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Pubblicazioni Scientifiche
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Silvicultural regime shapes understory functional structure in European forests
Chianucci
,
Francesco
,
Napoleone
,
Francesca
,
Ricotta
,
Carlo
,
Ferrara
,
Carlotta
,
Fusaro
,
Lina
,
Balducci
,
Lorenzo
,
Trentanovi
,
Giovanni
,
Bradley
,
Owen
,
Kovács
,
Bence
,
Mina
,
Marco
,
Cerabolini
,
Bruno Enrico Leone
,
Vandekerkhove
,
Kris
,
de Smedt
,
Pallieter
,
Lens
,
Luc
,
Hertzog
,
Lionel R.
,
Verheyen
,
Kris
,
Hofmeister
,
Jeňýk
,
Hošek
,
Jan
,
Matula
,
Radim
,
Doerfler
,
Inken
,
Müller
,
Jörg C. C.
,
Weisser
,
Wolfgang W.
,
Helback
,
Jan
,
Schall
,
Peter
,
Fischer
,
Markus
,
Heilmann-Clausen
,
Jacob
,
Riis-Hansen
,
Rasmus
,
Goldberg
,
Irina
,
Aude
,
Erik
,
Kepfer-Rojas
,
Sebastian
,
Kappel Schmidt
,
Inger
,
Riis-Nielsen
,
Torben
,
Mårell
,
Anders
,
Dumas
,
Yann
,
Janssen
,
Philippe
,
Paillet
,
Yoan
,
Archaux
,
Frédéric
,
Xystrakis
,
Fotios
,
Tinya
,
Flóra
,
Ódor
,
Péter
,
Aszalós
,
Réka
,
Bölöni
,
János
,
Cutini
,
Andrea
,
Bagella
,
Simonetta
,
Sitzia
,
Tommaso
,
Brazaitis
,
Gediminas
,
Marozas
,
Vitas
,
Ujházyová
,
Mariana
,
Ujházy
,
Karol
,
Máliš
,
František
,
Nordén
,
Björn
,
Burrascano
,
Sabina
functional diversity
functional redundancy
forest understory
sustainable forest management
unmanaged forests
ecosystem resilience
silvicultural regime
Mostra abstract
Managing forests to sustain their diversity and functioning is a major challenge in a changing world. Despite the key role of understory vegetation in driving forest biodiversity, regeneration and functioning, few studies address the functional dimensions of understory vegetation response to silvicultural management. We assessed the influence of the silvicultural regimes on the functional diversity and redundancy of European forest understory. We gathered vascular plant abundance data from more than 2000 plots in European forests, each associated with one out of the five most widespread silvicultural regimes. We used generalized linear mixed models to assess the effect of different silvicultural regimes on understory functional diversity (Rao's quadratic entropy) and functional redundancy, while accounting for climate and soil conditions, and explored the reciprocal relationship between three diversity components (functional diversity, redundancy and dominance) across silvicultural regimes through a ternary diversity diagram. Intensive silvicultural regimes are associated with a decrease in functional diversity and an increase in functional redundancy, compared with unmanaged conditions. This means that although intensive management may buffer communities' functions against species or functional losses, it also limits the range of understory response to environmental changes. Policy implications. Different silvicultural regimes influence different facets of understory functional features. While unmanaged forests can be used as a reference to design silvicultural practices in compliance with biodiversity conservation targets, different silvicultural options should be balanced at landscape scale to sustain the multiple forest functions that human societies are increasingly demanding. © 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Applied Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.
Widespread breakdown in masting in European beech due to rising summer temperatures
Foest
,
Jessie J.
,
Bogdziewicz
,
Michał
,
Pesendorfer
,
Mario B.
,
Ascoli
,
Davide
,
Cutini
,
Andrea
,
Nussbaumer
,
Anita
,
Verstraeten
,
Arne
,
Beudert
,
Burkhard
,
Chianucci
,
Francesco
,
Mezzavilla
,
Francesco
,
Gratzer
,
Georg
,
Kunstler
,
Georges
,
Meesenburg
,
H.
,
Wagner
,
Markus
,
Mund
,
Martina
,
Cools
,
Nathalie
,
Vacek
,
Stanislav
,
Schmidt
,
Wolfgang
,
Vacek
,
Zdeněk Ck
,
Hacket-Pain
,
Andrew J.
Mostra abstract
Climate change effects on tree reproduction are poorly understood, even though the resilience of populations relies on sufficient regeneration to balance increasing rates of mortality. Forest-forming tree species often mast, i.e. reproduce through synchronised year-to-year variation in seed production, which improves pollination and reduces seed predation. Recent observations in European beech show, however, that current climate change can dampen interannual variation and synchrony of seed production and that this masting breakdown drastically reduces the viability of seed crops. Importantly, it is unclear under which conditions masting breakdown occurs and how widespread breakdown is in this pan-European species. Here, we analysed 50 long-term datasets of population-level seed production, sampled across the distribution of European beech, and identified increasing summer temperatures as the general driver of masting breakdown. Specifically, increases in site-specific mean maximum temperatures during June and July were observed across most of the species range, while the interannual variability of population-level seed production (CVp) decreased. The declines in CVp were greatest, where temperatures increased most rapidly. Additionally, the occurrence of crop failures and low seed years has decreased during the last four decades, signalling altered starvation effects of masting on seed predators. Notably, CVp did not vary among sites according to site mean summer temperature. Instead, masting breakdown occurs in response to warming local temperatures (i.e. increasing relative temperatures), such that the risk is not restricted to populations growing in warm average conditions. As lowered CVp can reduce viable seed production despite the overall increase in seed count, our results warn that a covert mechanism is underway that may hinder the regeneration potential of European beech under climate change, with great potential to alter forest functioning and community dynamics. © 2024 The Authors. Global Change Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.