2009/01/01 by Denis Loustau, Loustau, Denis, Marie Guillot +1
Environmental Science · #Bilan de carbone #Bilan hydrique #Dégat forestier #Flood Risk Assessment and Management #Pin maritime #Tempête
paper · doi:10.17180/zy26-5r74
openalex publication_date 2009/01/01 · openalex created_date 2022/10/02 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15
The physical constraints and the current management of the maritime Pine forest in Southwestern France, together with the land sharing with crops and urban areas make this forest particularly vulnerable to winter windstorms. These conditions explained most of the considerable damages brought about by recent storms in 1999 and 2009. The water and carbon cycles in forests damaged by winter windstorms have been profoundly affected following these major storms (“Martin” and “Klaus”). The stand evapotranspiration may be reduced by a factor of two, the duration of soil flooding in winter increased and runoff into surface network augmented. The net carbon balance of ecosystem can be reverted from a sink into a source due to canopy destruction and photosynthesis suppression, enhancement of soil carbon mineralisation and large surplus of biomass input into the soil. Indeed, the exceptional storms such as Lothar, Martin (1999), Gudrun (2005), Klaus (2009) or Katrina (2005) have weakened significantly the net carbon balance of Europe or US. Facing the uncertainty about the possible shortening of return time of severe storms in the future, it is wise to identify and evaluate the possible options for adapting the Landes de Gascogne forest to winter windstorms.