# Verschuren - Research Plot, Sonian Forest - FASY - ITRDB BEL001 #---------------------------------------------------- # World Data Service for Paleoclimatology, Boulder # and # NOAA Paleoclimatology Program # National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) #---------------------------------------------------- # Template Version 4.0 # Encoding: UTF-8 # NOTE: Please cite original publication, NOAA Landing Page URL, dataset and publication DOIs (where available), and date accessed when using downloaded data. If there is no publication information, please cite investigator, study title, NOAA Landing Page URL, and date accessed. # # Description/Documentation lines begin with # # Data lines have no # # # NOAA_Landing_Page: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/paleo-search/study/38421 # Landing_Page_Description: NOAA Landing Page of this file's parent study, which includes all study metadata. # # Study_Level_JSON_Metadata: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/metadata/published/paleo/json/noaa-tree-38421.json # Study_Level_JSON_Description: JSON metadata of this data file's parent study, which includes all study metadata. # # Data_Type: Tree Ring # # Dataset_DOI: # # Science_Keywords: #-------------------- # Resource_Links # # Data_Download_Resource: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/treering/measurements/europe/bel001-crn-noaa.txt # Data_Download_Description: Chronology File; Chronology - NOAA Template File # #-------------------- # Contribution_Date # Date: 2023-08-16 #-------------------- # File_Last_Modified_Date # Date: 2023-08-16 #-------------------- # Title # Study_Name: Verschuren - Research Plot, Sonian Forest - FASY - ITRDB BEL001 #-------------------- # Investigators # Investigators: Verschuren, Louis (0000-0002-3102-4588); De Mil, Tom (0000-0001-6207-9613); De Frenne, Pieter (0000-0002-8613-0943); Haneca, Kristof (0000-0002-7719-8305); Van Acker, Joris (0000-0002-8961-0176); Vandekerkhove, Kris (0000-0003-1954-692X); Van den Bulcke, Jan (0000-0003-2939-5408) #-------------------- # Description_Notes_and_Keywords # Description: #-------------------- # Publication # Authors: Verschuren, Louis; Tom De Mil; Pieter De Frenne; Kristof Haneca; Joris Van Acker; Kris Vandekerkhove; Jan Van den Bulcke # Published_Date_or_Year: 2023 # Published_Title: Heading for a fall: The fate of old wind-thrown beech trees (Fagus sylvatica) is detectable in their growth pattern # Journal_Name: Science of The Total Environment # Volume: 903 # Edition: # Issue: # Pages: # Report_Number: 166148 # DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166148 # Full_Citation: # Abstract: Common beech (Fagus sylvatica) is one of the most important deciduous tree species in European forests. However, climate-change-induced drought may threaten its dominant position. The Sonian Forest close to Brussels (Belgium) is home to some of the largest beech trees in the world. This UNESCO world heritage site is famous for its high density of very large beech trees as a result of its climatic suitability, fertile soil conditions, and past management. Here we utilized tree-ring data from increment cores to investigate the growth of these old and monumental beech trees, evaluating their growth trends, response to past climate, and the effect of mast years on 39 living and 16 recently wind-thrown trees. Our analysis reveals that the sampled trees were generally sensitive to spring and summer droughts but recovered quickly after such an extreme climatic event. The growth trend of living trees has remained high and only shows a slight, statistically insignificant, decline over the past 50 years. Although the overall growth rate remains strong (BAI 50 cm2/year), the past five decades have shown strong inter-annual growth variations due to frequent and more intense droughts combined with an increased frequency of mast years. We also found notable differences in growth patterns between the living trees and those that had recently been wind-thrown. While there were no significant differences between living and wind-thrown trees in response to droughts, heatwaves, or mast years when examining year-to-year growth changes, the wind-thrown trees did exhibit considerably lower overall growth rates and a significant downward trend in growth (BAI −0.57 cm2/year). This difference in growth trends has been apparent since at least the 1980s. Overall, the findings of this study can provide valuable insights for understanding the long-term dynamics of lowland beech forests and their responses to climate change. #-------------------- # Funding_Agency # Funding_Agency_Name: Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds (BOF) # Grant: BOF.EXP.2017.0007 #-------------------- # Funding_Agency # Funding_Agency_Name: FWO-Vlaanderen (Belgium) # Grant: