European beech reproduction is not reduced by drought, including the 2003, 2018, and 2022 extremes
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Climate change is intensifying drought stress in temperate forests, but its effects on tree reproduction, central to forest regeneration and migration capability, remain poorly understood. Here, we analyze 221 time series of beech ( Fagus sylvatica ) seed production across Europe to test whether drought reduces seed output. We isolate drought exposure during the flowering, pollination, and seed maturation phases of reproduction, and test for legacy effects on future reproduction. Seed production was not impaired by summer drought, and dry spring conditions were associated with increased output, likely via enhanced pollen dispersal. Thus, once initiated, beech reproduction is not reduced by drought, with no suppression of reproduction the following year. Reproduction was not reduced at the driest sites during exceptional European summer droughts in 2003, 2018, and 2022. Considered alongside prior evidence that drought suppresses forest growth and elevates mortality, these findings indicate that vital rates can respond in opposite directions to the same stressor. Such contrasts may sustain forest reproduction during heat–drought events yet shift demographic balance toward higher mortality and turnover as climatic extremes intensify.
Authors: Jakub Szymkowiak, Michał Bogdziewicz, Dave Kelly, Jessie Foest, Sabine Braun, Burkhard Beudert, Francesco Chianucci, Andrea Cutini, Rachel Gaulton, Georg Gratzer, Angelika Kölbl, Georges Kunstler, Jonathan G. A. Lageard, Henning Meesenburg, Francesco Mezzavilla, Martina Mund, Anita Nussbaumer, Mario B. Pesendorfer, Wolfgang Schmidt, Anne Thimonier, Peter A. Thomas, Stanislav Vacek, Zdeněk Vacek, Arne Verstraeten, Markus Wagner, Andrew Hacket-Pain
Institutions: Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, University of Canterbury, Bavarian Forest National Park, Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria, Fera Science (United Kingdom), BOKU University, Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement, Laboratoire des écosystèmes et sociétés en montagne, Université Grenoble Alpes, Manchester Metropolitan University, Nordwestdeutsche Forstliche Versuchsanstalt, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, University of Göttingen, Keele University, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Research Institute for Nature and Forest, University of Liverpool
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life on land
Open Access status: hybrid
Funders: Manchester Metropolitan University, European Commission, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Fundacja na rzecz Nauki Polskiej, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Austrian Science Fund, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Bundesamt für Umwelt
OpenAlex ID: W7166523977