Open AccessSlow Growth Leads to Longevity in Temperate Hardwoods
Author(s) -
Piovesan Gianluca,
Biondi Franco,
Baliva Michele,
De Vivo Giuseppe,
Marchianò Vittoria,
Schettino Aldo,
Di Filippo Alfredo
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
the bulletin of the ecological society of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2327-6096
pISSN - 0012-9623
DOI - 10.1002/bes2.1560
Subject(s) - longevity , temperate climate , beech , biology , ecology , forestry , geography , genetics
Discovering, studying, and preserving old trees is a top priority for conserva-tion biology. We used tree- ring data from a high- mountain old- growth beech for-est to reconstruct long- term growth patterns in trees of maximum longevity for temperate hardwoods. In these stands, individual growth history is highly variable; one tree can take from one to seven centuries to reach a large size (>60 cm dbh). Slow but overall increasing long- term growth was found to be a prerequisite for extreme tree longevity. Growth suppression in early stages of life, together with limiting climatic conditions, also contributed to reaching maximum stem ages in these Mediterranean mountain environments.