Title
Assessment of Drought-Tolerant Provenances of Austria’s Indigenous Tree Species
Author
Gerhard Karrer
Department of Integrative Biology and Biodiversity, University of Natural Resources and Life Science Vienna
Gabriele Bassler-Binder
Department of Integrative Biology and Biodiversity, University of Natural Resources and Life Science Vienna
Abstract
(1) Background: Forestry will have to react to climate change because many tree species suffer. Mitigation can be realized either by planting non-native trees from regions with high climatic stress or by utilizing native tree provenances already adapted to stressful environments. Non-native trees have often generated problems in the past due to uncontrolled invasiveness. The use of native trees pre-adapted to the prospective climatic conditions is far less risky for the respective ecosystems. We offer a tool for selecting ecotypes of native trees as provenances for future forestry. (2) Methods: We propose the selection of tree species native to Middle Europe from a database of vegetation relevés of ± natural forest stands. By calculating the mean ecological indicator values of stands from their vegetation, cover sites can be elected that can provide seeds of provenances well adapted to future climatic conditions. (3) Results: By selecting the 10% partition of the most extreme stands of European tree species, seeds can be sampled and propagated for re-cultivating forests fit for future climate. (4) Conclusions: One can expect ecotypes of tree species that grow well on dry sites, since generations have faced evolutionary selection, for survival under stressful environments. This approach helps to avoid ecological risks of non-native trees.
Keywords
ecological indicator valuesdrought resistancenative treesCentral Europetree breedingforestryclimate change
Object type
Language
English [eng]
Persistent identifier
phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1680255
Appeared in
Title
Sustainability
Volume
14
Issue
5
ISSN
2071-1050
Issued
2022
Publication
MDPI AG
Version type
Date issued
2022
Access rights
Rights
Rights statement
© 2022 by the authors
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