Does rising CO2 concentration decrease the sensitivity of European temperate conifers to drought?
We ask whether increasing water-use efficiency of temperate trees affects their growth response to climate. To answer this question, we build chronologies of tree-ring width and water-use efficiency that representatively cover the upper and lower range margins of Picea abies and Pinus sylvestris in Central Europe. We focus on stationarity of climate-growth responses, trends in extreme growth reductions, and factors behind the increase in water-use efficiency.
Principal investigator: Václav Treml
Grantor: Czech Science Foundation (GAČR)
Duration: 2019-2022
Grant number: GA19-13807S
Monitoring of treeline stands in NPR Praděd, Jeseníky Mts
Principal investigator: Václav Treml
Grantor: AOPK CR through EkoGroup s.r.o.
Duration: 2018-2022
Delineation of treeline ecotone and the analysis of treeline dynamics in the Krkonoše National Park
Principal investigator: Václav Treml
Grantor: OP ŽP, KRNAP administration
Duration: 2018-2021
Individual research fellowships
Using forward modelling to unravel the complex climatic control on intra-annual tree growth at cold distribution margins
This project addresses the question of how temperature and moisture availability interact in limiting intra-annual wood formation at generally cold-limited sites. For representative cold-limited sites across North America and Eurasia, a dataset of annually resolved tree-ring width series, (bi-) weekly xylogenesis observation data, and decades-long time series of xylem anatomical traits (e.g., cell lumen area, cell number) is compiled. Both linear and non-linear, processed based models are used to systematically assess intra-annual growth dynamics across study sites over the past decades.
Fellowship holder: Jelena Lange
Grantor: Alexander von Humboldt Foundation / Feodor Lynen Research Fellowship
Duration: 2022-2023
Drought record in tree rings of Scots pine and vegetation indices derived from Landsat satellite data – complementarity of data at landscape level
There is uncertainty about the factors that limit forest biomass production, particularly about how forest growth is limited by moisture availability. Tree-ring data provide a good measure of the effects of drought on biomass production, and by linking tree-ring data to vegetation indices derived from satellite scenes, we could be able to describe wood increment at the landscape scale. The goal of this project is to determine the relationship between tree-ring data and vegetation indices for Scots pine and Norway spruce in two areas in the Czech Republic, and to explain the differential response of stem and leaf biomass to drought based on topography and stand characteristics.
Fellowship holder: Jiří Mašek
Grantor: Charles University Science Foundation (GAUK)
Duration: 2020-2022
Grant number: GAUK 548120