Tree growing conditions are changing rapidly in the face of climate change. Capturing tree-growth response to such changes across environmental contexts and tree species calls for a continuous forest monitoring over space. Based on 10,000 tree-ring measurements sampled across the systematic grid of the continuous French national forest inventory (NFI) over the 2006–2016 period, we evaluated the radial growth trends of eight conifer tree species prevalent in European forests across their native and introduced ranges and various bioclimatic contexts (n = 16 forest systems). For each forest system, radial increments were filtered out from tree, plot, soil and climatic normal influences to isolate environment-driven growth signals and quantify residual time-series. Associated growth trends across forest systems were then confronted against environmental variables (e.g. short-term averages and trends in seasonal climate). Trends for a given species were systematically more positive in cooler contexts (higher elevations or northern distribution margins) than in warmer contexts (plains). Decreases and increases in precipitation regimes were found to be associated with negative and positive tree growth trends, respectively. Remarkably, positive growth trends were mainly observed for native forest systems (7/9) and negative trends for introduced systems (5/7). Native forests showed a more heterogeneous forest structure as compared to introduced forests that, in line with observed positive dependence of tree growth trends onto both water availability and forest heterogeneity, appears to modulate the competitive pressure on water resource with ongoing summer maximum temperature increase. Over a short annually-resolved study period, we were able to capture tree growth responses coherent with climate change across diverse forest ecosystems. With ongoing accumulation of data, the continuous French NFI hence arises as powerful support to monitoring climate change effects on forests.

Read more …

Ols, C., Hervé, J.-C., Bontemps, J.-D., 2020. Recent growth trends of conifers across Western Europe are controlled by thermal and water constraints and favored by forest heterogeneity. Science of The Total Environment 742, 140453.

Dans la suite du projet de formation – dissémination IFASYL soutenu par le LabEx ARBRE, Nathalie Breda (UMR SILVA) a accueilli un groupe d’une vingtaine de collègues de l’Office National des Forêts du Grand Est le 2 juillet sur le site atelier de Hesse. L’objectif de la rencontre était d’expliciter le rôle de l’indice foliaire dans les échanges entre les couverts et l’atmosphère. A partir d’une visite du site, de discussion autour de posters illustrant la variabilité interannuelle et spatiale d’indice foliaire, le rôle de la sylviculture dans le contrôle de ce paramètre a été discuté. Du point de vue technique, la métrologie de ce paramètre a été explicitée en s’appuyant en outre sur l’expérience de l’ONF sur les placettes RENECOFOR (collecte de litières) et en présentant différents équipements. Les collègues volontaires ont aussi pu accéder à l’interface « couvert –atmosphère » en accédant en haut de la tour à flux et en découvrant les mesures micrométéorologiques réalisées, avec les explications de Jean-Baptiste Lily (UMR SILVA). A l’issue de la rencontre, les collègues de l’ONF sont repartis avec l’analyseur de couvert appartenant au service RDI de Fontainebleau (modèle LAI-2000, Li-Cor), accompagnés de modes opératoires clairs et simples pour réaliser leurs propres mesures sur des peuplements conduits de manière contrastée.

Photo : Hubert Schmuck (ONF)

Félicitations à toute l’équipe “Des Hommes et des Arbres“ !

Ensemble préparons un futur où la forêt aura toute sa place …

Within the framework of Alexandre Fruleux’s PhD project, a new paper, available online at Oecologia, investigates the underlying mechanisms linking forest productivity and diversity of tree species.

Abstract: Aboveground overyielding in a mixed temperate forest is not explained by belowground processes

The relationship between forest productivity and tree species diversity has been described in detail, but the underlying processes have yet to be identified. One important issue is to understand which processes are at the origin of observed aboveground overyielding in some mixed forests. We used a beech–maple plantation exhibiting aboveground overyielding to test whether belowground processes could explain this pattern. Soil cores were collected to determine fine root (FR) biomass and vertical distribution. Correlograms were used to detect spatial arrangement. Near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy was used to identify the tree species proportion in the FR samples and spatial root segregation. An isotopic approach was used to identify water acquisition patterns. The structure and the composition of the ectomycorrhizal fungal community were determined by high-throughput sequencing of DNA in the soil samples. We found no spatial pattern for FR biomass or for its vertical distribution along the gradients. No vertical root segregation was found, as FR density for both species decreased with depth in a similar way. The two species displayed similar vertical water acquisition profiles as well, mainly absorbing water from shallow soil layers; hence, niche differentiation for water acquisition was not highlighted here. Significant alterations in the fungal community compositions were detected in function of the percentage of maple in the vicinity of beech. Our findings do not support the commonly suggested drivers of aboveground overyielding in species-diverse forests and suggest that competition reduction or between-species facilitation of belowground resource acquisition may not explain the observed aboveground overyielding.