The study consisting of three complementary parts provides insights into the updated responses of silver fir and European beech, predicting the response to climate change with basis for silvicultural guidelines for future management. Along the Carpathian Mountains eight permanent plots were established in optimally developed, managed and old-growth beech and fir forests above 800m ASL. The assimilation responses of young trees were measured in three consecutive growing seasons; 15 dominant fir and 15 beech trees were double cored at every selected location for dendrochronological and wood-anatomical analysis. The maximum assimilation efficiency of fir was confirmed under the mature canopy light conditions and for beech in the open. Both beech and fir show better radial growth with higher precipitation in July and slower growth with higher average and maximum temperatures in June of the current year. Fir shows a positive correlation between radial growth and temperature in winter, while beech shows a negative correlation between radial growth and temperature in summer. Northern sites are becoming increasingly favourable for the growth of both species, especially fir. For fir, there is a negative correlation between the relative conductive surface and the cell density, the average cell surface area and the cell density, and the mean thickness of tangential cell walls and the relative conductive surface. Measured tracheal properties in beech show correlations with tree ring width. Beech and fir respond differently to climatic parameters at the selected sites, with fir being more drought tolerant than beech.
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