SCC II - REACT: Species-specific reactions of temperate European forest trees to a changing environment

A comprehensive dataset of tree- and climate-related records has been collected since 2017 for a mature temperate mixed forest stand at the Swiss Canopy Crane II (SCC II) site near Basel. This dataset includes continuous microclimatic, physiological and phenological measurements of 9 different forest tree species and will be evaluated within SCC II - REACT. The heat drought event in summer 2018 caused considerable damage to spruce and European beech and offers the opportunity to analyse stem growth as a function of climate and leaf phenology. The annual dynamics of leaf water potentials and the corresponding hydraulic safety margins during the observation years are calculated for 72 mature trees using correlative models. Finally, the tree-climate relationships found in SCC II are compared with measurements from other forest sites within the TreeNet monitoring network to assess the direct and indirect effects of the 2018 drought on forest trees across Switzerland.