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He P, Sardans J, Wang X, Ma C, Man L, Peñuelas J, Han X, Jiang Y, Li MH. Nutritional changes in trees during drought-induced mortality: A comprehensive meta-analysis and a field study. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2024; 30:e17133. [PMID: 38273504 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.17133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2023] [Revised: 12/13/2023] [Accepted: 12/15/2023] [Indexed: 01/27/2024]
Abstract
Both macronutrients and micronutrients are essential for tree growth and development through participating in various ecophysiological processes. However, the impact of the nutritional status of trees on their ability to withstand drought-induced mortality remains inconclusive. We thus conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis, compiling data on 11 essential nutrients from 44 publications (493 independent observations). Additionally, a field study was conducted on Pinus sylvestris L. trees with varying drought-induced vitality loss in the "Visp" forest in southern Switzerland. No consistent decline in tree nutritional status was observed during tree mortality. The meta-analysis revealed significantly lower leaf potassium (K), iron (Fe), and copper (Cu) concentrations with tree mortality. However, the field study showed no causal relationships between nutritional levels and the vitality status of trees. This discrepancy is mainly attributed to the intrinsic differences in the two types of experimental designs and the ontogenetic stages of target trees. Nutrient reductions preceding tree mortality were predominantly observed in non-field conditions, where the study was conducted on seedlings and saplings with underdeveloped root systems. It limits the nutrient uptake capacity of these young trees during drought. Furthermore, tree nutritional responses are also influenced by many variables. Specifically, (a) leaf nutrients are more susceptible to drought stress than other organs; (b) reduced tree nutrient concentrations are more prevalent in evergreen species during drought-induced mortality; (c) of all biomes, Mediterranean forests are most vulnerable to drought-induced nutrient deficiencies; (d) soil types affect the direction and extent of tree nutritional responses. We identified factors that influence the relationship between tree nutritional status and drought survival, and proposed potential early-warning indicators of impending tree mortality, for example, decreased K concentrations with declining vitality. These findings contribute to our understanding of tree responses to drought and provide practical implications for forest management strategies in the context of global change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peng He
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Animal and Plant Resistance, College of Life Sciences, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
- Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Jordi Sardans
- CSIC, Global Ecology Unit CREAF-CSIC-UAB, Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain
- CREAF, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Xiaoyu Wang
- Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
- Jiyang College, Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Germplasm Innovation and Utilization for Garden Plants, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Chengcang Ma
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Animal and Plant Resistance, College of Life Sciences, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
| | - Liang Man
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Animal and Plant Resistance, College of Life Sciences, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
| | - Josep Peñuelas
- CSIC, Global Ecology Unit CREAF-CSIC-UAB, Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain
- CREAF, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Xingguo Han
- College of Life Sciences, Hebei University, Baoding, China
| | - Yong Jiang
- College of Life Sciences, Hebei University, Baoding, China
| | - Mai-He Li
- Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
- College of Life Sciences, Hebei University, Baoding, China
- Key Laboratory of Geographical Processes and Ecological Security in Changbai Mountains, Ministry of Education, School of Geographical Sciences, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China
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Khan A, Shen F, Yang L, Xing W, Clothier B. Limited Acclimation in Leaf Morphology and Anatomy to Experimental Drought in Temperate Forest Species. BIOLOGY 2022; 11:biology11081186. [PMID: 36009813 PMCID: PMC9404820 DOI: 10.3390/biology11081186] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2022] [Revised: 07/24/2022] [Accepted: 08/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
Simple Summary Climate change shown to have a significant impact on the forest ecosystem due to increased and more frequent occurrence of extreme drought. However, in order to successfully adjust to the xeric environments, plants can usually adopt a variety of adaptation strategies. Here, we investigated the morpho-anatomical traits and biomass allocation patterns as acclimation mechanisms in drought conditions. We found that the interrelation between leaf morphological and anatomical traits were equally affected by drought conditions across all species. This suggests that there is no convincing evidence to classify taxa based on drought resistance vs. drought tolerance. However, based on the biomass allocation pattern, we found that P. koraiensis and F. mandshurica had the higher RMF and total PB, but lower LFM, suggesting higher drought tolerance than those of the other species. Therefore, our dataset revealed some easily measurable traits, such as LMF, RMF, and PB, which demonstrated the seedling’s ability to cope with drought and which could be utilized to choose drought-tolerant species for reforestation in the temperate forest. Abstract Drought is a critical and increasingly common abiotic factor that has impacts on plant structures and functioning and is a challenge for the successful management of forest ecosystems. Here, we test the shifts in leaf morpho-anatomical or hydraulic traits and plant growth above ground caused by drought. A factorial experiment was conducted with two gymnosperms (Larix gmelinii and Pinus koraiensis) and two angiosperms (Fraxinus mandshurica and Tilia amurensis), tree species grown under three varying drought intensities in NE China. Considering all the species studied, the plant height (PH), root collar diameter (RCD), and plant biomass (PB) were significantly decreased by drought. The leaf thickness (LT) increased, while the leaf area (LA) decreased with drought intensity. In the gymnosperms, the mesophyll thickness (MT) increased, and the resin duct decreased, while in the angiosperms the palisade mesophyll thickness (PMT), the spongy mesophyll thickness (SMT), and the abaxial (ABE) and adaxial epidermis (ADE) thickness were increased by drought. The correlation analysis revealed that P. koraiensis and F. mandshurica had the higher RMF and total plant biomass, but the least LMF, suggesting drought tolerance. In contrast, the L. gmelinii had the least RMF and higher LMF, suggesting vulnerability to drought. Similarly, T. amurensis had the higher leaf size, which increased the evaporative demand and depleted the soil water quickly relative to the other species. The interrelation among the morpho-anatomical leaf traits was equally affected by drought across all the studied species, suggesting that there is no clear evidence to differentiate the taxa based on drought resistance vs. drought tolerance. Thus, we have identified some easily measurable traits (i.e., LMF, RMF, and PB) which evidenced the seedling’s ability to cope with drought and which therefore could be used as proxies in the selection of drought tolerant species for reforestation in the temperate forest.
