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- Heiri, C., et al.
(författare)
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Forty years of natural dynamics in Swiss beech forests : Structure, composition, and the influence of former management
- 2009
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Ingår i: Ecological Applications. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1051-0761 .- 1939-5582. ; 19:7, s. 1920-1934
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We investigated forest development after the cessation of management based on inventory data from six beech forest reserves in Switzerland covering nearly 40 years, using observed changes to assess the textbook understanding of natural beech forest dynamics. Specifically, we evaluated the importance of light as a driver of tree species composition, and we aimed to disentangle the role of site characteristics and past management regimes for shaping today’s forest properties. Forest dynamics in the reserves showed a clear trend toward a broadening of the diameter distribution, an increase in basal area and standing dead wood, an increase in beech dominance, and a reduction of tree species diversity over time, conforming to expectations. However, the expected development of specific structural features, such as significant amounts of large living trees and snags or a small-scale mosaic of various developmental phases, appears to take longer than the time elapsed since the cessation of management. The observed loss in species richness can be attributed to decreasing light availability, as almost all species that disappeared were shade intolerant. Additionally, the shade-intolerant tree species had a characteristic bell-shaped diameter distribution in all reserves, indicating a lack of recruits, whereas shade-tolerant species had an irregular to monotonically decreasing diameter distribution, demonstrating sustained regeneration. Along the environmental gradient covered by the six reserves, abiotic factors are sufficient to explain tree species distribution, with management history not contributing additional information. This suggests that at larger scales, tree species composition is determined by abiotic factors, but historical management strategies were obviously adapted well to the species’ autecological requirements. Analyses such as ours provide the foundation for refining forest management systems as well as for developing effective and target-oriented conservation strategies. © 2009 by the Ecological Society of America beech forests;.
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- Larocque, I, et al.
(författare)
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Comparison between chironomid-inferred July temperatures and meteorological data AD 1850-2001 from varved Lake Silvaplana, Switzerland
- 2009
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Ingår i: Journal of Paleolimnology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0921-2728 .- 1573-0417. ; 41:2, s. 329-342
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Inferred temperatures from chironomids preserved in the varved sediment of Lake Silvaplana in the Eastern Swiss Alps were compared with instrumental data obtained from a meteorological station in Sils-Maria, on the shore of Lake Silvaplana, for the time interval 1850-2001. At near-annual resolution, the general patterns of chironomid-inferred temperature changes followed the meteorological record over the last 150 years (r (Pearson) = 0.65, P = 0.01) and 87% of the inferences had deviations from the instrumental data below the root-mean-square error of prediction (RMSEP). When the inferences were compared with a 2-year running mean in the meteorological data, 94% of the inferences had differences with the instrumental data below the RMSEP, indicating that more than half of the inaccurate inferences may have been due to errors in varve counting. Larger deviations from the instrumental data were also obtained from samples with low percentages of fossil taxa represented in the training set used for temperature reconstruction and/or assemblages with poor fit to temperature. Changes in total phosphorus (TP, as inferred by diatoms) and/or greater precipitation were possible factors affecting the accuracy of the temperature reconstruction. Although these factors might affect the quantitative estimates, obtaining > 80% accurate temperature inferences suggests that chironomid analysis is a reliable tool for reconstructing mean July air temperature quantitatively over the last 150 years in Lake Silvaplana.
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- von Gunten, L., et al.
(författare)
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Seasonal temperatures for the past ~400 years reconstructed from diatom and chironomid assemblages in a high-altitude lake (Lej da la Tscheppa, Switzerland)
- 2008
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Ingår i: Journal of Paleolimnology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0921-2728 .- 1573-0417. ; 39, s. 283–299-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We analysed a 42 cm long sediment record from Lej da la Tscheppa, a high-altitude lake (2,616 m a.s.l.) in the Upper Engadine valley (Switzerland) for subfossil diatoms, chironomids and pollen. The chronology of the top 21 cm of the record was established using 210Pb analysis using a constant-rate-of-supply model, and validated with 137Cs measurements and the content of spheroidal carbonaceous particles. A tentative chronology for the lower part of the core was obtained through extrapolation of the sedimentation rates in the uppermost part of the record. Pollen assemblages in the record reflect regional changes in forestation and land-use patterns in the Upper Engadine valley and show no evidenceof significant local human activity in the lake’s catchment. Diatom assemblages record a distinct increase in planktonic taxa since the early 19th century, suggesting a decrease in the duration of ice-cover. In contrast, chironomid assemblages remained stable during a large part of the record. We applied an established chironomid-based July air temperature transfer function and a newly developed diatom-based spring air temperature transfer function to reconstruct past seasonal air temperature changes at Lej da la Tscheppa. The reconstructions indicate a diatom-inferred warming trend in spring temperatures during the past ca. 400 years, whereas chironomid-inferred summer temperatures suggest a slight cooling trend.
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