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Identification of the decline of individual trees due to the impact of drought using a database (Defoliation) as a „health card“ of previous events
Češljar, Goran
Đorđević, Ilija
Rakonjac, Ljubinko
Hadrović, Sabahudin
Eremija, Saša
Long-term droughts have long been proven to have a major negative impact on individual trees and entire forest ecosystems. One of the first signs of these impacts is seen as an increase in defoliation. Defoliation, as a term referring to missing leaf mass, aims to indicate changes in tree metabolism, which over time can prove to be an excellent „health card“ of a tree. By looking at the chronology (database), we can accurately determine the „trigger“, i.e. time of onset of increased defoliation through follow-up years. By continuously monitoring certain trees, we saw the appearance of three different groups of defoliation and classified them all into the category with the final result of decline due to the impact of drought. Group I - Defoliation that gradually increased during the drought, and after a few years that decline occurred. Group II - Defoliation as a sudden phenomenon with complete loss of assimilation organs and the final outcome of decline. Group III - Defoliation in trees that for many years had higher percentages of defoliation and after a number of years stimulated by drought, decline occurred. These three groups of recorded defoliations are intended to show the different effects of the dry period on the trees. Each tree is an individual by itself and most often reacts in relation to its current condition, which in the drought period usually refers to the inability to absorb the necessary water from the soil. If the final result of decline, regardless of the separated group, occurs in the same time interval, we can come to the conclusion that the drought was the one that started and ended this phenomenon. Also, if a large number of decline trees (defoliation 100%) is registered during or after recorded extreme climatic events, then this is another excellent indicator of the effect of drought on defoliation and the ultimate cause of decline. Therefore, continuous monitoring of defoliation can be a key tool for understanding the processes occurring in forest ecosystems.
engleski
2024
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