Fir decline and necrosis: the role of climate change and forest fires

Chronologies of tree-ring widths of living and dead trees were analyzed from a stand of Cephalonian f ir, located in an adjacent to a burned by a forest fire area. The purpose of the research was to investigate, from a dendroecological point of view, the fir forest dieback phenomenon, but also the role of forest fires in the evolution of the phenomenon. The result s show that the dead fir trees lag in tree-ring width growth. The abrupt growth change in tree-ring width in the dead trees 1-2 years before necrosis, indicates that forest fires accelerate the evolution of the phenomenon. It seems that f orest f ires, besides the immediate destruction of fir forests, accelerate the necrosis of fir trees, which is primarily ca used by the observed increase in drought and tempera ture due to climate change.