Carbon assimilation and wood production are influenced by environmental conditions and endogenous factors, such as species auto-ecology, age, and hierarchical position within the forest structure. Disentangling the intricate relationships between those factors is more pressing than ever due to climate change’s pressure. We employed the 3D-CMCC-FEM model to simulate undisturbed forests of different ages under four climate change (plus one no climate change) Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) scenarios from five Earth system models. In this context, carbon stocks and increment were simulated via total carbon woody stocks and mean annual increment, which depends mainly on climate trends. We find greater differences among different age cohorts under the same scenario than among different climate scenarios under the same age class. Increasing temperature and changes in precipitation patterns led to a decline in above-ground biomass in spruce stands, especially in the older age classes. On the contrary, the results show that beech forests will maintain and even increase C-storage rates under most RCP scenarios. Scots pine forests show an intermediate behavior with a stable stock capacity over time and in different scenarios but with decreasing mean volume annual increment. These results confirm current observations worldwide that indicate a stronger climate-related decline in conifers forests than in broadleaves.

Stand Age and Climate Change Effects on Carbon Increments and Stock Dynamics / Vangi, Elia; Dalmonech, Daniela; Morichetti, Mauro; Grieco, Elisa; Giannetti, Francesca; D'Amico, Giovanni; Nakhavali, Mahdi (Andre); Chirici, Gherardo; Collalti, Alessio. - In: FORESTS. - ISSN 1999-4907. - ELETTRONICO. - 15:(2024), pp. 1120.0-1120.0. [10.3390/f15071120]

Stand Age and Climate Change Effects on Carbon Increments and Stock Dynamics

Vangi, Elia;Giannetti, Francesca;D'Amico, Giovanni;Chirici, Gherardo;
2024

Abstract

Carbon assimilation and wood production are influenced by environmental conditions and endogenous factors, such as species auto-ecology, age, and hierarchical position within the forest structure. Disentangling the intricate relationships between those factors is more pressing than ever due to climate change’s pressure. We employed the 3D-CMCC-FEM model to simulate undisturbed forests of different ages under four climate change (plus one no climate change) Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) scenarios from five Earth system models. In this context, carbon stocks and increment were simulated via total carbon woody stocks and mean annual increment, which depends mainly on climate trends. We find greater differences among different age cohorts under the same scenario than among different climate scenarios under the same age class. Increasing temperature and changes in precipitation patterns led to a decline in above-ground biomass in spruce stands, especially in the older age classes. On the contrary, the results show that beech forests will maintain and even increase C-storage rates under most RCP scenarios. Scots pine forests show an intermediate behavior with a stable stock capacity over time and in different scenarios but with decreasing mean volume annual increment. These results confirm current observations worldwide that indicate a stronger climate-related decline in conifers forests than in broadleaves.
2024
15
0
0
Goal 15: Life on land
Goal 13: Climate action
Vangi, Elia; Dalmonech, Daniela; Morichetti, Mauro; Grieco, Elisa; Giannetti, Francesca; D'Amico, Giovanni; Nakhavali, Mahdi (Andre); Chirici, Gherard...espandi
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
forests-15-01120-v2.pdf

accesso aperto

Tipologia: Pdf editoriale (Version of record)
Licenza: Open Access
Dimensione 21.99 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
21.99 MB Adobe PDF

I documenti in FLORE sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificatore per citare o creare un link a questa risorsa: https://hdl.handle.net/2158/1404613
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 1
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 1
social impact