1. Forest managers’ perspectives on environmental changes in the biosphere reserve Mura-Drava-DanubeMarcus Sallmannshofer, Rok Damjanić, Harald Vacik, Marjana Westergren, Tjaša Baloh, Gregor Božič, Mladen Ivanković, Gyula Kovács, Miran Lanšćak, Katharina Lapin, Laszlo Nagy, Silvija Krajter Ostoić, Saša Orlović, Srđan Stojnić, Peter Železnik, Milica Zlatković, Silvio Schueler, 2023, original scientific article Abstract: Riparian forests are particularly vulnerable to environmental change and anthropogenic influences because they are highly dynamic ecosystems, thus proper adaptation measures are crucial. The implementation of these measures, however, strongly depends on the actors’ perceptions of the specific problems occurring in such forests. For understanding the constraints of specific interest groups toward different adaptation activities, information in this field is essential. By conducting a questionnaire survey we explore how different types of forest managers, i.e., forestry professionals, forest owners, and conservation managers, perceive the effects of environmental change on forest management in the recently established Transboundary Biosphere Reserve Mura-Drava-Danube. We show that these forest managers are highly aware of ongoing environmental changes and appraise deteriorating forest conditions, especially after observing changes themselves. Abiotic damage is expected to increase the most, followed by biotic damage, the spread of non-native species, and tree dieback. Nearly 80% of the survey respondents expect further changes and almost all of them intend to adapt their management of forests to mitigate or prepare for these changes. Nevertheless, we show differences in sensitivity to change and willingness to initiate adaptation actions by assessing adaptation thresholds: conservation managers appear generally more tolerant to changes, which results in higher thresholds to initiate management adaptation than forestry professionals Keywords: biosphere reserve Mura-Drava-Danube, forest management, sensitivity to environmental change, stakeholder perception, adaptation thresholds, riparian forest tree species Published in DiRROS: 31.05.2023; Views: 198; Downloads: 157
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2. Ecological factors affecting the recent Picea abies decline in Slovenia : the importance of bedrock type and forest naturalnessJanez Kermavnar, Lado Kutnar, Anže Martin Pintar, 2023, original scientific article Abstract: Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst.) has been at the centre of controversy for many decades. Recent evidence of its profound disturbance-induced damage and consequent stock depletions across forest landscapes in Europe has reinforced doubts regarding the sustainability and prospects of this tree species in the future. Like many other European countries, Slovenia has experienced significant Norway spruce mortality and a decrease in growing stock primarily as the result of several disturbance agents (bark beetle outbreaks, an ice storm, windthrows). We investigated a countrywide spruce growing stock decline based on data between 2010 and 2018. Particular focus was placed on identifying the main ecological drivers of this decline, namely geological conditions, climatic parameters, soil attributes, topographic factors and forest stand characteristics. The effects of potential predictors on the relative change (%) in spruce volume (m3 ha-1) during the period 2010-2018 were analysed with Generalized Additive Models. Based on a national dataset including forest compartments (n = 6355) with a spruce growing stock decline > 10%, we found mixed support for ecology-based hypotheses. While spruce decline responded to bedrock type as predicted (i.e., greater relative decline in carbonate compared to silicate compartments), higher forest naturalness (preservation of tree species composition) was not associated with a lower decline. Spruce decline was amplified by higher potential evapotranspiration and soil clay content but showed a strong negative relationship with spruce proportion in the year 2010. General trends along the gradients of other selected predictors (stoniness/rockiness and heat load index) were less pronounced. The results suggest that most of these ecological predictors interact with geology and forest naturalness in affecting Norway spruce decline. Our analysis reveals that bedrock type can play an important role due to its mitigating effects. However, forest naturalness is of secondary significance as intensified large-scale forest disturbances likely override its buffering potential. Keywords: Norway Spruce, bark beetle outbreaks, ice storm, soil-geology, relationship, tree species composition, Slovenia Published in DiRROS: 05.04.2023; Views: 592; Downloads: 130
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3. Handbook for non native tree species in the urban spaceAjša Alagić, Aleksander Marinšek, Ana Dolenc, Andrey Krasovskiy, Anica Simčič, Anja M. Bindewald, Anja Müller-Meißner, Bénédicte Baxerres, Claudia Cocozza, Debojyoti Chakraborty, Janez Kermavnar, Lado Kutnar, Simon Zidar, Tina Trampuš, Živa Bobič Červek, 2022, dictionary, encyclopaedia, lexicon, manual, atlas, map Keywords: non-native tree species, Alps, invasive alien species, forest management, urbanspace, climate changes Published in DiRROS: 12.08.2022; Views: 398; Downloads: 149
