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Hesse BD, Hikino K, Gebhardt T, Buchhart C, Dervishi V, Goisser M, Pretzsch H, Häberle KH, Grams TEE. Acclimation of mature spruce and beech to five years of repeated summer drought - The role of stomatal conductance and leaf area adjustment for water use. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 951:175805. [PMID: 39197757 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175805] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2024] [Revised: 07/30/2024] [Accepted: 08/24/2024] [Indexed: 09/01/2024]
Abstract
Forests globally are experiencing severe droughts, leading to significant reductions in growth, crown dieback and even tree mortality. The ability of forest ecosystems to acclimate to prolonged and repeated droughts is critical for their survival with ongoing climate change. In a five-year throughfall exclusion experiment, we investigated the long-term physiological and morphological acclimation of mature Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] KARST.) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) to repeated summer drought at the leaf, shoot and whole tree level. Throughout the drought period, spruce reduced their total water use by 70 % to only 4-9 L per day and tree, while beech was less affected with about 30 % reduction of water use. During the first two summers, spruce achieved this by closing their stomata by up to 80 %. Additionally, from the second drought summer onwards, spruce produced shorter shoots and needles, resulting in a stepwise reduction of total leaf area of over 50 % by the end of the experiment. Surprisingly, no premature leaf loss was observed. This reduction in leaf area allowed a gradual increase in stomatal conductance. After the five-year drought experiment, water consumption per leaf area was the same as in the controls, while the total water consumption of spruce was still reduced. In contrast, beech showed no significant reduction in whole-tree leaf area, but nevertheless reduced water use by up to 50 % by stomatal closure. If the restriction of transpiration by stomatal closure is sufficient to ensure survival of Norway spruce during the first drought summers, then the slow but steady reduction in leaf area will ensure successful acclimation of water use, leading to reduced physiological drought stress and long-term survival. Neighboring beech appeared to benefit from the water-saving strategy of spruce by using the excess water.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin D Hesse
- Technical University of Munich, School of Life Sciences, Land Surface-Atmosphere Interactions, Ecophysiology of Plants, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz Platz 2, 85354 Freising, Germany; University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Department of Integrative Biology and Biodiversity Research, Institute of Botany, Gregor-Mendel-Straße 33, 1180 Vienna, Austria.
| | - Kyohsuke Hikino
- Technical University of Munich, School of Life Sciences, Land Surface-Atmosphere Interactions, Ecophysiology of Plants, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz Platz 2, 85354 Freising, Germany; Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Umeå, Sweden
| | - Timo Gebhardt
- Technical University of Munich, School of Life Sciences, Land Surface-Atmosphere Interactions, Ecophysiology of Plants, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz Platz 2, 85354 Freising, Germany; Technical University of Munich, School of Life Sciences, Forest and Agroforest Systems, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz Platz 2, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Claudia Buchhart
- Technical University of Munich, School of Life Sciences, Chair of Restoration Ecology, Emil-Ramann-Str. 6, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Vjosa Dervishi
- Technical University of Munich, School of Life Sciences, Land Surface-Atmosphere Interactions, Ecophysiology of Plants, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz Platz 2, 85354 Freising, Germany; Technical University of Munich, School of Life Sciences, Chair for Forest Growth and Yield Science, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz Platz 2, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Michael Goisser
- Technical University of Munich, School of Life Sciences, Land Surface-Atmosphere Interactions, Ecophysiology of Plants, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz Platz 2, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Hans Pretzsch
- Technical University of Munich, School of Life Sciences, Chair for Forest Growth and Yield Science, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz Platz 2, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Karl-Heinz Häberle
- Technical University of Munich, School of Life Sciences, Chair of Restoration Ecology, Emil-Ramann-Str. 6, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Thorsten E E Grams
- Technical University of Munich, School of Life Sciences, Land Surface-Atmosphere Interactions, Ecophysiology of Plants, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz Platz 2, 85354 Freising, Germany
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Walthert L, Etzold S, Carminati A, Saurer M, Köchli R, Zweifel R. Coordination between degree of isohydricity and depth of root water uptake in temperate tree species. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 946:174346. [PMID: 38944298 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2024] [Revised: 06/26/2024] [Accepted: 06/26/2024] [Indexed: 07/01/2024]
Abstract
In an increasingly dry environment, it is crucial to understand how tree species use soil water and cope with drought. However, there is still a knowledge gap regarding the relationships between species-specific stomatal behaviour, spatial root distribution, and root water uptake (RWU) dynamics. Our study aimed to investigate above- and below-ground aspects of water use during soil drying periods in four temperate tree species that differ in stomatal behaviour: two isohydric tracheid-bearing conifers, Scots pine and Norway spruce, and two more anisohydric deciduous species, the diffuse-porous European beech, and the ring-porous Downy oak. From 2015 to 2020, soil-tree-atmosphere-continuum parameters were measured for each species in monospecific forests where trees had no access to groundwater. The hourly time series included data on air temperature, vapor pressure deficit, soil water potential, soil hydraulic conductivity, and RWU to a depth of 2 m. Analysis of drought responses included data on stem radius, leaf water potential, estimated osmotically active compounds, and drought damage. Our study reveals an inherent coordination between stomatal regulation, fine root distribution and water uptake. Compared to conifers, the more anisohydric water use of oak and beech was associated with less strict stomatal closure, greater investment in deep roots, four times higher maximum RWU, a shift of RWU to deeper soil layers as the topsoil dried, and a more pronounced soil drying below 1 m depth. Soil hydraulic conductivity started to limit RWU when values fell below 10-3 to 10-5 cm/d, depending on the soil. As drought progressed, oak and beech may also have benefited from their leaf osmoregulatory capacity, but at the cost of xylem embolism with around 50 % loss of hydraulic conductivity when soil water potential dropped below -1.25 MPa. Consideration of species-specific water use is crucial for forest management and vegetation modelling to improve forest resilience to drought.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lorenz Walthert
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland.
