Changes in tree-ring wood density of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.), silver fir (Abies alba Mill.), and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) in European mountain forests between 1901 and 2016

Key message

We found a significant increase in the latewood density of European beech, and a decrease in the latewood and mean wood density of silver fir and Norway spruce in European mountain forests over the period 1901–2016. In the past century, drought did not directly influence the wood density trend of the three studied species. However, for both fir and spruce, drought indirectly affected the mean wood density via changes in the latewood to earlywood ratio, i.e., in the case of extreme drought, trees with high values of latewood to earlywood ratio experienced a slight attenuation in the declining trend of their mean wood density.

Keywords
Dendrochronology,Latewood to earlywood ratio,Drought, LIGNOSTATION™, Linear mixed-effects model

Publication
Torresan, C., Hilmers, T., Avdagić, A. et al. Changes in tree-ring wood density of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.), silver fir (Abies alba Mill.), and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) in European mountain forests between 1901 and 2016. Annals of Forest Science 81, 49 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13595-024-01264-5

Data and/or Code availability
The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are available in ETH Zurich Research Collection (Torresan et al., 2024) at this permanent link https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000642511.
The custom code and/or software application generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Handling Editor
Cyrille Rathgeber