The Forest Alert project of the Center for Ecological Research and Forest Applications (Creaf) has confirmed that the pines of Catalonia are showing the effects of the drought a year late and that they are dying “suddenly”, particularly in some regions of Barcelona. A statement on Wednesday said that in the face of a severe drought, conifers such as pine or fir are doing their best to withstand the adverse conditions, but “some are suffering in a silent way that can last for months and to death within days.”
This phenomenon is the one observed this summer in areas such as the Osona or Berguedà (Barcelona) regions, “where many pine tops turn completely brown in a short time and suddenly.” The researchers have pointed out that “in this case the pines are dead are no longer able to regrow and have no green leaves to enable them to continue their vital functions” and that this phenomenon can last for months or even years after a period of drought has ended. “This explains why, despite the fact that this spring has been more or less rainy in many areas, we have observed the appearance of pines with brown crowns, especially in the Osona and Berguedà areas: these are pines that have died out due to the drought die off.” last summer,” they pointed out.
According to the DeBosCat 2022 report, Catalonia’s forest health monitoring network, 2022 was the year with the most drought-affected forests: out of a total of 33,072 hectares of forest showing signs of drought and extreme heat, 5,993 hectares were conifers. The researchers state that given that conifers have been affected by the drought with some delay, “it is possible that these data represent an underestimate of the conifers that have actually been affected by this prolonged water shortage.”
Time will tell how the drought of recent months has affected this type of vegetation. A situation of water scarcity that improved at the beginning of the month after heavy and repeated rains in June, which accumulated up to 100 liters per square meter in a few hours. The increase in water reserves prompted the government to improve its forecasts and decided to postpone the emergency scenario to a period beyond the summer this summer based on water consumption and rainfall. The state of emergency declared in March when water reserves fell to 25% is long gone.
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