The 2018 European heatwave led to stem dehydration but not to consistent growth reductions in forests

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Roberto L. Salomón - , Ghent University, Technical University of Madrid (Author)
  • Richard L. Peters - , Ghent University, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (Author)
  • Roman Zweifel - , Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (Author)
  • Ute G.W. Sass-Klaassen - , Wageningen University & Research (WUR) (Author)
  • Annemiek I. Stegehuis - , European Forest Institute, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (Author)
  • Marko Smiljanic - , University of Greifswald (Author)
  • Rafael Poyatos - , CREAF - Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications, Autonomous University of Barcelona (Author)
  • Flurin Babst - , University of Arizona (Author)
  • Emil Cienciala - , IFER—Institute of Forest Ecosystem Research, Czech Academy of Sciences (Author)
  • Patrick Fonti - , Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (Author)
  • Bas J.W. Lerink - , Wageningen University & Research (WUR) (Author)
  • Marcus Lindner - , European Forest Institute (Author)
  • Jordi Martinez-Vilalta - , CREAF - Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications, Autonomous University of Barcelona (Author)
  • Maurizio Mencuccini - , CREAF - Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications, ICREA (Author)
  • Gert-Jan Nabuurs - , Wageningen University & Research (WUR) (Author)
  • Ernst van der Maaten - , Chair of Forest Growth and Woody Biomass Production (Author)
  • Georg von Arx - , Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (Author)
  • Andreas Bär - , University of Innsbruck (Author)
  • Linar Akhmetzyanov - , Wageningen University & Research (WUR) (Author)
  • Daniel Balanzategui - , Helmholtz Centre Potsdam - German Research Centre for Geosciences, Humboldt University of Berlin (Author)
  • Michal Bellan - , Czech Academy of Sciences, Mendel University in Brno (Author)
  • Jörg Bendix - , Faculty of Geography (Author)
  • Daniel Berveiller - , Université Paris-Saclay (Author)
  • Miroslav Blaženec - , Slovak Academy of Sciences (Author)
  • Vojtěch Čada - , Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (Author)
  • Vinicio Carraro - , University of Padua (Author)
  • Sébastien Cecchini - , Office National des Forêts (Author)
  • Tommy Chan - , University of Helsinki (Author)
  • Marco Conedera - , Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (Author)
  • Nicolas Delpierre - , Université Paris-Saclay (Author)
  • Sylvain Delzon - , Université de Bordeaux (Author)
  • Ľubica Ditmarová - , Slovak Academy of Sciences (Author)
  • Jiri Dolezal - , Czech Academy of Sciences, University of South Bohemia (Author)
  • Eric Dufrêne - , Université Paris-Saclay (Author)
  • Johannes Edvardsson - , Lund University (Author)
  • Stefan Ehekircher - , University of Hohenheim (Author)
  • Alicia Forner - , Centro de Investigaciones sobre Desertificación (CIDE-CSIC), Spanish National Research Council (Author)
  • Jan Frouz - , Charles University Prague (Author)
  • Andrea Ganthaler - , University of Innsbruck (Author)
  • Vladimír Gryc - , Mendel University in Brno (Author)
  • Aylin Güney - , Izmir Katip Celebi University, Southwest Anatolia Forest Research Institute (Author)
  • Ingo Heinrich - , Helmholtz Centre Potsdam - German Research Centre for Geosciences, Humboldt University of Berlin, German Archaeological Institute (Author)
  • Rainer Hentschel - , Brandenburg State Forestry Center of Excellence (Author)
  • Pavel Janda - , Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (Author)
  • Marek Ježík - , Slovak Academy of Sciences (Author)
  • Hans-Peter Kahle - , University of Freiburg (Author)
  • Simon Knüsel - , Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (Author)
  • Jan Krejza - , Czech Academy of Sciences, Mendel University in Brno (Author)
  • Łukasz Kuberski - , Forest Research Institute (Author)
  • Jiří Kučera - , Environmental Measuring Systems (Author)
  • François Lebourgeois - , INRAE - National Institute of Agricultural Research (Author)
  • Martin Mikoláš - , Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (Author)
  • Radim Matula - , Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (Author)
  • Stefan Mayr - , INRAE - National Institute of Agricultural Research (Author)
  • Walter Oberhuber - , INRAE - National Institute of Agricultural Research (Author)
  • Nikolaus Obojes - , EURAC Research (Author)
  • Bruce Osborne - , University College Dublin (Author)
  • Teemu Paljakka - , University of Helsinki (Author)
  • Roman Plichta - , Mendel University in Brno (Author)
  • Inken Rabbel - , University of Bonn (Author)
  • Cyrille B.K. Rathgeber - , Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, INRAE - National Institute of Agricultural Research (Author)
  • Yann Salmon - , University of Helsinki (Author)
  • Matthew Saunders - , Trinity College Dublin (Author)
  • Tobias Scharnweber - , University of Greifswald (Author)
  • Zuzana Sitková - , Forest Research Institute, Slovakia (Author)
  • Dominik Florian Stangler - , University of Freiburg (Author)
  • Krzysztof Stereńczak - , Forest Research Institute (Author)
  • Marko Stojanović - , Czech Academy of Sciences (Author)
  • Katarína Střelcová - , Technical University in Zvolen (Author)
  • Jan Světlík - , Czech Academy of Sciences, Mendel University in Brno (Author)
  • Miroslav Svoboda - , Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (Author)
  • Brian Tobin - , University College Dublin (Author)
  • Volodymyr Trotsiuk - , Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (Author)
  • Josef Urban - , Mendel University in Brno, Siberian Federal University (Author)
  • Fernando Valladares - , Spanish National Research Council (Author)
  • Hanuš Vavrčík - , Mendel University in Brno (Author)
  • Monika Vejpustková - , Forestry and Game Management Research Institute (Author)
  • Lorenz Walthert - , Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (Author)
  • Martin Wilmking - , University of Greifswald (Author)
  • Ewa Zin - , Forest Research Institute, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Author)
  • Junliang Zou - , Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences (Author)
  • Kathy Steppe - , Ghent University (Author)

Abstract

Heatwaves exert disproportionately strong and sometimes irreversible impacts on forest ecosystems. These impacts remain poorly understood at the tree and species level and across large spatial scales. Here, we investigate the effects of the record-breaking 2018 European heatwave on tree growth and tree water status using a collection of high-temporal resolution dendrometer data from 21 species across 53 sites. Relative to the two preceding years, annual stem growth was not consistently reduced by the 2018 heatwave but stems experienced twice the temporary shrinkage due to depletion of water reserves. Conifer species were less capable of rehydrating overnight than broadleaves across gradients of soil and atmospheric drought, suggesting less resilience toward transient stress. In particular, Norway spruce and Scots pine experienced extensive stem dehydration. Our high-resolution dendrometer network was suitable to disentangle the effects of a severe heatwave on tree growth and desiccation at large-spatial scales in situ, and provided insights on which species may be more vulnerable to climate extremes.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number28
JournalNature communications
Volume13
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2022
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 35013178
ORCID /0000-0002-5218-6682/work/153655399