Resumen de Water & forests. A convenient relationship?
This study aimed to search the effect of various climatic change scenarios over a 50 year period on plots managed by a range of thinning intensities. For this purpose, it has been consideredGOTILWA model, which is a forest growth model that has been implemented to simulate the forest growth processes and to explore how these processes are influenced by climate, tree and stand structure, management techniques, soil properties and climate change. Subsequently, and in order to determine how management practises can modify the effect of climatic change on Mediterranean Forests, it had been integrated field experiments and the results of the GOTILWA model so as to take into account both water fluxes and forest structure interactions. The results show that the positive effects of atmospheric CO2 fertilisation, causing an increase in water use efficiency (WUE), neutralise the negative effects of both, temperature increase and rainfall decrease. Furthermore, thinning might attenuate the effects of adverse conditions by reducing both leaf respiratory costs and the foliage turnover rate.
