Abstract
Large and severe disturbances may erode the resilience of temperate forest ecosystems and alter their recovery dynamics, especially under global change. We investigated mid-term recovery in mixed mountain forests in Slovenia after three independent severe windstorms in 2008 created large disturbed patches. Across a network of 102 permanent plots and three inventories over the 11-year post-disturbance period, we monitored trends in density, composition, and structure of regeneration, which are key indicators of forest resilience. Ecological drivers of regeneration, including topography, microsites, and biotic interactions, were analysed using linear mixed models. We quantitatively assessed physiognomic recovery by comparing regeneration densities with the restocking target used in forest practice, and compositional recovery by comparison with pre-disturbance stand composition. Regeneration densities and structure tended to converge among post-disturbance treatments (planting vs. natural regeneration) 11 years post-disturbance, as density of natural regeneration substantially dropped between the second and third inventory. Some drivers of recovery (i.e. ground vegetation and distance to the forest edge) varied over time, while the effect of elevation on regeneration density was consistently negative. The results indicate that the forest sites generally show adequate resilience to large-scale wind disturbances, in terms of physiognomic recovery, but not in terms of rapid compositional recovery, as pioneer and light-demanding tree species increased in share compared to the pre-disturbance stands.
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The datasets generated and/or analysed during the study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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The R code generated for the data analysis for the study is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the students (Blaž Fricelj, Tim Pirc, Hana Štraus, Eva Knific, Luka Capuder, Aljaž Puhek, Helena Smrekar, Tadej Murn) who helped with collecting the field data, Professor Dušan Roženbergar for his help with literature on regeneration densities, and the reviewers for their precious feedbacks.
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This work was supported by the Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS) (Project J4-1765), ForestValue project I-MAESTRO, as well as by the Pahernik Foundation.
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Conceptualization was contributed by all; Methodology was contributed by all; Investigation was contributed by MC and GF; Data curation was contributed by MC, GF, and JD; Formal analysis was contributed by MC; Visualization was contributed by MC; Writing original draft was contributed by MC and TAN; Writing, review and editing was contributed by JD and GF; Funding acquisition and project administration were contributed by TAN; Supervision was contributed by TAN.
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Cerioni, M., Fidej, G., Diaci, J. et al. Dynamics and drivers of post-windthrow recovery in managed mixed mountain forests of Slovenia. Eur J Forest Res 141, 821–832 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-022-01475-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-022-01475-3