| | - Sophia Etzold
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Andrea Carminati
- Physics of Soils and Terrestrial Ecosystems, Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zürich, Universitätsstrasse 16, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Matthias Saurer
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Roger Köchli
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Roman Zweifel
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
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Nadal-Sala D, Ruehr NK, Sabaté S. Overcoming drought: life traits driving tree strategies to confront drought stress. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY 2024; 75:3758-3761. [PMID: 38982745 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erae219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/11/2024]
Abstract
This insight article comments on: Ziegler C, Cochard, H, Stahl C, Bastien Gérard LF, Goret J, Heuret P, Levionnois S, Maillard P, Bonal D, Coste S. 2024. Residual water losses mediate the trade-off between growth and drought survival across saplings of 12 tropical rainforest tree species with contrasting hydraulic strategies. Journal of Experimental Botany 75, 4128-4147.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Nadal-Sala
- Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions Forestals (CREAF), Campus de Bellaterra (UAB) Edifici C, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
- Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Ecology Section, Diagonal, 643, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Nadine K Ruehr
- Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-IFU), KIT-Campus Alpin, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Kreuzeckbahnstr. 19, D-82467 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
| | - Santiago Sabaté
- Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions Forestals (CREAF), Campus de Bellaterra (UAB) Edifici C, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
- Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Ecology Section, Diagonal, 643, Barcelona, Spain
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Leifsson C, Buras A, Klesse S, Baittinger C, Bat-Enerel B, Battipaglia G, Biondi F, Stajić B, Budeanu M, Čada V, Cavin L, Claessens H, Čufar K, de Luis M, Dorado-Liñán I, Dulamsuren C, Garamszegi B, Grabner M, Hacket-Pain A, Hansen JK, Hartl C, Huang W, Janda P, Jump AS, Kazimirović M, Knutzen F, Kreyling J, Land A, Latte N, Lebourgeois F, Leuschner C, Longares LA, Martinez Del Castillo E, Menzel A, Motta R, Muffler-Weigel L, Nola P, Panayatov M, Petritan AM, Petritan IC, Popa I, Roibu CC, Rubio-Cuadrado Á, Rydval M, Scharnweber T, Camarero JJ, Svoboda M, Toromani E, Trotsiuk V, van der Maaten-Theunissen M, van der Maaten E, Weigel R, Wilmking M, Zlatanov T, Rammig A, Zang CS. Identifying drivers of non-stationary climate-growth relationships of European beech. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 937:173321. [PMID: 38782287 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173321] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2024] [Revised: 05/15/2024] [Accepted: 05/15/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024]
Abstract
The future performance of the widely abundant European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) across its ecological amplitude is uncertain. Although beech is considered drought-sensitive and thus negatively affected by drought events, scientific evidence indicating increasing drought vulnerability under climate change on a cross-regional scale remains elusive. While evaluating changes in climate sensitivity of secondary growth offers a promising avenue, studies from productive, closed-canopy forests suffer from knowledge gaps, especially regarding the natural variability of climate sensitivity and how it relates to radial growth as an indicator of tree vitality. Since beech is sensitive to drought, we in this study use a drought index as a climate variable to account for the combined effects of temperature and water availability and explore how the drought sensitivity of secondary growth varies temporally in dependence on growth variability, growth trends, and climatic water availability across the species' ecological amplitude. Our results show that drought sensitivity is highly variable and non-stationary, though consistently higher at dry sites compared to moist sites. Increasing drought sensitivity can largely be explained by increasing climatic aridity, especially as it is exacerbated by climate change and trees' rank progression within forest communities, as (co-)dominant trees are more sensitive to extra-canopy climatic conditions than trees embedded in understories. However, during the driest periods of the 20th century, growth showed clear signs of being decoupled from climate. This may indicate fundamental changes in system behavior and be early-warning signals of decreasing drought tolerance. The multiple significant interaction terms in our model elucidate the complexity of European beech's drought sensitivity, which needs to be taken into consideration when assessing this species' response to climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher Leifsson
- Technical University of Munich, TUM School of Life Sciences, Land Surface-Atmosphere Interactions, Hans-Carl-v.-Carlowitz-Platz 2, 85354 Freising, Germany.
| | - Allan Buras
- Technical University of Munich, TUM School of Life Sciences, Land Surface-Atmosphere Interactions, Hans-Carl-v.-Carlowitz-Platz 2, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Stefan Klesse
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Claudia Baittinger
- The National Museum of Denmark, Environmental Archaeology and Materials Science, I.C. Modewegs Vej 11, DK - 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Banzragch Bat-Enerel
- Plant Ecology, University of Goettingen, 37073 Goettingen, Germany; Applied Vegetation Ecology, Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Freiburg, 79106 Freiburg, Germany
| | | | - Franco Biondi
- DendroLab, Dept. of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
| | - Branko Stajić
- University of Belgrade, Faculty of Forestry, Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Marius Budeanu
- National Institute for Research and Development in Forestry Marin Dracea, 13 Closca street, Brasov, Romania
| | - Vojtěch Čada
- Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Kamycka 129, Praha 6, Suchdol 16521, Czech Republic
| | - Liam Cavin
- Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland, UK
| | - Hugues Claessens
- Forest is Life, ULiège, Passage des Déportés 2, B-5030 Gembloux, Belgium
| | - Katarina Čufar
- University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Wood Science and Technology, Jamnikarjeva 101, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Martin de Luis
- Dpto. de Geografía y Ordenación del Territorio, IUCA, Universidad de Zaragoza, C/ Pedro Cerbuna s/n, 50009 Zaragoza. Spain
