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2007. aastal rajati Järvseljal kolm ühe hektari suurust katseala, kui kaardistati ja mõõdeti üle kõik puud simulatsioon eksperimentide korraldamiseks (Kuusk, et al., 2013; Widlowski et al., 2015). Need kolm puistut (vt fotod lisas 1) esindavad tüüpilist liitunud võrastikuga kuusikut, kaasikut ja siirdesoo männikut. Kaasikus oli tehtud 2004. aastal harvendusraie, 2018. aastal puhastati katseala alusmetsast, et valmistada ala ette maapealse laser skanneriga mõõtmisteks. Kuusikus ja männikus teadaolevalt viimase 30 aasta jooksul raieid tehtud ei ole. Katsealade (joonised 1, 3, 5) nurkade koordinaadid on mõõdetud diferentsiaal-GPS meetodiga peale mahamärkimist (tabel 1). 2019. aasta kordus mõõtmiste tulemusena ilmnes, et puistute rinnaspindala, keskmine kõrgus ning keskmise puu rinnasläbimõõt olid kasvanud (tabelid 2–4). Puude arv oli kahanenud kõigis puistutes, välja arvatud kaasikus, kus 2018. aasta puhastus raie käigus jäeti alles selleks ajaks 4 cm rinnasdiameetri saavutanud puud. Kuusikus saadi tulemuseks, et võrade raadiused olid võrreldes 2007. aastaga kahanenud. Kas tegemist on võra projektsiooni välispiiri erineva tõlgendamise või tegelikult toimunud muutusega, võiks edaspidi selguda 2013. (Kuusk et al., 2015) ja 2019. aastal tehtud maapealse laserskanneri mõõtmiste andmete analüüsist.

Global change-type droughts will become more frequent in the future and threaten forest ecosystems around the globe. A large proportion of the Estonian forest sector is currently subject to artificial drainage, which could probably lead to negative feedbacks when water supply falls short because of high temperatures and low precipitation during future drought periods. In this short article, we propose a novel research perspective that could make use of already gathered data resources, such as remote sensing, climate data, tree-ring research, soil information and hydrological modelling. We conclude that, when applied in concert, such an assembled dataset has the potential to contribute to mitigation of negative climate change consequences for the Estonian forest sector. In particular, smart-drainage systems are currently a rare phenomenon in forestry, although their implementation into existing drainage systems could help maintain the critical soil water content during periods of drought, while properly fulfilling their main task of removing excess water during wet phases. We discuss this new research perspective in light of the current frame conditions of the Estonian forest sector and resolve some current lacks in knowledge and data resources which could help improve the concept in the future.

Understanding how tree species will respond to a future climate requires reliable and quantitative estimates of intra‐specific variation under current climate conditions. We studied three 10‐year‐old common garden experiments established across a rainfall and drought gradient planted with nearly 10,000 pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.) trees from ten provenances with known family structure. We aimed at disentangling adaptive and plastic responses for growth (height and diameter at breast height) as well as for leaf and wood functional traits related to adaptation to dry environments. We used restricted maximum likelihood approaches to assess additive genetic variation expressed as narrow‐sense heritability (h2), quantitative trait differentiation among provenances (QST), and genotype‐by‐environment interactions (GxE). We found strong and significant patterns of local adaptation in growth in all three common gardens, suggesting that transfer of seed material should not exceed a climatic distance of approximately 1°C under current climatic conditions, while transfer along precipitation gradients seems to be less stringent. Moreover, heritability reached 0.64 for tree height and 0.67 for dbh at the dry margin of the testing spectrum, suggesting significant additive genetic variation of potential use for future selection and tree breeding. GxE interactions in growth were significant and explained less phenotypic variation than origin of seed source (4% versus 10%). Functional trait variation among provenances was partly related to drought regimes at provenances origins but had moderate explanatory power for growth. We conclude that directional selection, either naturally or through breeding, is the most likely and feasible outcome for pedunculate oak to adapt to warmer and drier climate conditions in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]