Climate Change in Eastern Europe

CLIMATE CHANGE IN EASTERN EUROPE

Forestry

Climate change and the increase in the frequency of extreme weather events will change forestgrowing conditions and affect the physiological processes of forest flora and fauna. Assuming that a 1°C increase of temperature makes natural boundaries in the region move by 160 kilometres, and the fact that the average temperature in Eastern Europe has risen over the last decade by 0.3-0.6°C (and by 0.8°C over the last century), the movement of the borders of natural zones is already becoming a reality. This is demonstrated by the appearance of unfamiliar species of flora and fauna. The rise in temperature also affects forest fires. For example, 90 fires were recorded in Moldova in 2007 during the catastrophic drought which affecting 683.3 hectares of forest. For comparison there were only 3-15 forest fires a year between 2000 and 2008 in Moldova. Fires in the forests polluted by radiation after the explosion at the Chornobyl nuclear power station are of special concern. There were many forest fires in the exclusion zone after the

catastrophe, with the biggest number (52) occurring in 1992 when 4,000 hectares were affected. The burning of timber on the territory polluted by radionuclides is an open source of ionizing radiation, whose products are easily carried by the wind for significant distances. The widespread desiccation of spruce forests has been observed in the Ukrainian part of the Carpathians. This process can be related to a change of microorganisms present in forest ecosystem, caused in turn by climate change. Other researchers however suggest that the reason is the large-scale planting of spruce at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries in areas which used to be covered by beech forests. Beeches were replaced by spruce because the latter grows faster and is more profitable. The mass desiccation of spruce is a dangerous trend as dry forest is under greater threat of flash fires, diseases and pests. To cope with the problem, one would be well advised to remove spruce, which is not a characteristic species for this area, and to restore native beech and fir forests.

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