VARCLIREFOR: Increasing climate resilience of Dutch forests
To better understand relations between environmental conditions and tree growth and survival, the VARCLIREFOR project measures survival and growth of naturally regenerated and planted tree saplings in new field trials.
In 781 existing forest trials the growth of individual trees between 1994 until today will be measured, representing 3120 ha of forest at the Utrechtse Heuvelrug. Here, soil properties (nitrogen, pH, C/N ratio, decomposition and microbial activity) will be measured and compared to long term tree growth.
The existing field trials include various forest types (monocultures, natural forests, coniferous and deciduous forests) and as such long-term tree growth can be calculated as dependent on forest type, soil and climate variability to infer the impacts of these environmental conditions on long-term carbon stocks and sequestration.
Understanding the complex interactions between environmental pollution (nitrogen deposition, acidification) and increasing drought events is of vital importance to keep the current Dutch forest as important carbon sinks to mitigate climate change. Based on the results, new climate smart forest management options need to be designed to maintain the carbon sequestration potential.
This project is funded by the European Forest Institute and the Horizon FORWARDS consortium, and runs from 2024 to 2026.