| | - Isabel Dorado-Liñán
- Departamento de Sistemas y Recursos Naturales, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - Choimaa Dulamsuren
- Applied Vegetation Ecology, Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Freiburg, 79106 Freiburg, Germany
| | - Balázs Garamszegi
- Institute of Forest Ecology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
| | - Michael Grabner
- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
| | - Andrew Hacket-Pain
- Department of Geography and Planning, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Jon Kehlet Hansen
- Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Claudia Hartl
- Nature Rings - Environmental Research & Education, 55118 Mainz, Germany
| | - Weiwei Huang
- Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Collaborative Innovation Center of Sustainable Forestry in Southern China of Jiangsu Province, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
| | - Pavel Janda
- Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Kamycka 129, Praha 6, Suchdol 16521, Czech Republic
| | - Alistair S Jump
- Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland, UK
| | | | - Florian Knutzen
- Climate Service Center Germany (GERICS), Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, Fischertwiete 1, 20095 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Jürgen Kreyling
- University of Greifswald, Experimental Plant Ecology, Soldmannstraße 15, 17498 Greifswald, Germany
| | - Alexander Land
- University of Hohenheim, Institute of Biology (190a), Garbenstraße 30, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Nicolas Latte
- Forest is Life, ULiège, Passage des Déportés 2, B-5030 Gembloux, Belgium
| | | | | | - Luis A Longares
- Dpto. de Geografía y Ordenación del Territorio, IUCA, Universidad de Zaragoza, C/ Pedro Cerbuna s/n, 50009 Zaragoza. Spain
| | | | - Annette Menzel
- Technical University of Munich, TUM School of Life Sciences, Ecoclimatology, Hans-Carl-v.-Carlowitz-Platz 2, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Renzo Motta
- Department of Agricoltural Forest and Food Sciences, University of Turin, Largo Paolo Braccini 2, 10095 Grugliasco, TO, Italy
| | - Lena Muffler-Weigel
- Ecological-Botanical Garden, University of Bayreuth, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany
| | - Paola Nola
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Pavia, Via S. Epifanio 14, I-27100 Pavia, Italy
| | - Momchil Panayatov
- University of Forestry, Dendrology Department, Forest Faculty, Sofia, Bulgaria
| | - Any Mary Petritan
- National Institute for Research and Development in Forestry Marin Dracea, 13 Closca street, Brasov, Romania
| | - Ion Catalin Petritan
- Faculty of Silviculture and Forest Engineering, Department of Forest Engineering, Forest Management Planning and Terrestrial Measurements, Transilvania University of Braşov, Braşov, Romania
| | - Ionel Popa
- National Institute for Research and Development in Forestry Marin Dracea, 13 Closca street, Brasov, Romania; Center for Mountain Economy (CE-MONT), Vatra Dornei, Romania
| | - Cǎtǎlin-Constantin Roibu
- Forest Biometrics Laboratory, Faculty of Forestry, "Stefan cel Mare" University of Suceava, Universitatii street, no. 13, Suceava RO720229, Romania
| | - Álvaro Rubio-Cuadrado
- Departamento de Sistemas y Recursos Naturales, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de Montes, Forestal y del Medio Natural, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Ciudad Universitaria s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - Miloš Rydval
- Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Kamycka 129, Praha 6, Suchdol 16521, Czech Republic
| | - Tobias Scharnweber
- Institute for Botany and Landscape Ecology, University Greifswald, 17487 Greifswald, Germany
| | - J Julio Camarero
- Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología (IPE), CSIC, Avda. Montañana 1005, 50080 Zaragoza, Spain
| | - Miroslav Svoboda
- Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Kamycka 129, Praha 6, Suchdol 16521, Czech Republic
| | - Elvin Toromani
- Department of Forestry, Agricultural University Tirana, Tirana, Albania
| | - Volodymyr Trotsiuk
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | | | - Ernst van der Maaten
- Chair of Forest Growth and Woody Biomass Production, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Robert Weigel
- Ecological-Botanical Garden, University of Bayreuth, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany
| | - Martin Wilmking
- Institute for Botany and Landscape Ecology, University Greifswald, 17487 Greifswald, Germany
| | - Tzvetan Zlatanov
- Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2 Gagarin Street, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
| | - Anja Rammig
- Technical University of Munich, TUM School of Life Sciences, Land Surface-Atmosphere Interactions, Hans-Carl-v.-Carlowitz-Platz 2, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Christian S Zang
- Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences, Department of Forestry, Hans-Carl-v.-Carlowitz-Platz 3, 85354 Freising, Germany
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Xiang Y, Kagawa A, Nagai S, Yasuda Y, Utsumi Y. Isotope Distribution Analysis in H₂ 18O Pulse-Labeled Trees Frozen with Liquid Nitrogen. PHYSIOLOGIA PLANTARUM 2024; 176:e14292. [PMID: 38685817 DOI: 10.1111/ppl.14292] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2023] [Revised: 03/24/2024] [Accepted: 04/01/2024] [Indexed: 05/02/2024]
Abstract
Tracer injection has long been recognized as a valuable tool for delineating tree hydraulics and assessing water transport pathways. Recently, isotope tracers have emerged as innovative instruments for investigating tree hydraulics, providing new insights into tree water dynamics. Nevertheless, there is a critical need for further research to comprehensively grasp water movement and distribution within trees. A previously introduced technique for analyzing the isotopic ratio of water in wet tissues, offering millimeter-scale resolution for visualizing tracer movement, faces challenges due to its underdeveloped sample preparation techniques. In this study, we introduced an H2 18O tracer into S. gracilistyla samples, exclusively comprising indeterminate roots, stems, and leaves, cultivated through hydroponics and grown within the current year. Our objective was to assess the axial distribution of the tracer in the xylem. Additionally, we devised a novel method for preparing frozen wet tissue samples, enhancing the repeatability and success rate of experiments. The results demonstrated that all frozen wet tissue samples exhibited an average water loss rate of less than 0.6%. Isotopic analysis of these samples unveiled a consistent decline in tracer concentration with increasing height in all Salix specimens, with three out of five samples revealing a significant isotope gradient. Our findings affirm the efficacy and practicality of combining isotopic labeling with freezing, stabilization, and preparation techniques. Looking ahead, our isotopic labeling and analysis methods are poised to transcend woody plants, finding extensive applications in plant physiology and ecohydrology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan Xiang
