Research projects
Ongoing projects:
ArchaeoTin: Archeology in World Heritage – Tin mining landscapes
The Chair of Forest Growth is a partner in the cross-border German-Czech project »ArchaeoTin«, in which six partner institutions from the Czech Republic, Bavaria and Saxony are systematically researching tin mining in the Ore Mountains from the beginning of the Bronze Age to modern times. The lead partner is the Saxony State Office for Archeology (LfA), with which the Chair has signed a cooperation agreement in 2021. Initial investigations by the LfA indicated that tin was already being mined in the Ore Mountains at the beginning of the Bronze Age. In addition to the extraction, preparation and processing of the ores, the project will also investigate the social and ecological effects of 4000 years of mining in the Ore Mountains. The results of the interdisciplinary investigations will be presented to the general public as a traveling multimedia exhibition in the UNESCO World Heritage Montanregion Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří.
Our Chair will focus on landscape-historical questions and will study in particular the historical forest development. This development will be reconstructed on the basis of systematic investigations of historical charcoal kilns in selected study areas. In addition, we will perform dendrochronological and anthracological investigations for the project partners. With the collected tree-ring data, tree-ring chronologies for Saxony will be improved.
The ArchaeoTin project is funded with 3.5 million euros by the Interreg Saxony - Czech Republic 2021-2027 program of the European Regional Development Fund (EFRE).
Project staff: Grit Neubauer, Henriette Schmidt
Cooperating partners: Landesamt für Archäologie Sachsen (project coordinator), Institut für archäologische Denkmalpflege Nordwestböhmen (UAPP), Stadtverwaltung Ehrenfriedersdorf, Regionalmuseum Teplice, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU), Institut für Vor- und Frühgeschichtliche Archäologie und Provinzialrömische Archäologie, Masaryk Universität Brno, Institut für Archäologie und Museologie
Funding: Interreg Sachsen – Tschechien 2021-2027
Duration: 07.2023-06.2026
MultiRiskSuit: multi-criteria suitability recommendations, estimating climate change-induced mortality and growth risks, and assessing tree species suitability in Germany
The Chair of Forest Growth collaborates with Landesforst Mecklenburg-Vorpommern within the Germany-wide research project »MultiRiskSuit«. The project aims to improve multi-criteria suitability recommendations, estimate climate change-induced mortality and growth risks, and assess tree species suitability in Germany. The primary objective is to evaluate tree species recommendations of the individual federal states for the following forest-relevant tree species: Common hornbeam, European beech, pedunculate/sessile oak, silver birch, sycamore maple, European larch, Norway spruce, silver fir and Scots pine.
Various modeling approaches are used to come up with federal state-specific tree species recommendations. To compare the different approaches, the models are used at a larger scale across the sample networks of the Federal State Survey (BZE), National Forest Inventory (BWI), and Forest State Survey (WZE), as well as at finer resolution in so-called "neighborhood regions" to investigate disparities in the approaches. Finally, the MultiRiskSuit-Project will examine the future viability of the tree species for a near (2021-2050) and a distant (2071-20100) future horizon using the models and their comparison.
Our Chair is involved in the sub-project 04, "Modeling mistletoe spread in Scots pine and growth stability of the main tree species throughout Europe." The main objectives are to: (1) further develop a tree-ring based model to explore the growth sensitivity of tree species across Europe, (2) apply a mistletoe model to estimate the spread of mistletoe as a recent pest to pine trees, and (3) to assess the suitability of tree species in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Project staff: Konstantin Weise
Cooperating partners: MultiRiskSuit-consortium
Funding: BMEL, BMUV
Duration: 11.2022-10.2027
Growth and drought stress tolerance of selected provenances of Northern Red Oak in German provenance trials
Northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.) is a potential alternative tree species for German forests, as it may better cope with future climate conditions than existing tree species. Using dendroecological methods and inventory data, the growth and climate sensitivity of red oak provenances growing on three provenance trials in Germany will be investigated. Besides ring width, wood anatomical measurements will be performed to quantify the drought stress tolerance of red oaks from different origin.
