Nearly 19,000 European beech trees from unmanaged forests in Switzerland, Germany, and Ukraine were monitored to model mortality. Tree death was analyzed as a function of stem diameter (DBH) and relative basal area increment (relBAI), alongside environmental and stand characteristics. The dataset was compiled by ENVIDAT and published in a 2016 study.
Use Cases
- Predict tree mortality status (alive/dead) using stem diameter (DBH) and relative basal area increment (relBAI).
- Analyze the influence of drought characteristics, soil pH, temperature, and precipitation on beech survival rates.
- Model the impact of stand characteristics, such as competition and development stage, on individual tree mortality.
- Compare mortality patterns and predictor importance across three distinct European regions (Switzerland, Germany, Ukraine).
Strengths
- Nearly 19,000 individual tree records provide a substantial sample for analysis.
- Data spans three distinct European regions, allowing for comparative spatial analysis.
- Includes a large set of explanatory variables, such as drought metrics, soil pH, temperature, and stand characteristics.
Limitations
- Data collection ended with the last inventory prior to the 2016 publication, making it temporally limited.
- Excludes reserves with considerable wind disturbance, which may bias mortality patterns away from major disturbance events.
- Minimum diameter thresholds for measurement vary by country (4 cm, 7 cm, 6 cm), complicating direct comparisons of small trees.
Provenance
- Source
- ENVIDAT, based on inventory data from strict forest reserves in Switzerland, Germany, and a primeval forest plot in Ukraine.
- Collection Method
- Compiled from repeated inventories of permanent plots within unmanaged forest reserves, with trees tracked across three consecutive measurements.
- Time Range
- Inventory periods began between 1961 and 1975, with remeasurements occurring at irregular intervals up to the study's publication.
- Freshness
- null
- Geography
- Unmanaged forests in Switzerland, Germany (Lower Saxony), and Ukraine (Uholka primeval forest).