Covering large parts of Europe, Norway spruce (Picea abies L Karst.) plays an important role in the adaptation strategy of forest services to future climate change. Although dendroecology can provide valuable information on the past relationships between tree growth and climate, most previous studies were biased towards species-specific distribution limits, where old individuals grow slowly under extreme conditions. In the present study, we investigated the growth variability and climate sensitivity of 2851 Norway spruce trees along longitudinal (E 12-26°), latitudinal (N 45-51°), and elevation (118-1591 m a.s.l.) gradients in central-eastern Europe. We reveal that summer weather significantly affects the radial growth of spruce trees, but the effects strongly vary along biogeographical gradients. Extreme summer heatwaves in 2000 and 2003 reduced the growth rates by 10-35%, most pronounced in the southern Carpathians. In contrast to the population in the Czech Republic, climate warming induced a synchronous decline in the growth rates across biogeographical gradients in the Carpathian arc. By demonstrating the increased vulnerability of Norway spruce under warmer climate conditions, we recommended that the forest services and conservation managers replace or admix monocultures of this species with more drought-resilient mixtures including fir, beech and other broadleaved species.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences Kamýcká 129 165 21 Prague 6 Czech Republic

Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences 603 00 Brno Czech Republic

Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences 603 00 Brno Czech Republic; Department of Geography University of Cambridge Downing Place CB2 3EN UK; Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL Zürcherstr 111 8903 Birmensdorf Switzerland; Department of Geography Faculty of Science Masaryk University Kotlářská 2 613 00 Brno Czech Republic

IFER Institute of Forest Ecosystem Research 254 01 Jilove u Prahy Czech Republic; Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences 603 00 Brno Czech Republic

IFER Institute of Forest Ecosystem Research 254 01 Jilove u Prahy Czech Republic; University of Greifswald Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology Soldmannstraße 15 17487 Greifswald Germany; Charles University Faculty of Science Department of Physical Geography and Geoecology Albertov 6 12843 Prague Czech Republic

National Forest Centre T G Masaryka 22 96001 Zvolen Slovakia

National Research and Development Institute for Silviculture Marin Drăcea Calea Bucovinei 76bis Câmpulung Moldovenesc 725100 Romania; Center of Mountain Economy Petreni 49 Vatra Dornei 725700 Romania

Technical University in Zvolen T G Masaryka 24 96001 Zvolen Slovakia

Technical University in Zvolen T G Masaryka 24 96001 Zvolen Slovakia; National Forest Centre T G Masaryka 22 96001 Zvolen Slovakia

Citace poskytuje Crossref.org

Sap flow and growth response of Norway spruce under long-term partial rainfall exclusion at low altitude