Large, majestic trees are iconic symbols of great age among living organisms. Published evidence suggests that trees do not die because of genetically programmed senescence in their meristems, but rather are killed by an external agent or a disturbance event. Long tree lifespans are therefore allowed by specific combinations of life history traits within realized niches that support resistance to, or avoidance of, extrinsic mortality. Another requirement for trees to achieve their maximum longevity is either sustained growth over extended periods of time or at least the capacity to increase their growth rates when conditions allow it. The growth plasticity and modularity of trees can then be viewed as an evolutionary advantage that allows them to survive and reproduce for centuries and millennia. As more and more scientific information is systematically collected on tree ages under various ecological settings, it is becoming clear that tree longevity is a key trait for global syntheses of life history strategies, especially in connection with disturbance regimes and their possible future modifications. In addition, we challenge the long-held notion that shade-tolerant, late-successional species have longer lifespans than early-successional species by pointing out that tree species with extreme longevity do not fit this paradigm. Identifying extremely old trees is therefore the groundwork not only for protecting and/or restoring entire landscapes, but also to revisit and update classic ecological theories that shape our understanding of environmental change.

https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/nph.17148

On tree longevity.

Historical radial increment data based on tree ring analyses from the close-to-nature experimental forest management unit Smolnicka Osada in Central Slovakia were used for retrospective modelling of changes in forest dynamics to estimate the sensitivity of management planning goals under climate change. Four example years representing historical periods with typically different species-specific patterns of radial increment in mixed beech-fir-spruce forest (1910, 1950, 1980, and 2014) served as virtual starting points for the modelling. An advanced density-dependent matrix transition model was utilised for modelling stand dynamics. An integrated tool for nonlinear financial optimisation searched for an optimal management equilibrium. In addition to transition probabilities adjusted from increment data, some assumptions for changes in ingrowth and mortality related to the increment, as well as a case study concerning the reduced ingrowth changed by game browsing intensity, were tested for modelling more realistic historical ecological conditions. The sensitivity study revealed changes in the optimal management equilibrium represented by optimal basal area, tree species composition, diameter distribution and target harvest diameter over time due to the adapted ecological modelling. The main lesson of the past for the future is to avoid placing too much trust in the simple extrapolation of current trends, such as the observed continual decline in spruce related to climate change, but to be aware of temporal and possibly reversible processes, such as the observed extensive fir recovery after the reduction of air pollution. Tree species diversity appears to be the best option for the uncertain future.

/pdf/changes-in-growth-caused-by-climate-change-and-other-3xis0ltxk8.pdf

Changes in growth caused by climate change and other limiting factors in time affect the optimal equilibrium of close-to-nature forest management

We live in an extremely dynamic period characterised by enormous progress in technologies and information in all sectors, including forestry and wood-processing industry. The level of application of information and communication technologies, expert systems, and decision-making systems to the production sphere as well as to the organisational structures of enterprises is in fact considered an important criterion of the company’s maturity.

/pdf/modelling-in-forestry-sciences-high-technologies-and-1xmfp9u8w8.pdf

Modelling in forestry sciences, high technologies and decision-support systems in forestry and wood-processing

During the late 1830s and early 1840s, trading posts in Wyoming were relocating to major waterways and trail systems to capture the burgeoning indigenous bison robe and overland Euroamerican emigrant trade. Recent research discovered references to a “Fraeb's trading post” operating in southern Wyoming during the 1830s. Wyoming cultural records also contain a site form for 48CR1184, the “Bridger and Fraeb trading post,” located in south-central Wyoming. The construction of a post in southern Wyoming during the 1830s would have been at odds with developing economic models. Historical references describe a battle between Euroamerican trappers and Native Americans near the supposed Fraeb's trading post. However, reliable references to the nature of the structure associated with the battle have not been discovered. In 2011, the authors conducted archaeological investigations in an effort to locate the battle site and possible remains of the post to gain insight into historic activities at this location.

In search of the Fraeb battlefield and trading post, August 1841

New insights into estimating the age of old Scots pine from increment cores with stem rot

Age estimation of Norway spruce using incomplete increment cores: Testing new and improved methods

Abstract The decision to change forest management system from the traditional even-aged to the selection one based on statistical inventory is often limited by a missing previous inventory. To avoid this issue, we used available forest inventory data from ca 2 000 ha of mixed uneven-aged beech-fir-spruce-pine forest and tree ring data from 831 trees to reconstruct forest status from one decade ago. For this purpose, we have created three sets of species-specific models: 1) diameter-stump models to reconstruct the diameter of missing trees, 2) diameter-increment models based on tree ring data to estimate past diameters, and 3) height-diameter models to estimate past tree heights. This approach has allowed us to completely reconstruct the state of the forest as it was ten years ago and use the results as a substitution for a previously missing inventory.

/pdf/reconstructing-past-forest-status-using-inventory-and-tree-2xj25s8ynr.pdf

Vlastimil Murgaš

Papers

Age estimation of Norway spruce using incomplete increment cores: Testing new and improved methods

Reconstructing past forest status using inventory and tree ring data to support uneven-aged forest management