- Graduate School of Bioresource and Bioenvironmental Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Akira Kagawa
- Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Wood Anatomy and Quality Laboratory, Ibaraki, Japan
| | - Satoshi Nagai
- Forestry Technology Institute, Hyogo Prefectural Technology Center for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Hyogo, Japan
| | - Yuko Yasuda
- Department of Environmental Sciences and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima City Kagoshima, Japan
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Puchi PF, Dalmonech D, Vangi E, Battipaglia G, Tognetti R, Collalti A. Contrasting patterns of water use efficiency and annual radial growth among European beech forests along the Italian peninsula. Sci Rep 2024; 14:6526. [PMID: 38499662 PMCID: PMC11350120 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-57293-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2023] [Accepted: 03/16/2024] [Indexed: 03/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Tree mortality and forest dieback episodes are increasing due to drought and heat stress. Nevertheless, a comprehensive understanding of mechanisms enabling trees to withstand and survive droughts remains lacking. Our study investigated basal area increment (BAI), and δ13C-derived intrinsic water-use-efficiency (iWUE), to elucidate beech resilience across four healthy stands in Italy with varying climates and soil water availability. Additionally, fist-order autocorrelation (AR1) analysis was performed to detect early warning signals for potential tree dieback risks during extreme drought events. Results reveal a negative link between BAI and vapour pressure deficit (VPD), especially in southern latitudes. After the 2003 drought, BAI decreased at the northern site, with an increase in δ13C and iWUE, indicating conservative water-use. Conversely, the southern sites showed increased BAI and iWUE, likely influenced by rising CO2 and improved water availability. In contrast, the central site sustained higher transpiration rates due to higher soil water holding capacity (SWHC). Despite varied responses, most sites exhibited reduced resilience to future extreme events, indicated by increased AR1. Temperature significantly affected beech iWUE and BAI in northern Italy, while VPD strongly influenced the southern latitudes. The observed increase in BAI and iWUE in southern regions might be attributed to an acclimation response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paulina F Puchi
- Forest Modelling Lab., Institute for Agriculture and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean, National Research Council of Italy (CNR-ISAFOM), Via Madonna Alta 128, 06128, Perugia, Italy.
- Institute of Bioeconomy, Italian National Research Council (CNR-IBE), Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
| | - Daniela Dalmonech
- Forest Modelling Lab., Institute for Agriculture and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean, National Research Council of Italy (CNR-ISAFOM), Via Madonna Alta 128, 06128, Perugia, Italy
- National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC), 90133, Palermo, Italy
| | - Elia Vangi
- Forest Modelling Lab., Institute for Agriculture and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean, National Research Council of Italy (CNR-ISAFOM), Via Madonna Alta 128, 06128, Perugia, Italy
| | - Giovanna Battipaglia
- Department of Environmental, Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies, University of Campania 'L. Vanvitelli', Caserta, Italy
| | - Roberto Tognetti
- Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Piazza Università 1, 39100, Bolzano, Italy
| | - Alessio Collalti
- Forest Modelling Lab., Institute for Agriculture and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean, National Research Council of Italy (CNR-ISAFOM), Via Madonna Alta 128, 06128, Perugia, Italy
- National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC), 90133, Palermo, Italy
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Lv H, Gangwisch M, Saha S. Crown die-back of peri-urban forests after combined heatwave and drought was species-specific, size-dependent, and also related to tree neighbourhood characteristics. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 913:169716. [PMID: 38159755 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169716] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2023] [Revised: 12/17/2023] [Accepted: 12/25/2023] [Indexed: 01/03/2024]
Abstract
The Rhine River valley of Germany has been facing recurrent and intense spells of drought and heatwaves threatening the health of trees in peri-urban forests. Crown damage intensified by climate change accelerates tree mortality, threatening its ecological, economic, and social benefits; however, the pattern of crown die-back in peri-urban forests remained unclear. We performed a field inventory to estimate the crown die-back of 2578 trees of 51 species from 68 randomly selected peri-urban forest plots in Karlsruhe region on the right bank of the Rhine, after the catastrophic summer heatwave and drought of 2018. We related crown die-back to species-specific drought tolerance, wood anatomical traits, tree size, canopy surface temperature, tree density, Shannon's diversity and Gini coefficient for tree height. Regression results indicate that small-size trees were found to be more susceptible to canopy damage than large trees, with a 1-meter increase in tree height associated with a 0.8 % reduction in crown die-back. This size-dependent process is also species-specific. Among the 12 species with significant (p < 0.05) linear relationship between height and die-back, 9 species demonstrated negative correlations and 3 species showed positive relationships. Species tolerant to drought or cavitation (e.g., trees with diffuse porous xylem, 21 species) had significantly lower crown dieback. For example, with a 1-point-scale increase in drought tolerance crown die-back declined 14.35 %. Trees that experienced high canopy surface temperature and grew with high tree density and species diversity (Shannon's diversity) had more crown die-back. However, high structural diversity (Gini coefficient) was related to lower crown die-back. Our results suggested that future research should focus more on tree species-specific hydraulic and thermal traits and tree density and structure management to improve tree health and species selection in peri-urban forests under future climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hailiang Lv
- Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, Xinfeng Road 5, 163316 Daqing, China; Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlstr. 11, 76133 Karlsruhe, Germany.
