UMR Silva

UMR Silva

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The Silva Joint Research Unit brings together people from AgroParisTech, INRAE, and the Université de Lorraine to conduct multidisciplinary research on wood, trees and forest ecosystems. It is the result of the merge of the joint research units « Forest Ecology and Ecophysiology » [EEF] and « Laboratory of Wood Forest Resource Studies » [LERFoB] in January 2018. The main scientific goal of the UMR Silva is to develop pure and applied research to answer questions of society, including forest managers, about (1) the role and the future of forest ecosystems in the context of global changes, including climate change, and (2) the future of the timber industry, particularly in the Grand – Est region for which it is of major economic importance.

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HAL : Dernières publications

  • [hal-05508569] Decreasing frequency and extent of frost damage in European oaks over 1961-2021

    <div><p>Late spring frosts (LSF) have substantial ecological and economic impacts in the temperate and boreal zones. Yet, the effects of climate warming on the frequency (i.e., probability of LSF in a given year, in %) and extent (i.e., percentage of trees in a population damaged by a given LSF event) of LSF damage remain underexplored. Here, extending a budburst model that accounts for within-population variability, we developed and evaluated a new model of LSF damage occurrence and extent using 1,220 observations of LSF damage to newly emerged leaves from 304 oak populations in France (1997-2021). Our model simulations reveal that overall, French oak populations are, over time, less exposed to LSF amid ongoing climate change. We observed an overall decline in the frequency (-0.22 % per year) and extent (-0.34 % per year) of LSF damage in French oak populations over the past six decades (1961-2021). These trends are largely driven by the temporal advance of both the last spring frost day and budburst dates, with the last spring frost day advancing at a slightly faster rate (-0.28 days per year) than budburst (-0.21 days per year). This temporal mismatch explains why, contrary to the common assumption that earlier budburst increases frost risk, earlier budburst was in fact associated with a lower frequency of LSF damage. Nevertheless, considerable geographical variability emerged, with declines in damage frequency being more pronounced in continental regions, whereas declines in damage extent were more pronounced in coastal regions. Our findings underscore the importance of considering both LSF frequency and extent when assessing frost risks in a warming climate, offering a comprehensive framework for future ecological and economic evaluations of LSF impacts.</p></div>

    ano.nymous@ccsd.cnrs.fr.invalid (Jianhong Lin) 13 Feb 2026

    https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05508569v1
  • [hal-05448009] Trait-dependent declines of threatened endemic trees following plant invasion on a tropical oceanic island

    Biological invasions are a leading cause of the ongoing biodiversity crisis, and particularly so on islands. However, the role of invasive alien plants (IAPs) as a driver of native plant declines and extinctions remains unclear. The inherently slow and gradual nature of plant extinctions, especially that of long-lived woody species, could be a reason. Here, we examined temporal trends in subpopulations of 28 threatened endemic tree (TET) taxa. We questioned the frequency with which they decline in association with IAPs on Reunion Island (South-West Indian Ocean), and asked whether the most susceptible TET taxa exhibit characteristics that could reveal the underlying ecological mechanisms. We resurveyed 182 historically described subpopulations and tested whether observed trends of juvenile and adult TETs correlate with the abundance in IAPs using path analyses, while distinguishing TET taxa with respect to their leaf–height–seed characteristics and extinction risk. The trend of adult TETs was not affected by IAPs but that of juvenile TETs was negatively correlated with the abundance of IAPs in the understory layer. This was particularly the case for TET taxa with conservative resource-use strategies (low specific leaf area or low maximum height), whose juveniles might be particularly susceptible to competition with IAPs, but not for TET taxa with large seeds, whose metabolic reserves make seedlings more likely to attain a critical size. These findings suggest that IAPs can significantly contribute to the extinction dynamics of trees, primarily by limiting regeneration through competitive exclusion, and that their impacts vary depending on the traits of the affected taxa.

    ano.nymous@ccsd.cnrs.fr.invalid (Robin Pouteau) 08 Jan 2026

    https://hal.science/hal-05448009v1
  • [hal-05422406] Understory plant indicator values poorly perform at monitoring temporal changes in French forest soil chemical properties

    Understory plant communities are widely used to infer soil conditions through species indicator values (IVs), scores reflecting species’ ecological preferences for factors such as soil acidity, moisture, or nutrient levels. While their reliability to describe soil conditions along spatial gradients is well established, their ability to capture temporal changes in soil chemistry remains largely untested at both temporal and geographical scales. We combined 26 years of vegetation monitoring with two French national soil surveys (1993–1997; 2007–2012) across 102 permanent forest plots to assess the reliability of community soil indices (CSIs) as bioindicators of soil pH, carbon-to-nitrogen ratio (C/N), and extractable phosphorus. CSIs were computed by averaging species IVs for each plot and survey. Temporal dynamics of measured soil properties and CSIs were analyzed using mixed-effects models at the national scale, while local trends were estimated separately for each plot to directly compare measured and vegetation-inferred changes. CSIs showed strong spatial correlations with measured pH and C/N, but weaker relationships for phosphorus. In contrast, no significant coupling was found between temporal changes in CSIs and measured soil parameters, with frequent mismatches in both direction and magnitude at the plot level. Measured soil dynamics were mainly driven by initial edaphic conditions and stand age, whereas CSI dynamics responded primarily to canopy openness and anthropogenic disturbances such tree harvesting. These findings confirm the value of IVs for spatial bioindication but highlight their limited sensitivity for detecting long-term soil changes, especially where soil changes remain modest.

    ano.nymous@ccsd.cnrs.fr.invalid (Robinson Ribémont) 07 Jan 2026

    https://hal.science/hal-05422406v1
  • [hal-04723745] Tree ring detection for raw wood cross-section image analysis

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    ano.nymous@ccsd.cnrs.fr.invalid (Rémi Decelle) 07 Oct 2024

    https://hal.science/hal-04723745v1