The presence of shade-intolerant conifers facilitates the regeneration of Quercus petraea in mixed stands

International audiencePositive productivity-diversity relationships, pest-effect mitigation and increased resilience and stability maintain an ongoing interest for mixed stands in forestry. However, how mixing species affects forest regeneration is yet to be further explored.We used data from the French National Forest Inventory (from 2006 to 2016) to model Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl regeneration cover in pure and mixed Quercus petraea stands; we included the effects of abiotic and biotic factors as well as mixture. We hypothesized that the characteristics of the companion species would prevent or facilitate the regeneration of oak.Quercus petraea regeneration cover in this study responded negatively to total canopy cover and herbivory pressure. Mean July potential evapotranspiration (PET), mean December maximal temperature and soil pH are variables whose spatial variations over a given territory structure regeneration cover; all three of these variables have optimum values. Quercus petraea regeneration cover is linked to the proportion of Quercus petraea in the canopy layer in all mixed stands, except when the oak is mixed with shade-intolerant conifers: in this case, Quercus petraea regeneration is enhanced. The shade tolerance of admixed broadleaved species did not affect the Quercus petraea regeneration. This suggests that oak regeneration was facilitated with a shade-intolerant coniferous companion species due to better light transmittance through the crown or the competitive advantage of Quercus petraea over coniferous shade-intolerant species.These results are of interest for oak mixtures since Quercus petraea regeneration cover benefits from mixtures with shade-intolerant conifers and is at least equal to that of pure stands

Microclimate, an important part of ecology and biogeography

Brief introduction: What are microclimates and why are they important?: Microclimate science has developed into a global discipline. Microclimate science is increasingly used to understand and mitigate climate and biodiversity shifts. Here, we provide an overview of the current status of microclimate ecology and biogeography in terrestrial ecosystems, and where this field is heading next. Microclimate investigations in ecology and biogeography: We highlight the latest research on interactions between microclimates and organisms, including how microclimates influence individuals, and through them populations, communities and entire ecosystems and their processes. We also briefly discuss recent research on how organisms shape microclimates from the tropics to the poles. Microclimate applications in ecosystem management: Microclimates are also important in ecosystem management under climate change. We showcase new research in microclimate management with examples from biodiversity conservation, forestry and urban ecology. We discuss the importance of microrefugia in conservation and how to promote microclimate heterogeneity. Methods for microclimate science: We showcase the recent advances in data acquisition, such as novel field sensors and remote sensing methods. We discuss microclimate modelling, mapping and data processing, including accessibility of modelling tools, advantages of mechanistic and statistical modelling and solutions for computational challenges that have pushed the state‐of‐the‐art of the field. What's next?: We identify major knowledge gaps that need to be filled for further advancing microclimate investigations, applications and methods. These gaps include spatiotemporal scaling of microclimate data, mismatches between macroclimate and microclimate in predicting responses of organisms to climate change, and the need for more evidence on the outcomes of microclimate management

Microclimate, an inseparable part of ecology and biogeography

Abstract Microclimate science has developed into a global discipline. Microclimate science is increasingly used to understand and mitigate climate and biodiversity shifts. Here, we provide an overview of the current status of microclimate ecology and biogeography, and where this field is heading next. We showcase the recent advances in data acquisition, such as novel field sensors and remote sensing methods. We discuss microclimate modelling, mapping, and data processing, including accessibility of modelling tools, advantages of mechanistic and statistical modelling, and solutions for computational challenges that have pushed the state-of-the-art of the field. We highlight the latest research on interactions between microclimate and organisms, including how microclimate influences individuals, and through them populations, communities, and entire ecosystems and their processes. We also briefly discuss recent research on how organisms shape microclimate from the tropics to the poles. Microclimates are also important in ecosystem management under climate change. We showcase new research in microclimate management with examples from biodiversity conservation, forestry, and urban ecology. We discuss the importance of microrefugia in conservation and how to promote microclimate heterogeneity. We identify major knowledge gaps that need to be filled for further advancing microclimate methods, investigations, and applications. These gaps include spatiotemporal scaling of microclimate data, mismatches between macroclimate and microclimate in predicting responses of organisms to climate change, and the need for more evidence on the outcomes of microclimate management. &nbsp; Biosketch The authors are participants of the Microclimate Ecology and Biogeography conference held in Antwerp, Belgium in 2022. Together they collaboratively wrote this perspective paper that brings together 97 experts and their views on the recent advancements and knowledge gaps in terrestrial microclimate. The paper was coordinated by Julia Kemppinen, Jonas Lembrechts, Koenraad Van Meerbeek, and Pieter De Frenne, and writing different sections was led by Jofre Carnicer, Nathalie Chardon, Paul Kardol, Jonathan Lenoir, Daijun Liu, Ilya Maclean, Jan Pergl, Patrick Saccone, Rebecca Senior, Ting Shen, Sandra Słowińska, Vigdis Vandvik, and Jonathan von Oppen. For more details on authors statistics and how the work was organised, please see Supplementary information Figures S1-3.</p