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4. Management of non-native tree species in forests of the Alpine spaceSonia Abluton, Ajša Alagić, Bénédicte Baxerres, Frédéric Berger, Anja M. Bindewald, Sylvain Bouquet, Martin Braun, Giuseppe Brundu, Patricia Detry, Freya-Isabel Georges, Janez Kermavnar, Lado Kutnar, Aleksander Marinšek, Anica Simčič, Simon Zidar, 2022, dictionary, encyclopaedia, lexicon, manual, atlas, map Keywords: non-native tree species, Alps, invasive alien species, forest management, climate changes Published in DiRROS: 12.08.2022; Views: 408; Downloads: 131
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5. Identification handbook for non native tree species in the Alpine spaceAjša Alagić, Bénédicte Baxerres, Frédéric Berger, Anja M. Bindewald, Sylvain Bouquet, Giuseppe Brundu, Debojyoti Chakraborty, Patricia Detry, Freya-Isabel Georges, Quentin Guillory, Janez Kermavnar, Lado Kutnar, Katharina Lapin, Aleksander Marinšek, Eric Mermin, Anja Müller-Meißner, Janine Oettel, Anica Simčič, Simon Zidar, 2022, dictionary, encyclopaedia, lexicon, manual, atlas, map Keywords: non-native tree species, Alps, invasive alien species Published in DiRROS: 12.08.2022; Views: 438; Downloads: 149
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6. Non-native forest tree species in Europe : ǂthe ǂquestion of seed origin in afforestationParaskevi Alizoti, Jean-Charles Bastien, Debojyoti Chakraborty, Marcin Miroslav Klisz, Johan Kroon, Charalambos Neophytou, Silvio Schueler, Marcela van Loo, Marjana Westergren, Monika Konnert, Robert Brus, 2022, original scientific article Abstract: Non-native forest tree species have been introduced in Europe since the 16th century, but only in the second half of the 20th century the significance of the seed source origin for their economic use was recognized, resulting in the establishment of numerous provenance trials at a national, regional, European and International level, as those led by IUFRO. Breeding programs have also been launched in the continent for the most economically important species. Aim of this work is the formulation of provenance recommendations for planting of five non-native tree species in Europe (Douglas fir, grand fir, Sitka spruce, lodgepole pine and black locust), based on the information obtained from twenty countries, in the frame of the EU FP-1403 NNEXT Cost Action. The survey revealed that official and non-official national recommendations, based on provenance research results, have been elaborated and followed at a different level and extend for the above five species, but only for Douglas fir recommendations exist in almost all the participating to the survey countries. The compilation of provenance recommendations across Europe for each species is presented in the current work. Besides the recommended introduced seed sources, European seed sources are also preferred for planting, due to ease of access and high availability of forest reproductive material. European breeding programs yielding genetic material of high productivity and quality constitute currently the seed source of choice for several species and countries. Consolidation of trial data obtained across countries will allow the joint analysis that is urgently needed to draw solid conclusions, and will facilitate the development of ‘Universal-Response-Functions’ for the species of interest, rendering possible the identification of the genetic material suitable for global change. New provenance trial series that will test seed sources from the entire climatic range of the species, established in sites falling within and outside the environmental envelopes of their natural ranges, are urgently needed to pinpoint and understand the species-specific climate constraints, as well as to correlate functional traits to the seed origin and the environmental conditions of the test sites, so that the selection of suitable forest reproductive material of non-native tree species in the face of climate change can be feasible. Keywords: provenance recommendations, provenance testing, breeding programs, adaptation, exotic tree species, Douglas fir, Sitka spruce, grand fir, lodgepole pine, black locust Published in DiRROS: 09.02.2022; Views: 666; Downloads: 550
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7. Climate change and disturbances will shape future temperate forests in the transition zone between Central and SE EuropeLado Kutnar, Janez Kermavnar, Anže Martin Pintar, 2021, original scientific article Abstract: It is expected that climate change as well as abiotic and anthropogenic disturbances will strongly influence temperate forests. Besides changes in the main climate variables, various disturbance factors may significantly worsen conditions for mesic Slovenian forests (SE Europe) dominated by European beech (Fagus sylvatica), Norway spruce (Picea abies) and European silver fir (Abies alba). In Slovenia, the climate has warmed in recent decades, with an average annual rate of increase of about 0.4°C per decade or even more than 0.5°C per decade in summer. In addition, disturbances have caused considerable damage to trees in the most extensive forest types in Slovenia, starting with a widespread ice storm in 2014, followed by bark beetle outbreaks, windthrows and salvage logging interventions. After 