Abstract

Climate-smart forestry (CSF) consists of an extensive framework of actions directed to mitigating and adapting to global climate change impacts on the resilience and productivity of forest ecosystems. This study investigates the impact of the pan-European 2018 drought on carbon exchange dynamics in typical highland and mountain forests in the Czech Republic, including two coniferous stands (Norway spruce at Bily Kriz and Rajec) and one deciduous stand (European beech at Stitna). Our results show that the annual net ecosystem CO2 uptake at Rajec decreased by 50% during the drought year in comparison to a reference year with normal climatic conditions. The Bily Kriz stand is less affected by drought, as the local microclimate ensures sufficient water supply. The European beech forest at stitna is most resilient against drought and its negative impacts - there we detect no differences in carbon exchange dynamics between the drought year and the reference year. We consider the matching of tree species to site conditions as crucial in the context of CSF, specifically regarding the stand response to water limitation and water supply and demand. Successively replacing spruce with beech trees in areas with high water demand but limited water supply, like Rajec, will support the goals of CSF.

Keywords

carbon use efficiency; light use efficiency; eddy covariance; European beech; net ecosystem carbon exchange; Norway spruce

Published in

Canadian Journal of Forest Research
2021, Volume: 51, number: 12, pages: 1811-1820
Publisher: CANADIAN SCIENCE PUBLISHING

SLU Authors

• Marshall, John

  • Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • The Czech Academy of Sciences

Sustainable Development Goals

Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts


UKÄ Subject classification

Forest Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2020-0286

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/115221