Storm damage of Douglas-fir unexpectedly high compared to Norway spruce

Context

Since storm damage has a large impact on forest management in Central Europe, we investigated the main storm risk factors for two important conifer species, Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii [Mirbel] Franco) and Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst.).

Aims

We compared general storm damage levels of Douglas-fir and Norway spruce, the latter being known to have high storm risk among European tree species.

Methods

Generalized linear mixed models and boosted regression trees were applied to recorded storm damage of individual trees from long-term experimental plots in southwest Germany. This included two major winter storm events in 1990 and 1999. Over 40 candidate predictors were tested for their explanatory power for storm damage and summarized into predictor categories for further interpretation.

Results

The two most important categories associated with storm damage were timber removals and topographic or site information, explaining between 18 and 54 % of storm damage risk, respectively. Remarkably, general damage levels were not different between Douglas-fir and Norway spruce.

Conclusion

Under current forest management approaches, Douglas-fir may be considered a species with high storm risk in Central Europe, comparable to that of Norway spruce.