2014, salvage logging increased from about one third to two thirds of the total annual felling. Over the last two decades, we have observed a decline in Norway spruce growing stock, with the highest rate of decrease in areas below 500 m a.s.l., and an increasing trend for European beech. Overall, the three dominant species (beech, spruce, silver fir), which together account for more than 70% of the total growing stock, have shown a declining trend over the last 20 years. The patterns observed are broadly consistent with earlier predictions developed for different climate change scenarios and with those reported in many other European countries. Adaptive forest management, which implements close-to-nature silviculture, has been traditionally practised in the region under study and has the potential to play an important role in reducing the risks associated with the impacts of climate change and disturbances in the future. Keywords: climate warming, disturbance factors, ice storm, bark beetle outbreaks, spruce decline, salvage logging, tree species composition, temperate forest, Slovenia Published in DiRROS: 03.01.2022; Views: 601; Downloads: 534
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8. Continent-wide tree species distribution models may mislead regional management decisions : a case study in the transboundary biosphere reserve Mura-Drava-DanubeMarcus Sallmannshofer, Debojyoti Chakraborty, Harald Vacik, Gábor Illés, Markus Löw, Andreas Rechenmacher, Katharina Lapin, Sophie Ette, Dejan Stojanović, Andrej Kobler, Silvio Schueler, 2021, original scientific article Abstract: The understanding of spatial distribution patterns of native riparian tree species in Europe lacks accurate species distribution models (SDMs), since riparian forest habitats have a limited spatial extent and are strongly related to the associated watercourses, which needs to be represented in the environmental predictors. However, SDMs are urgently needed for adapting forest management to climate change, as well as for conservation and restoration of riparian forest ecosystems. For such an operative use, standard large-scale bioclimatic models alone are too coarse and frequently exclude relevant predictors. In this study, we compare a bioclimatic continent-wide model and a regional model based on climate, soil, and river data for central to south-eastern Europe, targeting seven riparian foundation species%Alnus glutinosa, Fraxinus angustifolia, F. excelsior, Populus nigra, Quercus robur, Ulmus laevis, and U. minor. The results emphasize the high importance of precise occurrence data and environmental predictors. Soil predictors were more important than bioclimatic variables, and river variables were partly of the same importance. In both models, five of the seven species were found to decrease in terms of future occurrence probability within the study area, whereas the results for two species were ambiguous. Nevertheless, both models predicted a dangerous loss of occurrence probability for economically and ecologically important tree species, likely leading to significant effects on forest composition and structure, as well as on provided ecosystem services. Keywords: bioclimatic model, ecological niche model, forest management, tree species selection, riparian forest habitat, climate change adaptation Published in DiRROS: 22.03.2021; Views: 1105; Downloads: 761
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9. Using citizen science to monitor the spread of tree pests and diseases : outcomes of two projects in Slovenia and the UKPeter Crow, Ana Pérez-Sierra, Andreja Kavčič, Kate Lewthwaite, Marija Kolšek, Nikica Ogris, Barbara Piškur, Jana Kus Veenvliet, Simon Zidar, Suzanne Sancisi-Frey, Maarten De Groot, 2020, original scientific article Abstract: The trees and forests of Europe are increasingly under threat from new pests and diseases that have originated in other parts of the world. Early detection of alien species when they first appear in European countries allows rapid response and offers the best chance to mitigate against their establishment and spread. Citizen science initiatives such as LIFE ARTEMIS in Slovenia, and Observatree in the UK, provide members of the public with the necessary training and educational resource to identify these tree pests and diseases and report them to the appropriate authorities, thereby increasing the level of surveillance and the capacity of the early warning system. This paper summarises some of the outcomes of these two projects and how they have both become integral parts of the official forest and tree health monitoring systems within their respective countries of Slovenia and the United Kingdom. Keywords: invasive alien species, plant health, tree health, forest health, early warning, rapid response Published in DiRROS: 16.11.2020; Views: 1469; Downloads: 754
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10. Towards a better early detection and rapid response system against invasive alien species in forestsMaarten De Groot, Jana Kus Veenvliet, Nikica Ogris, Aleksander Marinšek, Lado Kutnar, 2020, preface, editorial, afterword Keywords: invasive alien species, plant health, tree health, forest health, early warning, rapid response Published in DiRROS: 16.11.2020; Views: 1218; Downloads: 667
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