release events in a large proportion of the trees, suggesting that less frequent, intermediate severity disturbance events played an important role in forest development. These events are likely caused from wind damage associated with local thunderstorms, which seem to occur at intervals between 20–80 years on the study site. Thus, in addition to the small-scale gap phase processes operating in the forest, the results indicate that periodic intermediate severity disturbance events are an important component of the disturbance regime in mountain forests of Central Europe.

Résumé

Le faible nombre de forêts anciennes suffisamment étendues rend difficile la quantification des régimes de perturbation en Europe centrale. L’objectif de cette étude est de reconstituer l’histoire de ces perturbations dans une hêtraie-sapinière ancienne mise en réserve en Slovénie en utilisant une approche dendroécologique. Des carottes ont été extraites du tronc d’arbres dominants renversés lors d’un récent chablis. Les séries temporelles de cernes ont été analysées pour identifier des périodes de relâchement de contraintes de croissance et pour en déduire l’intensité des perturbations passées. Un total de 216 événements de relâchement de contrainte a été identifié pour 88 arbres. Entre 1790 et 1990, des événements d’intensité modérée et asynchrones ont été détectés dans les séries chronologiques au cours de pratiquement toutes les décennies. Cela suggère une fréquence élevée de perturbations de faible intensité. Cependant, des pics d’enregistrement d’événements synchrones ont été identifiés dans la chronologie dans une proportion importante d’arbres. Cela suggère que des perturbations de sévérité intermédiaire ont joué un rôle important dans le développement de la forêt, malgré leur plus faible fréquence. Ces événements ont probablement été causés par des chablis provoqués par des orages locaux violents, qui semblent se produire à des intervalles de 20 à 80 ans sur le site d’étude. Les résultats montrent ainsi qu’en sus de perturbations locales de faible intensité conduisant à la formation de petites trouées, les perturbations périodiques de sévérité intermédiaire constituent une composante importante du régime de perturbations dans les montagnes en Europe centrale.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Forestry and Renewable Forest Resources, University of Ljubljana, Večna Pot 83, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Thomas A. Nagel & Jurij Diaci

  2. Slovenian Forestry Institute, Vecna Pot 2, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Tom Levanic

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  1. Thomas A. Nagel
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  2. Tom Levanic
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Correspondence to Thomas A. Nagel.

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Nagel, T.A., Levanic, T. & Diaci, J. A dendroecological reconstruction of disturbance in an old-growth Fagus-Abies forest in Slovenia. Ann. For. Sci. 64, 891–897 (2007). https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1051/forest:2007067

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Annals of Forest Science

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