Short-term survival and crown rebuilding of European broadleaf tree species following a severe ice storm

Roženbergar, Dušan (author), Pavlin, Jakob (author), Nagel, Thomas Andrew (author)

Ice storms cause widespread damage to forests in many temperate regions, leaving behind many live trees with severe crown damage. Following a severe ice storm in 2014 that damaged forests across Slovenia, we examined how tree-level attributes influenced survival and crown rebuilding three growing seasons after the storm. Field sampling was carried out in four mature stands dominated by native broadleaf species. Of the 763 sampled trees, the annual mortality rate following the storm was 2.2%, and nearly all trees that died experienced >75% crown removal. Oak (Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl.) and chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) had higher rates of mortality than beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and maple (Acer pseudoplatanus L.). Mixed models revealed that survival significantly increased with tree diameter and decreased with increasing crown damage. Although we observed sprouting across all the dominant species, maple, oak, and chestnut showed a more vigorous response than beech, and maple had the fastest sprout growth. Model results showed that sprout density and length increased with level of crown damage. The results indicate that these broadleaf forests are resilient to severe ice damage. Consequently, hasty salvage cutting of trees with canopy damage should be avoided, as many individuals with >75% crown damage are likely to survive and recover

• Language: English
• Keywords: forest disturbance, epicormic branches, mortality, resilience, sprouting, fortests, ice storm
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: BF - Biotechnical Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Author Accepted Manuscript
• Year: 2020
• Number of pages: Str. 1131-1137
• Numbering: Vol. 50, iss. 11
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-121420
• UDC: 630*23
• ISSN on article: 1208-6037
• DOI: 10.1139/cjfr-2020-0063
• COBISS.SI-ID: 31057155
• Publication date in RUL: 08.10.2020

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Canadian journal of forest research
• Shortened title: Can. j. for. res.
• Publisher: NRC Research Press, National Research Council Canada.
• ISSN: 1208-6037
• COBISS.SI-ID: 2952102

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: motnje, epikormske veje, smrtnost, sposobnost okrevanja, vegetativno odganjanje, snegolom, drevesne vrste, gozdovi

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: V4-1124
• Name: Ukrepi za izboljšanje izkoriščenosti proizvodnih potencialov gozdov