Fagus sylvatica

Abstract: Shifts in plant species and biome distribution in response to warming have been described in past climate changes. However, reported evidence of such shifts under current climate change is still scarce. By comparing current and 1945 vegetation distribution in the Montseny mountains (Catalonia, NE Spain), we report here a progressive replacement of cold-temperate ecosystems by Mediterranean ecosystems. Beech (Fagus sylvatica) forest has shifted altitudinally upwards by ca. 70 m at the highest altitudes (1600–1700 m). Both the beech forests and the heather (Calluna vulgaris) heathlands are being replaced by holm oak (Quercus ilex) forest at medium altitudes (800–1400 m). This beech replacement has been observed to occur through a progressive isolation and degradation of beech stands. In ‘isolated’ (small and surrounded by holm oaks) beech stands, beech trees are 30% more defoliated, beech recruitment is 41% lower, and holm oak recruitment is three times higher than in ‘continental’ (large and continuous) beech stands. The progressively warmer conditions, complemented by the land use changes (mainly the cessation of traditional land management) are the apparent causes, providing a paradigmatic example of global change affecting distributions of plant species and biomes.

Abstract: Studies on Fagus sylvatica show that growth in populations toward the southern limit of this species' distribution is limited strongly by drought. Warming temperatures in the Mediterranean region are expected to exacerbate drought where they are not accompanied by increases in precipitation. We studied levels of annual growth in mature F. sylvatica trees over the last half-century in the Montseny Mountains in Catalonia (northeast Spain). Our results show significantly lower growth of mature trees at the lower limit of this species' distribution when compared with trees at higher altitudes. Growth at the lower Fagus limit is characterized by a rapid recent decline starting in approximately 1975. By 2003, growth of mature trees had fallen by 49% when compared with predecline levels. This is not an age-related phenomenon, nor is it seen in comparable populations at higher altitudes. Analysis of climate-growth relationships suggests that the observed decline in growth is a result of warming temperatures and that, as precipitation in the region has not increased, precipitation is now insufficient to ameliorate the negative effects of increased temperatures on tree growth. As the climate-response of the studied forest is comparable with that of F. sylvatica forests in other southern European regions, it is possible that this growth decline is a more widespread phenomenon. Warming temperatures may lead to a rapid decline in the growth of range-edge populations and a consequent retreat of the species distribution in southern Europe. Assessment of long-term growth trends across the southern range edge of F. sylvatica therefore merits further attention.

Abstract: We studied the effects of tree species on leaf litter decomposition and forest floor dynamics in a common garden experiment of 14 tree species (Abies alba, Acer platanoides, Acer pseudoplatanus, Betula pendula, Carpinus betulus, Fagus sylvatica, Larix decidua, Picea abies, Pinus nigra, Pinus sylvestris, Pseudotsuga menziesii, Quercus robur, Quercus rubra, and Tilia cordata) in southwestern Poland. We used three simultaneous litter bag experiments to tease apart species effects on decomposition via leaf litter chemistry vs. effects on the decomposition environment. Decomposition rates of litter in its plot of origin were negatively correlated with litter lignin and positively correlated with mean annual soil temperature (MATsoil) across species. Likewise, decomposition of a common litter type across all plots was positively associated with MATsoil, and decomposition of litter from all plots in a common plot was negatively related to litter lignin but positively related to litter Ca. Taken together, these results indicate that tree species influenced microbial decomposition primarily via differences in litter lignin (and secondarily, via differences in litter Ca), with high-lignin (and low-Ca) species decomposing most slowly, and by affecting MATsoil, with warmer plots exhibiting more rapid decomposition. In addition to litter bag experiments, we examined forest floor dynamics in each plot by mass balance, since earthworms were a known component of these forest stands and their access to litter in litter bags was limited. Forest floor removal rates estimated from mass balance were positively related to leaf litter Ca (and unrelated to decay rates obtained using litter bags). Litter Ca, in turn, was positively related to the abundance of earthworms, particularly Lumbricus terrestris. Thus, while species influence microbially mediated decomposition primarily through differences in litter lignin, differences among species in litter Ca are most important in determining species effects on forest floor leaf litter dynamics among these 14 tree species, apparently because of the influence of litter Ca on earthworm activity. The overall influence of these tree species on leaf litter decomposition via effects on both microbial and faunal processing will only become clear when we can quantify the decay dynamics of litter that is translocated belowground by earthworms.

Abstract: While previous studies focused on tree growth in pure stands, we reveal that tree resistance and resilience to drought stress can be modified distinctly through species mixing. Our study is based on tree ring measurement on cores from increment boring of 559 trees of Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst.), European beech (Fagus sylvatica [L.]) and sessile oak (Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl.) in South Germany, with half sampled in pure, respectively, mixed stands. Indices for resistance, recovery and resilience were applied for quantifying the tree growth reaction on the episodic drought stress in 1976 and 2003. The following general reaction patterns were found. (i) In pure stands, spruce has the lowest resistance, but the quickest recovery; oak and beech were more resistant, but recover was much slower and they are less resilient. (ii) In mixture, spruce and oak perform as in pure stands, but beech was significantly more resistant and resilient than in monoculture. (iii) Especially when mixed with oak, beech is facilitated. We hypothesise that the revealed water stress release of beech emerges in mixture because of the asynchronous stress reaction pattern of beech and oak and a facilitation of beech by hydraulic lift of water by oak. This facilitation of beech in mixture with oak means a contribution to the frequently reported overyield of beech in mixed versus pure stands. We discuss the far-reaching implications that these differences in stress response under intra- and inter-specific environments have for forest ecosystem dynamics and management under climate change.