Forest futures for the Netherlands: Climate change impacts on tree growth and species interactions

Summary

Climate change is severely impacting temperate forests’ health and resilience. Mixtures of two or more tree species are becoming more important in the face of climate change, because they may provide more resilience and resistance to various climate-related disturbances and they may show higher productivity than single-species forests. In this thesis, I looked at how climate change is affecting Dutch forests now and how it might affect them in the future. I also studied how local soil conditions play a role. The goal was to find out which forests are most at risk and to evaluate possible adaptation through changes in forest management. The tree species and combinations I studied show clear potential for future forests in the Netherlands. This thesis sheds light on the drought resilience of Dutch trees species and provides long-term predictions about how different species might interact when growing together under the Dutch circumstances.