Oak Decline Caused by Biotic and Abiotic Factors in Central Europe: A Case Study from the Czech Republic

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments are in the attached file

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

We would like to thank the referee for the valuable comments and for taking the time to review our work. Your comments allowed us to improve the level of our paper. We appreciate it. We accepted your suggestions and corrected the parts that were sometimes misleading.

The responses to your comments are given in the attached file. Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Review of the submitted manuscript entitled Oak Decline Caused by Biotic and Abiotic Factors in Central Europe

 

The submitted manuscript is very interesting, well written and deals with a very important and current topic of oak dieback in central Europe. It will surely be of great interest to the readers. However, the title mentions Central Europe, while the research is limited to its part, which is the Czech Republic, and the six study plots analyzed in it. So consider changing the title.

The Introduction does a good presenting the scientific problem raised in this article. The materials and methods were described in detail. Data analysis and the presentation of results do not raise any objections. However, I believe that Discussion, as in other similar publications, neglects the importance of an essential factor causing oaks dieback: phenology and its changes resulting from global warming. This determines the sensitivity of trees to late spring frosts and biotic risks causing spring defoliations (synchronicity of leaf flushing with pests and pathogens) and sensitivity to the summer droughts. Many studies have shown that phenological variability in oaks is an adaptation to different biotic and abiotic threats. This knowledge has long been known and finds practical application in forestry in the Balkans and the former Soviet Union countries. Early oaks grow more often in drier soils and finish their growth before summer droughts. However, they risk exposure to spring defoliation caused by late spring frost (e.g., Puchałka et al. 2016, 2017) and insect feeding, e.g. Euproctis (e.g. Karazac 1898), or Operophtera brumata (Wesołowski and Rowiński 2008). Late leaf development causes caterpillars emerging from their winter nests to starve (Karazac 1898). Also susceptibility of Q. petraea to leaf pathogens and frost spring defoliation strongly depends on phenology, e.g. Dantec (2015).

It is worth noting that climate change causes the initiation of cambial activity and leaf development several weeks earlier than several decades ago. This causes an increased risk of spring defoliation and flower damage caused by late spring frost (e.g., Puchałka et al. 2016, 2017). There is an increasing problem with the survival of planted trees in central Europe in the natural range of oaks (personal observation).

It seems, therefore, that when speaking about oak dieback, it is worth paying attention to the ecological and phenological variability of these two species.

 

Please discuss it.

 

References

Dantec, C.F., Ducasse, H., Capdevielle, X., Fabreguettes, O., Delzon, S., Desprez-Loustau, M.-L., 2015. Escape of spring frost and disease through phenological variations in oak populations along elevation gradients. J. Ecol. 103, 1044–1056. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12403

Izdebski, K., 1956. Wstępne badania nad ekologią i rozmieszczeniem dębu szypułkowego (Quercus robur L .) w Polsce. Ann. UMCS, C 11, 415–506.

Karazac, J., 1898. Kasni (pozni) hrast (Quercus pedunculata var. tardissima Simonkai). Sumar. List 22, 41–53.

Kostic, S., Orlovic, S., Karaklic, V., Keresic, L., Zoric, M., Stojanovic, D., 2021. Allometry and Post-Drought Growth Resilience of Pedunculate Oak ( Quercus robur L .) Varieties. Forests 12, 930. https://doi.org/10.3390/f12070930 Academic Editors: Jesús Julio Camarero, Raúl Sánchez-Salguero and Angela Luisa Prendin Received: 11 June 2021 Accepted: 13 July 2021 Published: 16 July 2021 Publisher’s

Puchałka, R., Koprowski, M., Gričar, J., Przybylak, R., 2017. Does tree-ring formation follow leaf phenology in Pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.)? Eur. J. For. Res. 136, 259–268. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-017-1026-7

Puchałka, R., Koprowski, M., Przybylak, J., Przybylak, R., Dąbrowski, H.P., 2016. Did the late spring frost in 2007 and 2011 affect tree-ring width and earlywood vessel size in Pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) in northern Poland? Int. J. Biometeorol. 60, 1143–1150. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-015-1107-6

Šafar, J., 1966. Problem fizioloških, ekoloških i ekonomskih karakteristika kasnoga i ranog hrasta lužnjaka. Sumar. List 11–12, 503–515.