| | - Marcel Gangwisch
- Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Freiburg, Werthmannstr. 10, D-79085 Freiburg, Germany
| | - Somidh Saha
- Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlstr. 11, 76133 Karlsruhe, Germany; Institute of Geography and Geoecology (IfGG), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Kaiserstr. 12, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
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Neycken A, Wohlgemuth T, Frei ER, Klesse S, Baltensweiler A, Lévesque M. Slower growth prior to the 2018 drought and a high growth sensitivity to previous year summer conditions predisposed European beech to crown dieback. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 912:169068. [PMID: 38049004 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2023] [Revised: 11/21/2023] [Accepted: 12/01/2023] [Indexed: 12/06/2023]
Abstract
The record-breaking drought in 2018 caused premature leaf discoloration and shedding (early browning) in many beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) dominated forests in Central Europe. However, a high degree of variability in drought response among individual beech trees was observed. While some trees were severely impacted by the prolonged water deficits and high temperatures, others remained vital with no or only minor signs of crown vitality loss. Why some beech trees were more susceptible to drought-induced crown damage than others and whether growth recovery is possible are poorly understood. Here, we aimed to identify growth characteristics associated with the variability in drought response between individual beech trees based on a sample of 470 trees in northern Switzerland. By combining tree growth measurements and crown condition assessments, we also investigated the possible link between crown dieback and growth recovery after drought. Beech trees with early browning exhibited an overall lower growth vigor before the 2018 drought than co-occurring vital beech trees. This lower vigor is mainly indicated by lower overall growth rates, stronger growth declines in the past decades, and higher growth-climate sensitivity. Particularly, warm previous year summer conditions negatively affected current growth of the early-browning trees. These findings suggest that the affected trees had less access to critical resources and were physiologically limited in their growth predisposing them to early browning. Following the 2018 drought, observed growth recovery potential corresponded to the amount of crown dieback and the local climatic water balance. Overall, our findings emphasize that beech-dominated forests in Central Europe are under increasing pressure from severe droughts, ultimately reducing the competitive ability of this species, especially on lowland sites with shallow soils and low water holding capacity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Neycken
- Silviculture Group, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zurich, Universitätsstrasse 16, Zurich 8092, Switzerland.
| | - Thomas Wohlgemuth
- Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Esther R Frei
- Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland; Alpine Environment and Natural Hazards, WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Flüelastrasse 11, 7260 Davos Dorf, Switzerland; Climate Change and Extremes in Alpine Regions Research Centre CERC, 7260 Davos Dorf, Switzerland
| | - Stefan Klesse
- Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland; Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Andri Baltensweiler
- Forest Resources and Management, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Mathieu Lévesque
- Silviculture Group, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zurich, Universitätsstrasse 16, Zurich 8092, Switzerland
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9
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Tumajer J, Braun S, Burger A, Scharnweber T, Smiljanic M, Walthert L, Zweifel R, Wilmking M. Dendrometers challenge the 'moon wood concept' by elucidating the absence of lunar cycles in tree stem radius oscillation. Sci Rep 2023; 13:19904. [PMID: 37963987 PMCID: PMC10645754 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-47013-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2023] [Accepted: 11/08/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Wood is a sustainable natural resource and an important global commodity. According to the 'moon wood theory', the properties of wood, including its growth and water content, are believed to oscillate with the lunar cycle. Despite contradicting our current understanding of plant functioning, this theory is commonly exploited for marketing wooden products. To examine the moon wood theory, we applied a wavelet power transformation to series of 2,000,000 hourly stem radius records from dendrometers. We separated the influence of 74 consecutive lunar cycles and meteorological conditions on the stem variation of 62 trees and six species. We show that the dynamics of stem radius consist of overlapping oscillations with periods of 1 day, 6 months, and 1 year. These oscillations in stem dimensions were tightly coupled to oscillations in the series of air temperature and vapour pressure deficit. By contrast, we revealed no imprint of the lunar cycle on the stem radius variation of any species. We call for scepticism towards the moon wood theory, at least as far as the stem water content and radial growth are concerned. We foresee that similar studies employing robust scientific approaches will be increasingly needed in the future to cope with misleading concepts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Tumajer
- Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Soldmannstraße 15, 17487, Greifswald, Germany.
- Department of Physical Geography and Geoecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Albertov 6, 12843, Prague, Czech Republic.
| | - Sabine Braun
- Institute for Applied Plant Biology AG, Benkenstrasse 254a, 4108, Witterswil, Switzerland
| | - Andreas Burger
- Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Soldmannstraße 15, 17487, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Tobias Scharnweber
- Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Soldmannstraße 15, 17487, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Marko Smiljanic
- Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Soldmannstraße 15, 17487, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Lorenz Walthert
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Roman Zweifel
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Martin Wilmking
- Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Soldmannstraße 15, 17487, Greifswald, Germany
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10
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Putzenlechner B, Koal P, Kappas M, Löw M, Mundhenk P, Tischer A, Wernicke J, Koukal T. Towards precision forestry: Drought response from remote sensing-based disturbance monitoring and fine-scale soil information in Central Europe. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 880:163114. [PMID: 37011694 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2022] [Revised: 02/23/2023] [Accepted: 03/23/2023] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Prolonged drought and susceptibility to biotic stressors induced an extensive calamity in Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) and widespread crown defoliation in European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) in Central Europe. For future management decisions, it is crucial to link changes in canopy cover to site conditions. However, current knowledge on the role of soil properties for drought-induced forest disturbance is limited due to the scarcity and low spatial resolution of soil information. We present a fine-scale assessment on the role of soil properties for forest disturbance in Norway spruce and European beech derived from optical remote sensing. A forest disturbance modeling framework based on Sentinel-2 time series was applied on 340 km2 in low mountain ranges of Central Germany. Spatio-temporal information on forest disturbance was calculated at 10 m spatial resolution in the period 2019-2021 and intersected with high-resolution soil information (1:10,000) based on roughly 2850 soil profiles. We found distinct differences in disturbed area, depending on soil type, texture, stoniness, effective rooting depth and available water capacity (AWC). For spruce, we found a polynomial relationship between AWC (R2 = 0.7) and disturbance, with highest disturbed area (65 %) for AWC between 90 and 160 mm. Interestingly, we found no evidence for generally higher disturbance on shallow soils, although stands on the deepest soils were significantly less affected. Noteworthy, sites affected first did not necessarily exhibit highest proportions of disturbed area post-drought, indicating recovery or adaptation. We conclude that site- and species-specific understanding of drought impacts benefits from a combination of remote sensing and fine-scale soil information. Since our approach revealed which sites were affected first and most, it qualifies for prioritizing in situ monitoring activities to most vulnerable stands in acute drought conditions as well as for developing long-term strategies for reforestation and site-specific risk assessment for precision forestry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Birgitta Putzenlechner
