![]() While considered coppicing a severe disturbance event, showed only a mild effect of felling, which increased the growth of the remaining standard trees by 20% for about 7 to 9 years. We found only a few studies, which demonstrated varying levels of success. The effects of past coppicing events on the dynamics of standard tree-ring increment remain little explored. Rubino & McCarthy reviewed 28 different release identification methods, and few more techniques appeared since (e.g. In the last decades, a relatively large number of methods has been developed for release detection, which differ in pre-determined criteria and thus in the accuracy of detected releases as well as in the length of disturbance return intervals. The sudden reduction of competition for light and nutrients in coppiced stands causes immediate growth release in standards. abrupt increases in radial tree growth) represents one of the fundamental approaches to assess the history of forest disturbance, both natural and human-driven. Dendrochronology is widely used in archaeology to reconstruct past human activities and woodland management. Tree-rings have proven to be a useful tool in documenting past forest management, especially in the case of missing historical records. Many coppiced forests as well as other cultural landscapes created by traditional management have been recognized to hold high conservation value. Nevertheless, its legacy can still be traced in coppice forest remnants–decaying coppice stools and standards left in overgrown coppices. Due to the use of fossil fuels and transition to modern (mostly high-forest) forestry, coppicing management virtually disappeared from most of Europe, including the Czech Republic, by the second half of the 20th century. ![]() The coppice cycle in Central Europe changed from 7 years in medieval times to 30–40 years in the 20th century. Such cyclic changes affect the growth dynamics of standards. For the coppiced underwood, growth increases for a short period after cutting (depending on the species and the site conditions), when the underwood canopy closes again. After felling, insolation suddenly increases, influencing microclimate (soil temperature, moisture), evaporation, transpiration and the nutrient pool. This has a profound impact on forest structure and function. Coppicing has a much higher disturbance frequency compared to high-forest management because of the much shorter cutting cycle. This form of management is referred to as coppice-with-standards. Coppicing was often combined with standards (individual trees originating from seed and left to grow mature), providing building material. ![]() In coppice forests, shoots resprouting from stumps (coppice stools) are felled repeatedly at short intervals, providing a regular supply of firewood. A dendro-ecological approach to the study of forest management history can serve as an input for current attempts of coppice reintroduction and for conservation purposes.įor centuries, coppice management was common in European lowland forests. ![]() The ability of individual trees to mirror past coppice events was significantly affected by competition from neighboring trees (their number and the sum of distance-weighted basal areas). The overall probability of correct detection (positive predictive power) was 58%, ranging from 50 to 67%, probability for major releases was 78%, ranging from 63 to 100% for different sites. Large number of releases could be related to historical records, with the major ones giving better results. Altogether 241 releases were identified (49% of major releases). Our results showed that coppicing events can be successfully detected by tree-ring analysis, although there are some limitations. The evaluation was based on the analysis of growth releases representing the response of the standards to coppicing events, and comparison to the archival records of coppice events. The study was carried out on 117 oak standard trees from five sites situated in formerly coppiced calcareous oak-hornbeam and acidophilous oak forests in the Bohemian Karst Protected Landscape Area, Czech Republic. ![]() Our research aims at answering the question whether tree-ring series of standard trees can be used to reconstruct past management practices. Although this silvicultural system virtually disappeared after WWII, historical management cycles can still be traced in the tree-rings of remaining standards. After the underwood was harvested, the forest canopy opened rapidly, giving standard trees an opportunity to benefit from reduced competition. In coppice-with-standards, once a common type of management in Central European lowland forests, selected trees (standards) were left to grow mature among the regularly harvested coppice stools to obtain construction wood. ![]()
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