DOI: 10.5061/dryad.v15dv422r
title: Climate change accelerates ecosystem restoration in the mountain forests of Central Europe

description: Restoring degraded forest ecosystems is an important element in the
 ongoing challenge to sustain the integrity and functioning of the
 biosphere. However, the evaluation of restoration success is hampered by
 long lead times of management measures in forests. Moreover, forest change
 is accelerating in the absence of management because of ongoing climate
 change. Yet, because a counterfactual is frequently missing, it remains
 unclear whether restoration measures are aided or impeded by climate
 change.  Here, we analyzed the pace and success of forest
 restoration under climate change, combining field data and simulation
 modelling. We focused on the management zone of Berchtesgaden National
 Park (BGNP), Germany, where restoration aims to restore homogeneous Norway
 spruce (Picea abies) forests to structurally diverse mixed mountain
 forests. We evaluated three alternative restoration strategies: Two active
 strategies focused on planting the currently underrepresented silver fir
 (Abies alba) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica) but differing in the
 creation of gap-cuts, and a third passive restoration strategy without
 interventions. Strategies were simulated with the forest landscape model
 iLand from 2020 to 2100 under different climate scenarios (historic, RCP
 2.6, 4.5, and 8.5). The forests of BGNP developed into structurally
 diverse and mixed forests under all evaluated management strategies, and
 differences between active and passive restoration were generally small.
 While restoration goals for forest structure were largely met by 2100,
 forest composition remained far from target in all strategies. Climate
 change aided restoration by significantly increasing the prevalence of
 silver fir and European beech (+104.2 % to +258.6 %). Field data on
 short-term restoration effects were in line with simulated long-term
 trajectories. Synthesis and applications. We here show that forest
 restoration efforts in Central European mountain forests will likely be
 accelerated by climate change. Nonetheless, the slow pace of restoration
 underscores the need for taking action. Our study highlights that active
 restoration measures such as tree planting can bring the system closer to
 restoration targets. However, it also demonstrates that passive
 restoration (no intervention) is a viable option for management,
 highlighting the need to evaluate restoration measures against the
 counterfactual of a no-intervention strategy.
description: # Climate change accelerates ecosystem restoration in the mountain forests
 of Central Europe
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.v15dv422r](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.v15dv422r) The data from "fieldData" was collected in field experiments to measure the short-term restoration effects. The data from "simulationData" was simulated using the forst simulation model iLand (https://iland-model.org) to illuminate the long-term restoration effects. ## Description of the data and file structure **fieldData**: for each sampled plot, the tree species found in the regeneration layer were recorded | column | description | | | ------ | ----------- | --- | | plot | plot identifier | | treatment | "No Intervention": control sample of passive restoration; "With Intervention": active restoration | | species | observed tree species; "Bah" = Acer pseudoplatanus; "Bi" = Betula pendula; "Bu" = Fagus sylvatica; "BUlm" = Ulmus glabra; "Eibe" = Taxus baccata; "Erle" = Alnus glutinosa; "Esche" = Fraxinus excelsior; "Fi" = Picea abies; "Lä" = Larix decidua; "Mehlbeere" = Sorbus aria; "Salweide" = Salix caprea; "Hasel" = Corylus avellana; "Ta" = Abies alba; "Vogelb." = Sorbus aucuparia; "Zitterpappel" = Populus tremula | | scenario | data collection stratum; "reactive": regeneration in windthrow patches with and without planting; "proactive": regeneration in mature Norway spruce stands treated with gap cuts relative to those without intervention | **simulationData**: for each simulation multiple outputs about forest composition and structure as well as simulated management interventions were generated Since the outputs about forest composition and structure for the 120 simulation runs are each \~200-250 MB in size, only one is uploaded as an example. The other files can be requested from the corresponding author, Christina Dollinger. 1\. output\_AG \(\.csv\, n=40\) | column | description | | ------ | ----------- | | year | simulation year (1-80) | | id | ID of the Ressource Unit where an artifical gap had been created in the specific simulation year | | nTrees | Number of trees cut in the 50x40 m artificial gap | 2\. output\_DG \(\.csv\, n=80\) | column | description | | ------ | ----------- | | year | simulation year (1-80) | | threshold | fixed threshold (0.2); minimum proportion of trees that needed to killed by bark beetles or wind in a continuous patch of 1,600 m² for it to be considered a disturbance patch  | | id | ID of the Ressource Unit where a disturbance patch had been identified in the specific simulation year | 3\. output \(\.sqlite\, n=120\, only 1 uploaded here\) | table | description | | ----- | ----------- | | barkbeetle | [https://iland-model.org/barkbeetle+module#BarkBeetle_module_output](https://iland-model.org/barkbeetle+module#BarkBeetle_module_output) | | dynamicstand | [https://iland-model.org/Outputs?highlight=basal+area#dynamic_stand_output_by_species_RU](https://iland-model.org/Outputs?highlight=basal+area#dynamic_stand_output_by_species_RU) | | landscape | [https://iland-model.org/Outputs?highlight=basal+area#Landscape_aggregates_per_species](https://iland-model.org/Outputs?highlight=basal+area#Landscape_aggregates_per_species) | | landscape\_removed | [https://iland-model.org/Outputs?highlight=basal+area#Aggregates_of_removed_trees_due_to_death_harvest_and_disturbances_per_species](https://iland-model.org/Outputs?highlight=basal+area#Aggregates_of_removed_trees_due_to_death_harvest_and_disturbances_per_species) | | runinfo | timestamp when the simulation was started, and iLand version information | | stand | [https://iland-model.org/Outputs?highlight=basal+area#Stand_by_species_RU](https://iland-model.org/Outputs?highlight=basal+area#Stand_by_species_RU) | | wind | [https://iland-model.org/wind+module#Wind_disturbance_module_output](https://iland-model.org/wind+module#Wind_disturbance_module_output) | ## Code/Software Data preparation as well as all analyses were done using the R project for statistical computing version 4.0.5 (R Core Team, 2021).