- Institute of Geography, Dep. Cartography, GIS and Remote Sensing, Georg-August-University, Goldschmidtstr. 5, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
| | - Philipp Koal
- Forestry Research and Competence Centre, ThüringenForst AöR, Jägerstr. 1, 99867 Gotha, Germany
| | - Martin Kappas
- Institute of Geography, Dep. Cartography, GIS and Remote Sensing, Georg-August-University, Goldschmidtstr. 5, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Markus Löw
- Federal Research and Training Centre for Forests Natural Hazards and Landscape, Seckendorff-Gudent-Weg 8, 1130 Vienna, Austria
| | - Philip Mundhenk
- Forestry Research and Competence Centre, ThüringenForst AöR, Jägerstr. 1, 99867 Gotha, Germany
| | - Alexander Tischer
- Institute of Geography, Friedrich-Schiller-University, Löbdergraben 32, 07743 Jena, Germany
| | - Jakob Wernicke
- Forestry Research and Competence Centre, ThüringenForst AöR, Jägerstr. 1, 99867 Gotha, Germany
| | - Tatjana Koukal
- Federal Research and Training Centre for Forests Natural Hazards and Landscape, Seckendorff-Gudent-Weg 8, 1130 Vienna, Austria
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11
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Solly EF, Jaeger ACH, Barthel M, Werner RA, Zürcher A, Hagedorn F, Six J, Hartmann M. Water limitation intensity shifts carbon allocation dynamics in Scots pine mesocosms. PLANT AND SOIL 2023; 490:499-519. [PMID: 37780069 PMCID: PMC10533586 DOI: 10.1007/s11104-023-06093-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2023] [Accepted: 05/23/2023] [Indexed: 10/03/2023]
Abstract
Background and aims Tree species worldwide suffer from extended periods of water limitation. These conditions not only affect the growth and vitality of trees but also feed back on the cycling of carbon (C) at the plant-soil interface. However, the impact of progressing water loss from soils on the transfer of assimilated C belowground remains unresolved. Methods Using mesocosms, we assessed how increasing levels of water deficit affect the growth of Pinus sylvestris saplings and performed a 13C-CO2 pulse labelling experiment to trace the pathway of assimilated C into needles, fine roots, soil pore CO2, and phospholipid fatty acids of soil microbial groups. Results With increasing water limitation, trees partitioned more biomass belowground at the expense of aboveground growth. Moderate levels of water limitation barely affected the uptake of 13C label and the transit time of C from needles to the soil pore CO2. Comparatively, more severe water limitation increased the fraction of 13C label that trees allocated to fine roots and soil fungi while a lower fraction of 13CO2 was readily respired from the soil. Conclusions When soil water becomes largely unavailable, C cycling within trees becomes slower, and a fraction of C allocated belowground may accumulate in fine roots or be transferred to the soil and associated microorganisms without being metabolically used. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11104-023-06093-5.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily F. Solly
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, Sustainable Agroecosystems Group, ETH Zürich, Universitätstrasse 2, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Astrid C. H. Jaeger
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, Sustainable Agroecosystems Group, ETH Zürich, Universitätstrasse 2, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Matti Barthel
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, Sustainable Agroecosystems Group, ETH Zürich, Universitätstrasse 2, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Roland A. Werner
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, Grassland Sciences Group, ETH Zurich, Universitätstrasse 2, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Alois Zürcher
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Biogeochemistry Group, Zürcherstrasse 111, Birmensdorf, 8903 Switzerland
| | - Frank Hagedorn
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Biogeochemistry Group, Zürcherstrasse 111, Birmensdorf, 8903 Switzerland
| | - Johan Six
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, Sustainable Agroecosystems Group, ETH Zürich, Universitätstrasse 2, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Martin Hartmann
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, Sustainable Agroecosystems Group, ETH Zürich, Universitätstrasse 2, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
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12
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Peters RL, Steppe K, Pappas C, Zweifel R, Babst F, Dietrich L, von Arx G, Poyatos R, Fonti M, Fonti P, Grossiord C, Gharun M, Buchmann N, Steger DN, Kahmen A. Daytime stomatal regulation in mature temperate trees prioritizes stem rehydration at night. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2023. [PMID: 37235688 DOI: 10.1111/nph.18964] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2022] [Accepted: 04/16/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Trees remain sufficiently hydrated during drought by closing stomata and reducing canopy conductance (Gc ) in response to variations in atmospheric water demand and soil water availability. Thresholds that control the reduction of Gc are proposed to optimize hydraulic safety against carbon assimilation efficiency. However, the link between Gc and the ability of stem tissues to rehydrate at night remains unclear. We investigated whether species-specific Gc responses aim to prevent branch embolisms, or enable night-time stem rehydration, which is critical for turgor-dependent growth. For this, we used a unique combination of concurrent dendrometer, sap flow and leaf water potential measurements and collected branch-vulnerability curves of six common European tree species. Species-specific Gc reduction was weakly related to the water potentials at which 50% of branch xylem conductivity is lost (P50 ). Instead, we found a stronger relationship with stem rehydration. Species with a stronger Gc control were less effective at refilling stem-water storage as the soil dries, which appeared related to their xylem architecture. Our findings highlight the importance of stem rehydration for water-use regulation in mature trees, which likely relates to the maintenance of adequate stem turgor. We thus conclude that stem rehydration must complement the widely accepted safety-efficiency stomatal control paradigm.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard L Peters
- Laboratory of Plant Ecology, Department of Plants and Crops, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, B-9000, Ghent, Belgium
- Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Zürcherstrasse 111, CH-8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
- Forest is Life, TERRA Teaching and Research Centre, Gembloux Agro Bio-Tech, University of Liège, Passage des Déportés 2, 5030, Gembloux, Belgium
| | - Kathy Steppe
- Laboratory of Plant Ecology, Department of Plants and Crops, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, B-9000, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Christoforos Pappas
- Department of Civil Engineering, University of Patras, Rio, Patras, 26504, Greece
| | - Roman Zweifel
- Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Zürcherstrasse 111, CH-8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Flurin Babst
- School of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Arizona, East Lowell Street 1064, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA
- Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, East Lowell Street 1215, Tucson, AZ, 857121, USA
| | - Lars Dietrich
