The Swiss voice in the world since 1935

Climate change will hit beech forests hard

Warming will hit beech trees hard
Warming will hit beech trees hard Keystone-SDA

The future of beech in Europe does not look bright. It will be severely affected by climate change, according to a new study by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL).

Between 2004 and 2005, two research teams published two major studies on the future of beech. One predicted a bleak future for this species due to climate change. The other warned against alarmism and assured beech of its great capacity to adapt.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

Scientists at the WSL Institute examined both studies in the light of new data. Twenty years on, they conclude that the gloomy predictions are likely to come true.

“The predominance of beech and the amount of land it occupies will be reduced, not only on marginal sites where conditions are already no longer optimal, but also in large parts of its Central European range,” explains Arthur Gessler, WSL researcher and lead author of the new study.

More

More

My best friend, the forest

This content was published on More people than ever are regularly going into the forest in Switzerland, a conflict zone between humans and nature.

Read more: My best friend, the forest

In particular, the species will suffer from increasingly extreme drought years. “Drought can lead to partial crown dieback, which often means the death of the tree the following year”, adds the specialist, quoted in a WSL press release on Wednesday.

According to him, not only has the quality of the data improved significantly, but the effects of climate change on beech forests and forests in general are much more tangible today than they were twenty years ago.

Extreme years

“The extreme years of 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022 and to some extent 2023 have caused massive, visible damage to trees, which foreshadows further developments,” comments Gessler.

In concrete terms, this means that the trees will no longer be able to ensure the natural regeneration of their stands and that they will be highly vulnerable to extreme events, which could lead to large-scale dieback and then the complete disappearance of this species due to lack of succession.

From today’s point of view, there is no doubt that beech will suffer even if CO2 emissions are significantly reduced, according to the authors. For forests to be ready for the future, heat- and drought-tolerant species such as oak should be introduced into the stands.

Structural and species diversity, as well as genetic diversity in beech, could also help. This work is published in the journal Allgemeine Forst- und Jagdzeitung.

Adapted from French by DeepL/ac

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

F/A-18 take-offs and landings at Bern-Belp Airport

More

F/A-18s take off and land at Bern Airport

This content was published on The Swiss Armed Forces are training their fighter jets in Bern to fly from a civilian base. The exercise at Bern Airport will last until Wednesday.

Read more: F/A-18s take off and land at Bern Airport
cern

More

Plans materialise for new particle accelerator in Geneva

This content was published on Preparations for a huge new particle accelerator in Geneva have reached a milestone. After several years of work, a feasibility study for the project has now been finalised.

Read more: Plans materialise for new particle accelerator in Geneva
More Russian assets frozen in Switzerland

More

More Russian assets frozen in Switzerland

This content was published on The value of frozen Russian assets in Switzerland currently stands at CHF7.4 billion ($8.4 billion), the Swiss government announced on Tuesday.

Read more: More Russian assets frozen in Switzerland
Increase in business start-ups in the 1st quarter

More

Increase in Swiss business start-ups in Q1

This content was published on The number of business start-ups in Switzerland accelerated in the first three months of the year, with entrepreneurs being particularly dynamic in Central Switzerland, Basel and Geneva.

Read more: Increase in Swiss business start-ups in Q1

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR