RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Stand structure and recent climate change constrain stand basal area change in European forests: a comparison across  boreal, temperate and Mediterranean biomes
A1 Ruiz Benito, Paloma
A1 Madrigal González, Jaime
A1 Ratcliffe, Sophia
A1 Coomes, D.C.
A1 Kändler, Gerald
A1 Lehtonen, Aleksi
A1 Wirth, C.
A1 Zavala Gironés, Miguel Ángel de
K1 Carbon sink
K1 Climatic variability
K1 Competition
K1 Inventory-based data
K1 Minimum temperature
K1 Mixed models
K1 Water availability
K1 Stand basal area change
K1 Ciencia
K1 Medio Ambiente
K1 Science
K1 Environmental science
AB European forests have a prominent role in the global carbon cycle and an increase incarbon storage has been consistently reported during the 20th century. Any furtherincrease in forest carbon storage, however, could be hampered by increases in aridityand extreme climatic events. Here we use forest inventory data to identify the relativeimportance of stand structure (stand basal area and mean d.b.h.), mean climate (wateravailability) and recent climate change (temperature and precipitation anomalies) onforest basal area change during the late 20th century in three major European biomes.Using linear mixed-effects models we observed that stand structure, mean climate andrecent climatic change strongly interact to modulate basal area change. Although weobserved a net increment in stand basal area during the late 20th century, we found thehighest basal area increments in forests with medium stand basal areas and small tomedium sized trees. Stand basal area increases correlated positively with wateravailability, and were enhanced in warmer areas. Recent climatic warming caused anincrease in stand basal area, but this increase was offset by water availability. Based onrecent trends in basal area change we conclude that the potential rate of abovegroundcarbon accumulation in European forests strongly depends on both stand structure andconcomitant climate warming, adding weight to suggestions that European carbonstocks may saturate in the near future.
PB Springer
SN 1432-9840
YR 2014
FD 2014
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10017/20881
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10017/20881
LA eng
DS MINDS@UW
RD 01-may-2024