Spruce suffers from drought at low elevations in the Carpathians

Andrei Popa, a visiting researcher at our group in 2023, published a study on drought resilience in Norway spruce in the Eastern Carpathians in Forest Ecology and Management. Based on a tree-ring network from 158 sites, it was found that spruce suffers most from drought at low elevations, while recovering quick. Further, older trees were found to need more time to recover. Lastly, drought resilience decreased with water deficit, overall suggesting that Norway spruce is at risk in the Carpathians with ongoing climate change, and urging the need for adaptative forest management.
Marieke van der Maaten-Theunissen and Ernst van der Maaten co-authored the study.