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  • Multi-decade tree mortality in temperate old-growth forests of Europe and North America [Elektronski vir] : non-equilibrial dynamics and species-individualistic response to disturbance
    Woods, Kerry D. ...
    Aim: Old-growth, mesic temperate forests are often assumed to be structured by gap-phase processes, resulting in quasi-equilibrial long-term dynamics. This assumption influences management focused on ... simulation of natural disturbance dynamics and is embedded in most models of forest successional dynamics. We use multi-decade monitoring of permanent plots in old-growth forests to assess demographic assumptions directly with respect to tree mortality rates. Location: Sixteen sites in mesic, temperate old-growth forests in eastern North America and Europe with multi-decade monitoring. Time period: Variable across sites, spanning c. 20%78 years from 1936 to 2014. Major taxa studied: Tree species of late-successional, cool-temperate forests of Europe and eastern North America. Methods: We calculated and compared the annualized mortality rates (m), with confidence intervals, by species, size class and measurement interval, for tree species of sufficient abundance. Results: Retrospective analysis shows dynamic and diverse demographic properties across populations and sites. Stand-scale mortality rates of 0.7%2.5%/ year average higher than previous estimates for old-growth temperate forests. Variations among species, over time and among size classes, suggest that gap-phase models are inadequate to explain stand dynamics, implying instead that rare disturbance events of moderate severity have long-lasting effects in old-growth forests and that indirect anthropogenic influences affect old-growth, unlogged forests. Main conclusions: Multi-decade baseline data, essential for understanding community assembly and long-term dynamics in these %slow systems,% are rare and poorly integrated. Our analysis demonstrates the value of the few long-term, %legacy% data sets. Results suggest that differences in life history interact with complex disturbance histories, resulting in non-equilibrial dynamics in old-growth temperate tree communities, and that changes in disturbance patterns through anthropogenic climate change might, there%fore, be an important driver of ecosystem change.
    Source: Global ecology and biogeography [elektronski vir]. - ISSN 1466-8238 (Vol. 30, iss. 6, 2021, str. 1311-1333)
    Type of material - e-article
    Publish date - 2021
    Language - english
    COBISS.SI-ID - 62542083

    Link(s):

    https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13291
    Repository of the University of Ljubljana – RUL
    DOI

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