G019521N #-------------------- # Site_Information # Site_Name: Joseph Zwaenepoel Forest Reserve Research Plot, Sonian Forest # Location: Belgium # Northernmost_Latitude: 50.75 # Southernmost_Latitude: 50.75 # Easternmost_Longitude: 4.42 # Westernmost_Longitude: 4.42 # Elevation_m: 113 #-------------------- # Data_Collection # Collection_Name: BEL001 # First_Year: 1774 # Last_Year: 2021 # Time_Unit: CE # Core_Length_m: # Parameter_Keywords: width # Notes: #-------------------- # Species # Species_Name: Fagus sylvatica L. # Common_Name: European beech # Tree_Species_Code: FASY #-------------------- # Variables # # PaST_Thesaurus_Download_Resource: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/paleo-search/skos/past-thesaurus.rdf # PaST_Thesaurus_Download_Description: Paleoenvironmental Standard Terms (PaST) Thesaurus terms, definitions, and relationships in SKOS format. # # Data variables follow that are preceded by '##' in columns one and two. # Variables format: shortname-tab-var components: what, material, error, units, seasonality, data type, detail, method, C or N for Character or Numeric data) # ## age_CE age,,,year Common Era,,tree ring,,,N, ## trsgi tree ring standardized growth index,,,,,tree ring,composited,standard chronology method,N, ## numsamp number of samples,,,count,,tree ring,,,N, #--------------------- # Data: # Missing_Values: NA age_CE trsgi numsamp 1774 0.922 1 1775 0.391 1 1776 0.813 2 1777 0.866 4 1778 0.748 4 1779 0.422 5 1780 0.585 6 1781 0.642 6 1782 0.795 6 1783 0.992 7 1784 0.943 7 1785 0.998 8 1786 1.095 9 1787 1.124 9 1788 0.803 10 1789 0.855 10 1790 1.195 10 1791 1.073 10 1792 1.092 12 1793 0.991 12 1794 0.926 12 1795 0.844 14 1796 1.291 16 1797 1.218 17 1798 1.317 20 1799 0.641 21 1800 0.995 22 1801 1.052 22 1802 0.363 23 1803 0.914 24 1804 1.32 24 1805 1.047 25 1806 1.029 25 1807 1.269 25 1808 1.255 26 1809 1.18 26 1810 1.075 27 1811 1.147 28 1812 0.918 28 1813 1.031 28 1814 0.894 28 1815 0.532 28 1816 0.736 29 1817 1.053 29 1818 0.975 29 1819 0.931 30 1820 0.812 30 1821 0.982 30 1822 0.918 31 1823 0.879 32 1824 1.012 32 1825 1.033 32 1826 1.054 32 1827 1.05 32 1828 1.184 32 1829 1.153 32 1830 1.091 32 1831 0.923 32 1832 0.913 33 1833 0.968 33 1834 1.159 33 1835 0.954 33 1836 1.021 33 1837 1.154 33 1838 0.843 33 1839 0.923 33 1840 0.917 33 1841 0.679 34 1842 0.917 34 1843 0.848 34 1844 0.938 34 1845 0.931 34 1846 0.997 34 1847 0.872 34 1848 1.168 35 1849 1.178 35 1850 1.096 35 1851 1.257 35 1852 1.019 35 1853 1.079 36 1854 0.985 36 1855 1.104 37 1856 1.015 38 1857 0.739 38 1858 0.614 38 1859 1.08 38 1860 1.113 38 1861 1.229 38 1862 0.992 38 1863 1.202 38 1864 0.949 38 1865 0.588 38 1866 0.779 38 1867 1.073 38 1868 0.794 38 1869 0.956 38 1870 1.001 38 1871 1.212 38 1872 1.144 38 1873 1.092 38 1874 1.013 38 1875 1.193 38 1876 1.032 38 1877 0.613 38 1878 0.964 38 1879 1.057 38 1880 0.881 38 1881 0.84 38 1882 1.059 38 1883 1.039 38 1884 1.006 38 1885 0.919 38 1886 1.063 38 1887 1.028 38 1888 0.758 38 1889 0.817 38 1890 0.814 38 1891 0.785 38 1892 0.873 38 1893 0.753 38 1894 1.044 38 1895 1.26 38 1896 0.862 38 1897 1.117 38 1898 1.159 38 1899 1.213 38 1900 0.771 38 1901 0.99 38 1902 1.077 38 1903 1.087 38 1904 1.156 38 1905 1.242 38 1906 1.201 38 1907 1.249 38 1908 1.035 38 1909 0.631 38 1910 0.702 38 1911 1.04 38 1912 0.999 38 1913 1.042 38 1914 1.105 38 1915 0.952 38 1916 1.103 38 1917 0.927 38 1918 0.775 38 1919 0.799 38 1920 0.981 38 1921 0.858 38 1922 0.845 38 1923 0.863 38 1924 0.86 38 1925 1.009 38 1926 1.044 38 1927 1.092 38 1928 1.043 38 1929 1.088 38 1930 1.024 38 1931 1.232 38 1932 1.022 38 1933 1.143 38 1934 0.945 39 1935 0.962 39 1936 1.071 39 1937 0.957 39 1938 0.923 39 1939 1.07 39 1940 0.989 39 1941 1.015 39 1942 0.895 39 1943 1.21 39 1944 0.618 39 1945 0.818 39 1946 0.912 39 1947 0.956 39 1948 0.501 39 1949 0.845 39 1950 1.155 39 1951 1.193 39 1952 1.129 39 1953 1.259 39 1954 1.141 39 1955 1.31 39 1956 0.937 39 1957 0.895 39 1958 0.993 39 1959 0.81 39 1960 0.691 39 1961 0.936 39 1962 1.183 39 1963 0.977 39 1964 1.01 39 1965 1.186 39 1966 1.095 39 1967 1.139 39 1968 1.012 39 1969 0.953 39 1970 0.869 39 1971 1.011 39 1972 0.972 39 1973 1.123 39 1974 0.954 39 1975 1.103 39 1976 0.48 39 1977 0.727 39 1978 1.059 39 1979 0.865 39 1980 0.724 39 1981 0.942 39 1982 1.172 39 1983 1.047 39 1984 1.291 39 1985 1.233 39 1986 0.577 39 1987 0.855 39 1988 1.24 39 1989 1.009 39 1990 0.653 39 1991 0.987 39 1992 1.066 39 1993 1.484 39 1994 1.686 39 1995 0.793 39 1996 0.57 39 1997 0.881 39 1998 0.941 39 1999 1.297 39 2000 0.617 39 2001 1.117 39 2002 0.679 39 2003 1.193 39 2004 0.575 39 2005 0.8 39 2006 0.733 39 2007 1.158 39 2008 1.471 39 2009 1.072 39 2010 1.138 39 2011 0.556 39 2012 1.015 39 2013 0.887 39 2014 1.082 39 2015 1.388 39 2016 0.69 39 2017 0.831 38 2018 0.678 34 2019 1.212 34 2020 0.905 34 2021 1.301 34