- Department of Environmental Sciences - Botany, University of Basel, Schönbeinstrasse 6, CH-4056, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Georg von Arx
- Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Zürcherstrasse 111, CH-8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
- Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, 3012, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Rafael Poyatos
- CREAF, E08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Catalonia, Spain
- Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, E08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Catalonia, Spain
| | - Marina Fonti
- Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Zürcherstrasse 111, CH-8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Patrick Fonti
- Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Zürcherstrasse 111, CH-8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Charlotte Grossiord
- Plant Ecology Research Laboratory PERL, School for Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering, EPFL, CH-1015, Lausanna, Switzerland
- Community Ecology Unit, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape WSL, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Mana Gharun
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Universitatstrasse 2, CH-8092, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Geosciences, University of Münster, Heisenbergstrasse 2, 48149, Münster, Germany
| | - Nina Buchmann
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Universitatstrasse 2, CH-8092, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - David N Steger
- Department of Environmental Sciences - Botany, University of Basel, Schönbeinstrasse 6, CH-4056, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Ansgar Kahmen
- Department of Environmental Sciences - Botany, University of Basel, Schönbeinstrasse 6, CH-4056, Basel, Switzerland
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13
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Zweifel R, Pappas C, Peters RL, Babst F, Balanzategui D, Basler D, Bastos A, Beloiu M, Buchmann N, Bose AK, Braun S, Damm A, D'Odorico P, Eitel JUH, Etzold S, Fonti P, Rouholahnejad Freund E, Gessler A, Haeni M, Hoch G, Kahmen A, Körner C, Krejza J, Krumm F, Leuchner M, Leuschner C, Lukovic M, Martínez-Vilalta J, Matula R, Meesenburg H, Meir P, Plichta R, Poyatos R, Rohner B, Ruehr N, Salomón RL, Scharnweber T, Schaub M, Steger DN, Steppe K, Still C, Stojanović M, Trotsiuk V, Vitasse Y, von Arx G, Wilmking M, Zahnd C, Sterck F. Networking the forest infrastructure towards near real-time monitoring - A white paper. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 872:162167. [PMID: 36775147 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2022] [Revised: 02/06/2023] [Accepted: 02/07/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Forests account for nearly 90 % of the world's terrestrial biomass in the form of carbon and they support 80 % of the global biodiversity. To understand the underlying forest dynamics, we need a long-term but also relatively high-frequency, networked monitoring system, as traditionally used in meteorology or hydrology. While there are numerous existing forest monitoring sites, particularly in temperate regions, the resulting data streams are rarely connected and do not provide information promptly, which hampers real-time assessments of forest responses to extreme climate events. The technology to build a better global forest monitoring network now exists. This white paper addresses the key structural components needed to achieve a novel meta-network. We propose to complement - rather than replace or unify - the existing heterogeneous infrastructure with standardized, quality-assured linking methods and interacting data processing centers to create an integrated forest monitoring network. These automated (research topic-dependent) linking methods in atmosphere, biosphere, and pedosphere play a key role in scaling site-specific results and processing them in a timely manner. To ensure broad participation from existing monitoring sites and to establish new sites, these linking methods must be as informative, reliable, affordable, and maintainable as possible, and should be supplemented by near real-time remote sensing data. The proposed novel meta-network will enable the detection of emergent patterns that would not be visible from isolated analyses of individual sites. In addition, the near real-time availability of data will facilitate predictions of current forest conditions (nowcasts), which are urgently needed for research and decision making in the face of rapid climate change. We call for international and interdisciplinary efforts in this direction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roman Zweifel
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland.
| | - Christoforos Pappas
- Department of Civil Engineering, University of Patras, Rio, Patras 26504, Greece.
| | - Richard L Peters
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Institute of Botany, University of Basel, Schönbeinstrasse 6, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
| | - Flurin Babst
- School of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Arizona, 1064 E Lowell St, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, 1215 E Lowell St, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
| | - Daniel Balanzategui
- GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Wissenschaftpark "Albert Einstein", Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, Germany; Geography Department, Humboldt University of Berlin, Rudower Ch 16, 12489 Berlin, DE, USA.
| | - David Basler
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland; Department of Environmental Sciences, Institute of Botany, University of Basel, Schönbeinstrasse 6, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
| | - Ana Bastos
- Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Dept. of Biogeochemical Integration, Hans Knöll Str. 10, 07745 Jena, Germany.
| | - Mirela Beloiu
- Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Nina Buchmann
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Universitätstr. 2, LFW C56, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Arun K Bose
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland; Forestry and Wood Technology Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna 9208, Bangladesh.
| | - Sabine Braun
- Institute for Applied Plant Biology, Benkenstrasse 254A, 4108 Witterswil, Switzerland.
| | - Alexander Damm
- Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland; Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science & Technology, Surface Waters - Research and Management, Ueberlandstrasse 133, 8600 Duebendorf, Switzerland.
| | - Petra D'Odorico
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland.
| | - Jan U H Eitel
- Department of Natural Resource and Society, University of Idaho, 1800 University Lane, 83638 McCall, ID, USA.
| | - Sophia Etzold
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland.
| | - Patrick Fonti
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland.
| | | | - Arthur Gessler
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland.
| | - Matthias Haeni
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland.
| | - Günter Hoch
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Institute of Botany, University of Basel, Schönbeinstrasse 6, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
| | - Ansgar Kahmen
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Institute of Botany, University of Basel, Schönbeinstrasse 6, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
| | - Christian Körner
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Institute of Botany, University of Basel, Schönbeinstrasse 6, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
| | - Jan Krejza
- Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Bělidla 4a, 603 00 Brno, Czech Republic.
| | - Frank Krumm
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland.
| | - Michael Leuchner
- Department of Physical Geography and Climatology, Institute of Geography, RWTH Aachen University, 52056 Aachen, Germany.
| | - Christoph Leuschner
- Plant Ecology, University of Göttingen, Untere Karspüle 2, 37073 Göttingen, Germany.
| | - Mirko Lukovic
- Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), Dübendorf 8600, Switzerland.
| | - Jordi Martínez-Vilalta
- CREAF, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Valles), Catalonia E08193, Spain; Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Valles), Catalonia E08193, Spain.
