A first assessment of the impact of the extreme 2018 summer drought on Central European forests |
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| Institution: | 1. Chair of Ecophysiology and Vegetation Ecology, Julius-von-Sachs-Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Würzburg, Julius-von-Sachs-Platz 3, 97082 Würzburg, Germany;2. Land Surface-Atmosphere Interactions, Technische Universität München, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, 85354 Freising, Germany;3. Department of Environmental Sciences – Botany, University of Basel, Schoenbeinstrasse 6, 4056 Basel, Switzerland;4. Forest Dynamics, WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland;5. Departement of Biogeography, Bayreuth Centre of Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER), University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstraße 30, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany;6. Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland;7. Department of Environmental System Science, ETH Zürich, Universitätsstr. 2, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland;8. Ecophysiology of Plants, Department of Ecology and Ecosystem Management, Technische Universität München, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, 85354 Freising, Germany;9. Chair of Applied Vegetation Ecology, Institute of Forest Sciences, Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Freiburg, Tennenbacher Str. 4, 79106 Freiburg, Germany;10. Department of Geobotany, Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, Schänzlestr. 1, 79104 Freiburg, Germany;11. Max-Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Hans Knoell Str. 10, 07745 Jena, Germany;12. Chair of Forest Growth, Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Tennenbacherstraße 4, 79106 Freiburg imBreisgau, Germany;13. Plant Ecology, Albrecht von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Goettingen, Untere Karspüle 2, 37073 Göttingen, Germany;14. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research - Atmospheric Environmental Research (IMK-IFU), Kreuzeckbahnstr. 19, 82467 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany;15. Chair of Ecosystem Physiology, University of Freiburg, Georges-Köhler-Allee 53/54, Freiburg 79110, Germany |
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| Abstract: | In 2018, Central Europe experienced one of the most severe and long-lasting summer drought and heat wave ever recorded. Before 2018, the 2003 millennial drought was often invoked as the example of a “hotter drought”, and was classified as the most severe event in Europe for the last 500 years. First insights now confirm that the 2018 drought event was climatically more extreme and had a greater impact on forest ecosystems of Austria, Germany and Switzerland than the 2003 drought. Across this region, mean growing season air temperature from April to October was more than 3.3°C above the long-term average, and 1.2°C warmer than in 2003. Here, we present a first impact assessment of the severe 2018 summer drought and heatwave on Central European forests. In response to the 2018 event, most ecologically and economically important tree species in temperate forests of Austria, Germany and Switzerland showed severe signs of drought stress. These symptoms included exceptionally low foliar water potentials crossing the threshold for xylem hydraulic failure in many species and observations of widespread leaf discoloration and premature leaf shedding. As a result of the extreme drought stress, the 2018 event caused unprecedented drought-induced tree mortality in many species throughout the region. Moreover, unexpectedly strong drought-legacy effects were detected in 2019. This implies that the physiological recovery of trees was impaired after the 2018 drought event, leaving them highly vulnerable to secondary drought impacts such as insect or fungal pathogen attacks. As a consequence, mortality of trees triggered by the 2018 events is likely to continue for several years. Our assessment indicates that many common temperate European forest tree species are more vulnerable to extreme summer drought and heat waves than previously thought. As drought and heat events are likely to occur more frequently with the progression of climate change, temperate European forests might approach the point for a substantial ecological and economic transition. Our assessment also highlights the urgent need for a pan-European ground-based monitoring network suited to track individual tree mortality, supported by remote sensing products with high spatial and temporal resolution to track, analyse and forecast these transitions. |
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