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Wuchsgebiet Sauerland - Eine Entscheidungshilfe unter Berücksichtigung des Klimawandels

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Site-appropriate tree species selection is required by various programmatic and legal frameworks for forest development and close-to-nature forest management. Tree species are site-appropriate when the known ecological requirements of the tree species or the tree stand correspond as fully as possible to the recorded site properties (environmental conditions), when the tree species grows vitally and stably, and when it has no negative effects on the site.

To implement this requirement – site-appropriate tree species selection – and to support practical silvicultural action, ecograms were developed for tree species of silvicultural interest. Three key variables were used for this purpose: length of the growing season, water supply, and trophic status. Since forest areas are also characterised by these parameters, tree species can be assigned to a given forest area. With this approach, the decision as to whether a tree species is considered site-appropriate on a particular forest area is transparent and easy to follow.

Climate change also causes changes in forest sites. This has implications for site-appropriate tree species selection. Increased risks for tree species and for forest management are likely to be expected in particular where the water demand of the vegetation is barely met by the available supply, or where overall water budget classes are already assessed as moderately moist to very dry. A further extended growing season increases the risk of water stress and consequently reduced vitality of forest trees, especially on shallow soils. Thus, on areas where a tree species is today still assessed as conditionally site-appropriate, it would, under climate warming, no longer be considered site-appropriate on these areas. An example of this would be spruce stands on a west-facing slope, which have an increased water demand due to the extended growing season.

Ten important forest tree species were selected for the Sauerland growth region. In addition to the initial state, maps were produced for two climate scenarios each (+1 °C, −10 % precipitation; +2 °C, −10 % precipitation). The map collection also contains, for each scenario, two detailed maps in which local changes become apparent.

Forest areas that will be affected by changes under climate change can be clearly identified by comparing the respective climate variant with the current state. Areas identified in this way can then be given priority for targeted conversion, in order to adapt future forests in a precautionary manner to expected climate change.