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Etzoldetal2020.pdf
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- Changing environmental conditions may substantially interact with site quality and foreststandcharacteristics,and impactforestgrowthandcarbonsequestration.Understandingtheimpactofthevariousdriversofforestgrowthis thereforecriticaltopredicthowforestecosystemscanrespondtoclimatechange.Weconductedacontinental-scale analysis of recent (1995–2010) forest volume increment data (ΔVol, m3 ha−1 yr−1), obtained from ca. 100,000 coniferous and broadleaved trees in 442 even-aged, single-species stands across 23 European countries. We used multivariatestatisticalapproaches,suchasmixedeffectsmodelsandstructuralequationmodellingtoinvestigatehow Europeanforestgrowthrespondtochangesin11predictors,includingstandcharacteristics,climateconditions,air andsitequality,aswellastheirinteractions.Wefoundthat,despitethelargeenvironmentalgradientsencompassed bytheforestsexamined,standdensityandagewerekeydriversofforestgrowth.Wefurtherdetectedapositive,in some cases non-linear effect of N deposition, most pronounced for beech forests, with a tipping point at ca. 30kgNha−1 yr−1.WiththeexceptionofaconsistenttemperaturesignalonNorwayspruce,climate-relatedpredictorsandground-levelozoneshowedmuchlessgeneralizedrelationshipswithΔVol.Ourresultsshowthat,together withthedrivingforcesexertedbystanddensityandage,Ndepositionisatleastasimportantasclimatetomodulate forestgrowthatcontinentalscaleinEurope,withapotentialnegativeeffectatsiteswithhighNdeposition.
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Etzold, S., Ferretti, M., Reinds, G. J., Solberg, S., Gessler, A., Waldner, P., Schaub, M., Simpson, D., Benham, S., Hansen, K., Ingerslev, M., Jonard, M., Karlsson, P. E., Lindroos, A.-J., Marchetto, A., Manninger, M., Meesenburg, H., Merilä, P., Nöjd, P., et al. (2020). Nitrogen deposition is the most important environmental driver of growth of pure, even-aged and managed European forests. Forest Ecology and Management, 458, 117762. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2019.117762 (Original work published 2020)