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Journal Article

Tree regeneration in models of forest dynamics: a key priority for further research

Authors

Díaz-Yáñez,  Olalla
External Organizations;

Käber,  Yannek
External Organizations;

Anders,  Tim
External Organizations;

Bohn,  Friedrich
External Organizations;

Braziunas,  Kristin H.
External Organizations;

Brůna,  Josef
External Organizations;

Fischer,  Rico
External Organizations;

Fischer,  Samuel M.
External Organizations;

Hetzer,  Jessica
External Organizations;

Hickler,  Thomas
External Organizations;

Hochauer,  Christian
External Organizations;

Lexer,  Manfred J.
External Organizations;

Lischke,  Heike
External Organizations;

Mairota,  Paola
External Organizations;

Merganič,  Ján
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Merganičová,  Katarina
External Organizations;

Mette,  Tobias
External Organizations;

Mina,  Marco
External Organizations;

Morin,  Xavier
External Organizations;

/persons/resource/mahnken

Nieberg,  Mats
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

Rammer,  Werner
External Organizations;

/persons/resource/Reyer

Reyer,  Christopher P. O.
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research;

Scheiter,  Simon
External Organizations;

Scherrer,  Daniel
External Organizations;

Bugmann,  Harald
External Organizations;

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Fulltext (public)

29084oa.pdf
(Publisher version), 12MB

Supplementary Material (public)
There is no public supplementary material available
Citation

Díaz-Yáñez, O., Käber, Y., Anders, T., Bohn, F., Braziunas, K. H., Brůna, J., Fischer, R., Fischer, S. M., Hetzer, J., Hickler, T., Hochauer, C., Lexer, M. J., Lischke, H., Mairota, P., Merganič, J., Merganičová, K., Mette, T., Mina, M., Morin, X., Nieberg, M., Rammer, W., Reyer, C. P. O., Scheiter, S., Scherrer, D., Bugmann, H. (2024): Tree regeneration in models of forest dynamics: a key priority for further research. - Ecosphere, 15, 3, e4807.
https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.4807


Cite as: https://publications.pik-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_29084
Abstract
Tree regeneration is a key process in forest dynamics, particularly in the context of forest resilience and climate change. Models are pivotal for assessing long-term forest dynamics, and they have been in use for more than 50 years. However, an assessment of their ability to accurately represent tree regeneration is lacking. We assess how well current models capture the overall abundance, species composition, and mortality of tree regeneration. Using 15 models built to capture long-term forest dynamics at the stand, landscape, and global levels, we simulate tree regeneration at 200 sites representing large environmental gradients across Central Europe. The results are evaluated against comprehensive data from unmanaged forests. Most of the models overestimate regeneration levels, which is only compensated in some models by high simulated mortality rates in the early stages of individual trees dynamics. Simulated species diversity of regeneration matches the observed ranges. Models simulating higher species diversity at the stand level do not feature higher regeneration diversity. The effect of light availability on regeneration levels is captured better than the effect of temperature and soil moisture, but patterns are not consistent across models. Increasing complexity in the tree regeneration modules of the models is not related to higher accuracy of simulated tree regeneration. Furthermore, individual model design is more important than scale (stand, landscape, global) and approach (empirical, process-based) for accurately capturing tree regeneration. Despite considerable mismatches between simulation results and data, it is remarkable that most models capture the essential features of the highly complex process of tree regeneration, while not having been parameterized with such data. We conclude that much can be gained by evaluating and refining the modeling of regeneration processes. This has the potential to render long-term projections of forest dynamics under changing environmental conditions that are much more robust.