Project staff: Jonathan Kormann
Cooperating partner: Thünen Institut
Duration: 04.2022-03.2025
BucheTIG - Subproject 2: Phenotypic plasticity and genetic adaptation in provenance trials of European beech along an environmental gradient
As one of the major broadleaved tree species in Central Europe, European beech has a high economic and ecological value. At the same time, potential impacts of climate change and the ability of the species to adapt to changing environmental conditions have not been adequately studied. Knowledge on adaptive responses and potential to climate change, however, would allow for an assessment of climate-related risks to beech forests. Further, active support measures may be formulated to improve the climate stability of beech forests, and thus to secure the economic and ecological performance of the species. The aim of the project, which is part of the joint research project “Research focus genetics and dendroecology of European beech – drought stress, in-vitro culture and genomics (BucheTIG)” funded by the FNR as part of the Forest Climate Fund, is to assess the drought stress tolerance of selected beech provenances under contrasting environmental conditions using tree-ring-based and plant-ecological methods.
Project staff: Lucrezia Unterholzner, Juliane Stolz, Elham Elzami
Cooperating partners: Thünen Institut (project coordination), Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Funding: BMEL, BMUV
Duration: 03.2022-03.2025
Finished projects:
Allometric relationships of young deciduous trees
In forest-conversion stands in northern Saxony, the growth of young sessile oak and common beech under a shelter of Scots pine will be analyzed. Relationships between growth variables and competition will be reconstructed and modeled at the individual-tree level. The project aims to improve biomass estimation for these increasingly important forest stands, allowing better predictions of forest growth simulators. In addition, indirect estimates of leaf area index, a major input parameter of forest hydrological models, will be explored.
Project staff: Hans Küchenmeister
Cooperating partner: Forschungsinstitut für Bergbaufolgelandschaften e.V.
Funding: Sachsenforst
Duration: 01.2020-12.2023
ForeSight: Predicting and monitoring drought-linked forest growth decline across Europe
For predicting future effects of climate change on growth and mortality of European forests, this project combines retrospective tree-ring analyses with the latest process-based modeling techniques. In addition, a satellite-based monitoring system of forest condition will be developed, ultimately enabling the identification of future growth decline well before it can be detected from field-based observations. Results of the project will support regional adaptation of the forest sector to climate change.
Contact: Marieke van der Maaten-Theunissen
Cooperating partners: University of Stirling (project coordination), Durham University, Forest Research, TU Munich
Funding: NERC
Duration: 06.2019-05.2023
BuVit: Beech dieback after the 2018/2019 drought
The extremely hot and dry weather conditions in the years 2018/2019 have had a strong negative impact on the growth and vitality of European beech in Germany, locally resulting in tree dieback. Based on dendroecological and genetic analyses in beech stands in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Thuringia and Brandenburg, the BuVit-project will decipher the causes of tree vitality loss and dieback. Furthermore, recommendations for forest management will be formulated.
Cooperating partners: Landesforst Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Landesbetrieb Forst Brandenburg, ThüringenForst, Hainich National Park
Funding: Landesforst Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Duration: 05.2020-12.2022
I-MAESTRO: Innovative forest management strategies for a resilient bioeconomy under climate change and disturbances
Climate change will modify forest dynamics by direct (precipitation, temperature) and indirect (disturbances) effects, which will influence productivity and other ecosystem services. Disturbances are key factors as they could intensify in the future. This project aims at improving our knowledge about resistance to disturbances and recovery processes in forest ecosystems. For this purpose forest growth models are used to analyze the impacts of disturbance, management and climate change scenarios on ecosystem services at multiple spatial scales. A detailed project description can be found here.
Project staff: Mats Nieberg
Cooperating partners: PIK Potsdam, INRAE Grenoble, EFI Bonn, University of Agriculture Krakow, University of Ljubljana
Funding: BMEL, EU Horizon 2020
Duration: 06.2019-09.2022
Assessing impacts of global change on forests in Mecklenburg-Pommerania
This project focuses on effects of global change on the growth and vitality of forests in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Growth of Scots pine and European beech is studied on 56 permanent monitoring sites (BDF-F) of the state forestry service 'Landesforst MV', which cover a precipitation gradient over the entire federal state as well as all important climatic areas and geological strata. Specifically, relationships between tree growth, soil parameters, climate conditions, atmospheric deposition and crown condition will be analyzed.
Project staff: Juliane Stolz
Cooperating partner: Landesforst Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Funding: TU Dresden, Eva Mayr-Stihl Stiftung
Duration: 09.2018-08.2022