Ash dieback and hydrology affect tree growth patterns under climate change in European floodplain forests.

Floodplain forests are currently undergoing substantial reorganization processes due to the combined effects of management-induced altered hydrological conditions, climate change and novel invasive pathogens. Nowadays, the ash dieback is one of the most concerning diseases affecting European floodplain forests, causing substantial tree mortality and threatening the loss of the dominant key tree species of the hardwood floodplain forest, Fraxinus excelsior. Understanding how the increased light availability caused by pathogen-driven mortality in combination with altered hydrological conditions and climate change affects growth responses in a diverse forest community is of crucial importance for conservation efforts.