Speaker
Description
Widespread dieback and mortality have been observed across many tree species, leaving forest managers uncertain about how to adapt management practices to ongoing climate change. These disturbances have resulted in clear-cutting and gaps requiring reforestation through adaptive strategies. Identifying drought-tolerant species is therefore essential to strengthen forest resilience. Silver birch (Betula pendula Roth.) is a pioneer species with broad ecological amplitude and strong natural regeneration capacity, making it a promising candidate for recolonizing disturbed areas and supporting forest recovery. However, its climatic sensitivity and growth response to drought remain poorly understood in Western Europe. This study aimed to (i) identify the main climatic drivers of birch radial growth and (ii) assess its growth responses to past extreme droughts. A total of 80 cores (from 40 trees) were collected in four birch stands across Wallonia. Radial growth variability at each site was correlated with monthly and daily climatic variables to identify the key climatic drivers of growth and their consistency across regions. Birch growth responses to past extreme droughts were then assessed using resistance, recovery, and resilience indices. Preliminary results show that birch radial growth is positively correlated with spring and early summer precipitation, and negatively correlated with previous-year summer temperatures. These findings suggest that spring droughts may strongly limit birch growth and that high thermal stress in the previous summer may have a delayed negative effect. Ongoing analyses will refine these relationships and help evaluate silver birch as a suitable species for adaptive forest management in Western Europe.
| If your abstract is not accepted for an oral presentation, would you be interested in presenting it as a poster instead? | Yes |
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| If accepted by the Scientific Board, I agree to have my presentation/poster and abstract published on the Belgian Climate Centre websites and social media. | Yes |