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Affiliation(s)
- Attaullah Khan
- Key Laboratory of Sustainable Forest Ecosystem Management-Ministry of Education, School of Forestry, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
| | - Fangyuan Shen
- Key Laboratory of Sustainable Forest Ecosystem Management-Ministry of Education, School of Forestry, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
| | - Lixue Yang
- Key Laboratory of Sustainable Forest Ecosystem Management-Ministry of Education, School of Forestry, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
- Correspondence:
| | - Wei Xing
- Key Laboratory of Sustainable Forest Ecosystem Management-Ministry of Education, School of Forestry, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
| | - Brent Clothier
- Sustainable Production, New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited, Tennent Drive, Palmerston North 4474, New Zealand
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Liu F, Zhou Y, Zhang S, Liu N. Inorganic Nitrogen Enhances the Drought Tolerance of Evergreen Broad-Leaved Tree Species in the Short-Term, but May Aggravate Their Water Shortage in the Mid-Term. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2022; 13:875293. [PMID: 35548273 PMCID: PMC9083258 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.875293] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2022] [Accepted: 03/11/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
With global climate change, atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition and drought have been well documented to cause substantial challenges for tropical and subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests. Here, we conducted an experiment that measured the physiological responses of the seedlings of three dominant tree species (Tabebuia chrysantha, Elaeocarpus sylvestris, and Bischofia javanica) of the evergreen broad-leaved forests in South China under control (CT), drought stress (D), N addition (N), and drought stress plus N addition (N+D). We found that N addition significantly decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) content, abscisic acid (ABA) content, total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), but significantly increased the content of proline (PRO), and the activities of ribulose-1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco), nitrate reductase (NR), nitrite reductase (NiR), and glutamine synthetase (GS) in the three species under D. Meanwhile, we also found that under drought conditions, N addition promoted the leaf transpiration rate (E), stomatal conductance (g s ), and light-saturated net photosynthetic rate (A max ) of the three species. These results indicate that N addition can enhance the drought tolerance of the three species by osmotic adjustment and protecting the photosystem. However, the enhancement in A max and E will cause plants to face more severe drought conditions, especially B. javanica (large tree species). This study helps to explain why the evergreen broad-leaved forests in South China are gradually degrading to shrublands in recent decades.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fangyan Liu
- Chinese Academy of Sciences Engineering Laboratory for Vegetation Ecosystem Restoration on Islands and Coastal Zones, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
- College of Life Sciences, Gannan Normal University, Ganzhou, China
- Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Guangzhou, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yuheng Zhou
- Chinese Academy of Sciences Engineering Laboratory for Vegetation Ecosystem Restoration on Islands and Coastal Zones, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
- College of Life Sciences, Gannan Normal University, Ganzhou, China
- Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Guangzhou, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Shike Zhang
- Chinese Academy of Sciences Engineering Laboratory for Vegetation Ecosystem Restoration on Islands and Coastal Zones, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
- College of Life Sciences, Gannan Normal University, Ganzhou, China
- Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Guangzhou, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Nan Liu
- Chinese Academy of Sciences Engineering Laboratory for Vegetation Ecosystem Restoration on Islands and Coastal Zones, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
- College of Life Sciences, Gannan Normal University, Ganzhou, China
- Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Guangzhou, China
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Wei L, Zhang C, Dong Q, Yang Z, Chu H, Yu Y, Yang X. Effects of temperature and water potential on seed germination of 13 Poa L. species in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Glob Ecol Conserv 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.gecco.2020.e01442] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
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