Utkina, I.A., Rubtsov, V. V., 2018. Studies of Phenological Forms of Pedunculate Oak. Contemp. Probl. Ecol. 10, 804–811. https://doi.org/10.1134/s1995425517070101

Wesołowski, T., Rowiński, P., 2008. Late leaf development in pedunculate oak (Quercus robur): An antiherbivore defence? Scand. J. For. Res. 23, 386–394. https://doi.org/10.1080/02827580802419026

 

Kind regards

Author Response

We would like to thank the referee for his/her opinions and valuable comments, which allowed us to improve the level of our paper. We appreciate it. 

The responses to your comments are given in the attached file.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear authors,

The manuscript presents an interesting study. Overall, the study was well designed, the paper is well written, and the results and conclusions are fully supported. however, there are a few aspects of the study that need some clarification. The concerns, along with a handful of minor grammar and typographical errors, are noted below.

1. In the introduction, it would  be nice to present oak decline is also affected many Asian forests, you can use these citations:

** DOI: 10.22124/CJES.2017.2662

** DOI: 10.17221/83/2016-JFS

2. Line 39: Where are Figures S1 and S2? First, you need to refer to these figures, then refer to figure S3. 

3. Line 125: Need citation. 

4. Table 1: It seems "Latitude;Longitude" is correct.

 

Author Response

We would like to thank the referee for his/her opinions and for taking the time to review our work. We accepted your suggestions and corrected the parts that were sometimes misleading.

The responses to your comments are given in the attached file.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 4 Report

This is a very written manuscript that implements a robust synthesis of oak decline in Europe. I only have some minor comments. 

It would be nice to mention the pests' diets. Are they seed-eating or foliar-eating species? Some weevils are seed predators. The regeneration of oak trees highly relies on seed production. It is worth mentioning this recent paper (Qiu et al., 2022), which talks about seed production and forest regeneration potential. This paper could be beneficial to the current draft because they provide insights into forest recovery given the context of global forest dieback, and specifically, the oak decline in this draft.

 

Qiu, T., Andrus, R., Aravena, M. C., Ascoli, D., Bergeron, Y., Berretti, R., ... & Clark, J. S. (2022). Limits to reproduction and seed size-number trade-offs that shape forest dominance and future recovery. Nature communications, 13(1), 1-12.

 

 

Author Response

We would like to thank the referee for his/her opinions.

This study deals with the oak decline from the point of view of standing oak stands. If we were to include in the topic the subsequent development of the stand in terms of the size and quantity of seeds, then we could meander from the topic and further expand the subject of our study - which was one of the comments of the first opponent.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript has been much improved following your revisions. There are only a few things to double check and correct. One thing to double check is your reference to absolute heights in lines 213-214 in Table 1. I do not see absolute heights in Table 1, please check this. Also, in 213 I think it would read better if you say: "...2 m were cut from the basal, middle, and crown portions of each tree. Heights for each section were relative to each tree's absolute height" and then include your corrected reference to Table 1. Also be careful using terms like "proven" (see line 462). I suggest saying something like "have been demonstrated to".

Author Response

We would like to thank the referee again for reviewing the corrected manuscript and commenting on the ambiguities. 

lines 213-214 in Table 1

You are right - there are no absolute heights in Table 1, only average height. We followed your suggestion to read the sentence explaining cutting the trees sections better. We added an explanation at the end - (see Table 1: Average Height - the absolute height of the sampled tree corresponds to the average height of the studied oak plot). 

 

line 462

We edited the sentence according to your suggestion.

Reviewer 2 Report

I have no comments on the current version of the manuscript. Nice paper! 

Kind regards

Author Response

Thank you for your comment.

Kind regards