BayCEER Workshop 2020

Forestry in times of climate change: assessing drought sensitivity of alternative, non-native tree species at a juvenile age

In the face of climate change forestry is seeking to diversify forest stands by fostering rare native species that seem more suited for a future climate than the currently dominating Picea abies and Pinus sylvestris. Additionally, non-native tree species from areas with a “future climate” are increasingly being planted as a means of “assisted migration”. However, detailed information on the ecophysiology of these species and their tolerance e.g. to drought or late frost is largely lacking. This knowledge however is needed to inform foresters which species might perform well under a future climate with higher temperatures and growing seasons with longer dry spells.

In 2012 the Bavarian State Institute of Forestry (LWF) initiated, together with other forestry research institutes, a long-term experiment (project KLIP 18) where the same provenances of several non-native tree species and a native reference species were planted at five sites, two out of these in Bavaria, along a climatic and edaphic gradient. In the meantime the young trees are established at the sites. Hence the current project set out to test ecophysiological methods that may help to detect the sensitivity to drought at this early stage of growth. The following species are being studied at the two Bavarian sites in Großostheim (Unterfranken) and at Schmellenhof near Bayreuth: Fagus orientalis, Tilia tomentosa, Cedrus libani, Tsuga heterophylla and Quercus robur. The project outline and first results will be presented.