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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
Increasing drought sensitivity and decline of atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica) in the moroccan middle atlas forests
Forests, Volume 2, No. 3, Year 2011
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Description
An understanding of the interactions between climate change and forest structure on tree growth are needed for decision making in forest conservation and management. In this paper, we investigated the relative contribution of tree features and stand structure on Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica) radial growth in forests that have experienced heavy grazing and logging in the past. Dendrochronological methods were applied to quantify patterns in basal-area increment and drought sensitivity of Atlas cedar in the Middle Atlas, northern Morocco. We estimated the tree-to-tree competition intensity and quantified the structure in Atlas cedar stands with contrasting tree density, age, and decline symptoms. The relative contribution of tree age and size and stand structure to Atlas cedar growth decline was estimated by variance partitioning using partial-redundancy analyses. Recurrent drought events and temperature increases have been identified from local climate records since the 1970s. We detected consistent growth declines and increased drought sensitivity in Atlas cedar across all sites since the early 1980s. Specifically, we determined that previous growth rates and tree age were the strongest tree features, while Quercus rotundifolia basal area was the strongest stand structure measure related to Atlas cedar decline. As a result, we suggest that Atlas cedar forests that have experienced severe drought in combination with grazing and logging may be in the process of shifting dominance toward more drought-tolerant species such as Q. rotundifolia. © 2011 by the authors.
Authors & Co-Authors
Linares, J. C.
Spain, Sevilla
Universidad Pablo de Olavide, de Sevilla
Taïqui, Lahcen
Morocco, Tetouan
Faculté Des Sciences de Tétouan
Camarero, Jesús Julio
Spain, Zaragoza
Csic - Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología
Statistics
Citations: 74
Authors: 3
Affiliations: 3
Identifiers
Doi:
10.3390/f2030777
e-ISSN:
19994907
Research Areas
Environmental
Study Locations
Morocco