Thinning improves growth and resilience after severe droughts in Quercus subpyrenaica coppice forests in the Spanish Pre-Pyrenees |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, Marche Polytechnic University (UNIVPM), Via Brecce Bianche 10, 60131 Ancona, Italy;2. Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología (IPE-CSIC), Apdo. 202, 50192 Zaragoza, Spain;1. Universidade de São Paulo, Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz, Department of Forest Resource, Av. Pádua Dias No 11, Piracicaba, São Paulo 13418-900, Brazil;2. Department of Plant Biology, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas – UNICAMP, Campinas, São Paulo 13083-970, Brazil;3. Argentine Institute of Nivology, Glaciology and Environmental Sciences (IANIGLA), CONICET-Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza 5500, Argentina;4. Hémera Centro de Observación de la Tierra, Escuela de Ingeniería Forestal, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Mayor, Santiago 8580745, Chile;1. Key Laboratory of Tree Breeding and Cultivation of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Research Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China;2. Collaborative Innovation Center of Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China;3. Division of Forestry and Natural Resources, West Virginia University, 322 Percival Hall, PO Box 6125, Morgantown, WV 26506, United States;1. Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 723 Xingke Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou 510650, China;2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19(A) Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing 100049, China;3. Key Laboratory of Conservation Biology for Endangered Wildlife of the Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China;4. Key Laboratory of Environment Change and Resources Use in Beibu Gulf, Ministry of Education, Nanning Normal University, Nanning 530001, China;1. Key Laboratory of Tree-ring Physical and Chemical Research of China Meteorological Administration, Key Laboratory of Tree-ring Ecology of Uigur Autonomous Region, Institute of Desert Meteorology, China Meteorological Administration, China;2. Tien Shan High Mountain Research Center, Institute of Water Problem and Hydropower of National Academy of Sciences of Kyrgyz Republic, Kyrgyzstan;3. Kazakh National Agrarian Research University, Kazakhstan;4. Almaty Branch of Kazakh Scientific Research Institute of Forestry, Ministries of Agriculture, Kazakhstan;5. Meteorology and Hydrology Department, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan;6. Center for Innovative Development of Science and Technologies, National Academy Sciences of Tajikistan, Tajikistan;7. Institute of Water Problems, Hydropower and Ecology, National Academy Sciences of Tajikistan, Tajikistan;1. West Virginia University Department of Geology & Geography, Morgantown, West Virginia, United States;2. University of Tasmania School of Geography, Planning and Spatial Science, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia;3. Gondwana Tree-ring Laboratory, Christchurch, New Zealand;4. University of Arizona School of Geography, Development and Environment, Tucson, AZ, United States;1. Beijing Key Laboratory of Traditional Chinese Medicine Protection and Utilization, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China;2. College of Life Sciences, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050024, China;3. Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK |
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| Abstract: | During the past years, growth and productivity of different oak species have been constrained by water shortage in seasonally dry regions such as the Mediterranean Basin. Thinning could improve oak radial growth in these drought-prone regions through the reduction of tree competition for soil water in summer. However, we still lack adequate, long-term assessments on how lasting are thinning treatments effects and to what extent they contribute to oak growth recovery after drought. Here we aim: (i) to study the radial growth sensitivity to drought of Quercus subpyrenaica in the Spanish Pre-Pyrenees, and (ii) to verify if thinning represents a suitable option to enhance growth resistance to drought and post-drought growth recovery. We analysed basal area increment (BAI) trends in the period 1960–2020 of formerly coppiced oak stands thinned in 1984 and compared them with unthinned plots and also with coexisting Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) growing in thinned plots. We used the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) to estimate the severity of droughts and we also assessed climate-growth relationships. Oaks in thinned plots showed higher BAI (369 mm2) than those in unthinned plots (221 mm2). Growth rates remained higher in thinned than in unthinned plots also under severe drought stress. A severe summer drought in 1986 caused abrupt BAI reductions in both oaks (- 40.5%) and pines (- 40.1%). The positive effect of thinning on growth lasted for over 20 years and slightly declined as canopies closed. In the thinned plots, trees with smaller diameter showed the greatest growth release. Oaks in unthinned plots and Scots pine were more sensitive to short-term droughts in terms of growth reduction than oaks in thinned plots, while long term droughts have similar effects on oaks from both thinned and unthinned plots. Oaks were resilient to drought, showing recovery periods lasting from 1 to 2 years in both thinned and unthinned plots. However, intense and prolonged droughts could strongly reverse the expected growth enhancement of thinned plots, and a greater frequency of droughts would limit coppice growth and productivity thus lengthening the rotation periods. |
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| Keywords: | Mediterranean oaks Dendroecology SPEI Release Resilience |
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