@article{MaesBlondeelPerringetal.2019,
  author    = {Maes, Sybryn L. and Blondeel, Haben and Perring, Michael P. and Depauw, Leen and Brumelis, Guntis and Brunet, J{\"o}rg and Decocq, Guillaume and den Ouden, Jan and Haerdtle, Werner and Hedl, Radim and Heinken, Thilo and Heinrichs, Steffi and Jaroszewicz, Bogdan and Kirby, Keith J. and Kopecky, Martin and Malis, Frantisek and Wulf, Monika and Verheyen, Kris},
  title     = {Litter quality, land-use history, and nitrogen deposition effects on topsoil conditions across European temperate deciduous forests},
  series = {Forest ecology and management},
  volume    = {433},
  journal   = {Forest ecology and management},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Amsterdam},
  issn      = {0378-1127},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.foreco.2018.10.056},
  pages     = {405 -- 418},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {Topsoil conditions in temperate forests are influenced by several soil-forming factors, such as canopy composition (e.g. through litter quality), land-use history, atmospheric deposition, and the parent material. Many studies have evaluated the effects of single factors on physicochemical topsoil conditions, but few have assessed the simultaneous effects of multiple drivers. Here, we evaluate the combined effects of litter quality, land-use history (past land cover as well as past forest management), and atmospheric deposition on several physicochemical topsoil conditions of European temperate deciduous forest soils: bulk density, proportion of exchangeable base cations, carbon/nitrogen-ratio (C/N), litter mass, bio-available and total phosphorus, pH(KCI)and soil organic matter. We collected mineral soil and litter layer samples, and measured site characteristics for 190 20 x 20 m European mixed forest plots across gradients of litter quality (derived from the canopy species composition) and atmospheric deposition, and for different categories of past land cover and past forest management. We accounted for the effects of parent material on topsoil conditions by clustering our plots into three soil type groups based on texture and carbonate concentration. We found that litter quality was a stronger driver of topsoil conditions compared to land-use history or atmospheric deposition, while the soil type also affected several topsoil conditions here. Plots with higher litter quality had soils with a higher proportion of exchangeable base cations, and total phosphorus, and lower C/N-ratios and litter mass. Furthermore, the observed litter quality effects on the topsoil were independent from the regional nitrogen deposition or the soil type, although the soil type likely (co)-determined canopy composition and thus litter quality to some extent in the investigated plots. Litter quality effects on topsoil phosphorus concentrations did interact with past land cover, highlighting the need to consider land-use history when evaluating canopy effects on soil conditions. We conclude that forest managers can use the canopy composition as an important tool for influencing topsoil conditions, although soil type remains an important factor to consider.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{MaesPerringVanhellemontetal.2018,
  author    = {Maes, Sybryn L. and Perring, Michael P. and Vanhellemont, Margot and Depauw, Leen and Van den Bulcke, Jan and Brumelis, Guntis and Brunet, Jorg and Decocq, Guillaume and den Ouden, Jan and H{\"a}rdtle, Werner and Hedl, Radim and Heinken, Thilo and Heinrichs, Steffi and Jaroszewicz, Bogdan and Kopeck{\´y}, Martin and Malis, Frantisek and Wulf, Monika and Verheyen, Kris},
  title     = {Environmental drivers interactively affect individual tree growth across temperate European forests},
  series = {Global change biology},
  volume    = {25},
  journal   = {Global change biology},
  number    = {1},
  publisher = {Wiley},
  address   = {Hoboken},
  issn      = {1354-1013},
  doi       = {10.1111/gcb.14493},
  pages     = {201 -- 217},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {Forecasting the growth of tree species to future environmental changes requires abetter understanding of its determinants. Tree growth is known to respond to global-change drivers such as climate change or atmospheric deposition, as well as to localland-use drivers such as forest management. Yet, large geographical scale studiesexamining interactive growth responses to multiple global-change drivers are relativelyscarce and rarely consider management effects. Here, we assessed the interactiveeffects of three global-change drivers (temperature, precipitation and nitrogen deposi-tion) on individual tree growth of three study species (Quercus robur/petraea, Fagus syl-vatica and Fraxinus excelsior). We sampled trees along spatial environmental gradientsacross Europe and accounted for the effects of management for Quercus. We collectedincrement cores from 267 trees distributed over 151 plots in 19 forest regions andcharacterized their neighbouring environment to take into account potentially confounding factors such as tree size, competition, soil conditions and elevation. Wedemonstrate that growth responds interactively to global-change drivers, with species -specific sensitivities to the combined factors. Simultaneously high levels of precipita-tion and deposition benefited Fraxinus, but negatively affected Quercus' growth, high-lighting species-specific interactive tree growth responses to combined drivers. ForFagus, a stronger growth response to higher temperatures was found when precipita-tion was also higher, illustrating the potential negative effects of drought stress underwarming for this species. Furthermore, we show that past forest management canmodulate the effects of changing temperatures on Quercus' growth; individuals in plotswith a coppicing history showed stronger growth responses to higher temperatures.Overall, our findings highlight how tree growth can be interactively determined by glo-bal-change drivers, and how these growth responses might be modulated by past for-est management. By showing future growth changes for scenarios of environmentalchange, we stress the importance of considering multiple drivers, including past man-agement and their interactions, when predicting tree growth.},
  language  = {en}
}