| Title: |
Drivers of seedling emergence and early growth of 12 European oak species : Results from a cross-continental experiment |
| Authors: |
Leverkus, Alexandro B.; Medina, María; Lázaro-González, Alba; Levy, Laura; Lorente-Casalini, Olivia; Reyes Martín, Marino P.; Andivia, Enrique; Bizzarri, Alessandro; Böhlenius, Henrik; Cambria, Vito E.; Cocozza, Claudia; Cvjetković, Branislav; de Dato, Giovanbattista; Ehrenbergerová, Lenka; Ferus, Peter; Gómez-Aparicio, Lorena; Hampe, Arndt; Hanssen, Kjersti Holt; Jakubowski, Marcin; Kerkez Janković, Ivona; Klisz, Marcin; Kowalkowski, Wojciech; Kremer, Klaus; Lazarevic, Jelena; Lazdiņa, Dagnija; Lingua, Emanuele; Löf, Magnus; Lucas-Borja, Manuel E.; Łukowski, Adrian; Maia, Paula; Mairota, Paola; Maltoni, Alberto; Mariotti, Barbara; Marzano, Raffaella; Mondanelli, Lucia; Montagnoli, Antonio; Monteverdi, Maria Cristina; Navarro Reyes, Francisco B.; Oliet, Juan A.; Patrício, Maria S.; Poduška, Zoran; Popovic, Vladan; Puchałka, Radosław; Robakowski, Piotr; Sewerniak, Piotr; Ureña-Lara, Carmen; Villar-Salvador, Pedro; Witzell, Johanna; Anselmetto, Nicolò; Bauhus, Jürgen; Benavides, Raquel; Bolzon, Paola; Carbonero Muñoz, María D.; Castro, Jorge; Chiatante, Donato; Corticeiro, Sofia; De Sanctis, Michele; Devetaković, Jovana; Dūmiņš, Kārlis; Sundheim, Fløistad Inger; Jiménez Morales, M. Noelia; Jovanović, Sanja; Kanjevac, Branko; Kroon, Johan; La Montagna, Dario; Malik, Roman; Martiník, Antonín; Matías, Luis; McClory, Ryan; Meloni, Fabio; Merino Ceballos, Manuel; Moreno Llorca, Ricardo A.; Nonić, Marina; Nunes, Luís; Plaza-Álvarez, Pedro Antonio; Proietti, Roberta; Puccinelli, Stefano; Rey Benayas, José María; Szczerba, Marek; Tomczak, Arkadiusz; Topalovic, Ana; Vendiņa, Viktorija |
| Publisher Information: |
Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för skog och träteknik (SOT); University of Freiburg, Germany;University of Granada, Spain;University of Alcalá, Spain; University of Granada, Spain; University of Bordeaux, France;University of Granada, Spain; University of Alcalá, Spain; Complutense University of Madrid, Spain; University of Florence, Italy; Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden; Sapienza University of Rome, Italy; University of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Research Centre for Forestry and Wood, Italy; Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic; Institute of Forest Ecology Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia; Institute of Natural Resources and Agrobiology of Seville (IRNAS), Spain; University of Bordeaux, France; Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Norway; Poznan University of Life Sciences, Poland; University of Belgrade, Serbia; Forest Research Institute, Poland; University of Freiburg, Germany; University of Montenegro, Montenegro; Latvian State Forest Research Institute "Silava", Latvia; University of Padua, Italy; Castilla La Mancha University, Spain; University of Aveiro, Portugal; University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy; University of Turin, Italy; University of Insubria, Italy; Andalusian Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IFAPA), Spain; Technical University of Madrid, Spain; Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Portugal; Organization and Economics, Serbia; Plant Breeding, Serbia; Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland; Andalusian Institute of Agrarian Fishing Food Investigation and Ecological Production, Spain; Universty of Granada, Spain; Skogforsk, Sweden; University of Seville, Spain; University of Reading, UK; Castilla-La Mancha University, Spain; Regional Directorate of State Forests in Stettin, Poland; Elsevier BV |
| Publication Year: |
2026 |
| Collection: |
Linnaeus University Kalmar Växjö: Publications |
| Subject Terms: |
Climatic gradient; Coordinated distributed experiment; Direct seeding; Regeneration; Seed germination; Seed quality; Forest Science; Skogsvetenskap |
| Description: |
Seedling emergence constitutes a critical recruitment step, and early growth relates to plant competitive ability. Understanding their drivers has implications for forestry and forest ecosystem conservation, restoration, and adaptation to climate change. We seeded 6984 acorns in an experiment with 97 cases at 45 sites in 15 European countries, encompassing 12 oak species. We tested whether the quality of the acorn batch, site-level weather and soil characteristics, year of seeding, and species’ mean specific leaf area (SLA) affected the emergence and early growth of seedlings after the first summer. Germination potential and acorn dry weight, measured under controlled conditions, were positively associated with emergence and early growth. Seedling emergence was negatively associated with the mean monthly temperature and cumulative winter precipitation, and it was higher in the seedling cohort that was spared from the 2021 drought. Additionally, seedling emergence was positively related to soil nutrient concentration and negatively to increasing soil pH, but not to water-holding capacity, and growth was unrelated to soils. Species-level SLA was not related to either response. The four main study species –Quercus cerris, Q. ilex, Q. petraea, and Q. robur– responded similarly to weather but not to soil conditions. We conclude that, at a continental scale, and assuming that species establish within their current distributions, (a) oak seedling emergence and early growth are associated with acorn quality rather than species identity or SLA, (b) they are highest at sites with low winter precipitation and temperature, (c) emergence is reduced in dry years, and d) soil properties play a secondary role at this early recruitment stage. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| File Description: |
application/pdf |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
Forest Ecology and Management, 0378-1127, 2026, 599; ISI:001644770800001 |
| DOI: |
10.1016/j.foreco.2025.123223 |
| Availability: |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-144992; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2025.123223 |
| Rights: |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.5457EF0B |
| Database: |
BASE |