Background/Question/Methods: European temperate forests are relatively resilient to their current disturbance regime, which consists of small gap-scale and periodic moderate severity events. Together with aging forests, there is concern that climate change may lead to larger and more severe disturbances. However, few studies in the temperate region of Europe have focused on forest recovery following large and severe events. In western North America, recent evidence indicates regeneration failures after large and severe disturbances under current environmental conditions (e.g. frequent incidence of drought). Inventories were carried out in permanent plots in 2012, 2014 and 2019, providing valuable insight into the first 10 years of forest recovery. Data collection involved regeneration characteristics (species, height, and DBH), herb cover, and browsing effects. Here we present some preliminary results of regeneration dynamics in three Slovenian sites (Črnivec, Bohor, Trnovski gozd) that were affected by large and severe windthrow events in 2008.
Results/Conclusions: The presence of both early and late-seral species was observed at all sites, but preliminary results indicate that one of the sites has experienced a regeneration failure over a large part of the windthrow, presumably due to herb competition, lack of advance regeneration, and lack of seed sources. Structural parameters indicative of resilience will be assessed for each site. In order to understand if European temperate forests are resilient to large disturbances or need some form of active management, we intend to develop a network with other partners that are studying forest recovery dynamics after large and severe disturbances.