| | - Radim Matula
- Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, Praha 6, Suchdol 16521, Czech Republic.
| | - Henning Meesenburg
- Northwest German Forest Research Institute, Grätzelstr. 2, D-37079 Göttingen, Germany.
| | - Patrick Meir
- School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Alexander Crum Brown Road, Edinburgh EH93FF, UK.
| | - Roman Plichta
- Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemedelska 1, 61300 Brno, Czech Republic.
| | - Rafael Poyatos
- CREAF, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Valles), Catalonia E08193, Spain; Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Valles), Catalonia E08193, Spain.
| | - Brigitte Rohner
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland.
| | - Nadine Ruehr
- Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research - Atmospheric Environmental Research, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT, Garmisch-Partenkirchen 82467, Germany.
| | - Roberto L Salomón
- Departamento de Sistemas y Recursos Naturales, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
| | - Tobias Scharnweber
- DendroGreif, University Greifswald, Soldmannstrasse 15, D-17487 Greifswald, Germany.
| | - Marcus Schaub
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland.
| | - David N Steger
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Institute of Botany, University of Basel, Schönbeinstrasse 6, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
| | - Kathy Steppe
- Laboratory of Plant Ecology, Department of Plants and Crops, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, 9000 Gent, Belgium.
| | - Christopher Still
- Forest Ecosystems and Society Department, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA.
| | - Marko Stojanović
- Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Bělidla 4a, 603 00 Brno, Czech Republic.
| | - Volodymyr Trotsiuk
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland.
| | - Yann Vitasse
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland.
| | - Georg von Arx
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland; Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.
| | - Martin Wilmking
- DendroGreif, University Greifswald, Soldmannstrasse 15, D-17487 Greifswald, Germany.
| | - Cedric Zahnd
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Institute of Botany, University of Basel, Schönbeinstrasse 6, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
| | - Frank Sterck
- Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University and Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, the Netherlands.
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14
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Wang X, Fan Y, Zhang C, Zhao Y, Du G, Li M, Si B. From comfort zone to mortality: Sequence of physiological stress thresholds in Robinia pseudoacacia seedlings during progressive drought. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2023; 14:1149760. [PMID: 37008484 PMCID: PMC10060868 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1149760] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2023] [Accepted: 02/27/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Parameterizing the process of trees from the comfort zone to mortality during progressive drought is important for, but is not well represented in, vegetation models, given the lack of appropriate indices to gauge the response of trees to droughts. The objective of this study was to determine reliable and readily available tree drought stressindices and the thresholds at which droughts activate important physiological responses. METHODS We analyzed the changes in the transpiration (T), stomatal conductance, xylem conductance, and leaf health status due to a decrease in soil water availability (SWA), predawn xylem water potential (ψpd), and midday xylem water potential (ψmd) in Robinia pseudoacacia seedlings during progressive drought. RESULTS The results showed that ψmd was a better indicator of drought stress than SWA and ψpd, because ψmd was more closely related to the physiological response (defoliation and xylem embolization) during severe drought and could be measured more conveniently. We derived the following five stress levels from the observed responses to decreasing ψmd: comfort zone (ψmd > -0.9 MPa), wherein transpiration and stomatal conductance are not limited by SWA; moderate drought stress (-0.9 to -1.75 MPa), wherein transpiration and stomatal conductance are limited by drought; high drought stress (-1.75 to -2.59 MPa), wherein transpiration decreases significantly (T< 10%) and stomata closes completely; severe drought stress (-2.59 to -4.02 MPa), wherein transpiration ceases (T< 0.1%) and leaf shedding orwilting is > 50%; and extreme drought stress (< -4.02 MPa), leading to tree mortality due to xylem hydraulic failure. DISCUSSION To our knowledge, our scheme is the first to outline the quantitative thresholds for the downregulation of physiological processes in R. pseudoacacia during drought, therefore, can be used to synthesize valuable information for process-based vegetation models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xia Wang
- College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
| | - Yanli Fan
- College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
| | - Congcong Zhang
- College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
| | - Yihong Zhao
- College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
| | - Guangyuan Du
- College of Science, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
| | - Min Li
- College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
| | - Bingcheng Si
- College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
- Department of Soil Science, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada
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15
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Thomas FM, Schunck L, Zisakos A. Legacy Effects in Buds and Leaves of European Beech Saplings ( Fagus sylvatica) after Severe Drought. PLANTS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 12:568. [PMID: 36771652 PMCID: PMC9920899 DOI: 10.3390/plants12030568] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2022] [Revised: 01/12/2023] [Accepted: 01/17/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Against the background of climate change, we studied the effects of a severe summer drought on buds of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) saplings and on leaves formed during the subsequent spring in trees attributed to different drought-damage classes. For the first time, we combined assessments of the vitality (assessed through histochemical staining), mass and stable carbon isotope ratios (δ13C) of buds from drought-stressed woody plants with morphological and physiological variables of leaves that have emerged from the same plants and crown parts. The number, individual mass and vitality of the buds decreased and δ13C increased with increasing drought-induced damage. Bud mass, vitality and δ13C were significantly intercorrelated. The δ13C of the buds was imprinted on the leaves formed in the subsequent spring, but individual leaf mass, leaf size and specific leaf area were not significantly different among damage classes. Vitality and δ13C of the buds are suitable indicators of the extent of preceding drought impact. Bud vitality may be used as a simple means of screening saplings for the flushing capability in the subsequent spring. European beech saplings are susceptible, but-due to interindividual differences-are resilient, to a certain extent, to a singular severe drought stress.
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16
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Speckert TC, Petibon F, Wiesenberg GLB. Late-season biosynthesis of leaf fatty acids and n-alkanes of a mature beech ( Fagus sylvatica) tree traced via 13CO 2 pulse-chase labelling and compound-specific isotope analysis. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2023; 13:1029026. [PMID: 36684794 PMCID: PMC9853289 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.1029026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2022] [Accepted: 12/02/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Leaf cuticular waxes play an important role in reducing evapotranspiration via diffusion. However, the ability of mature trees to regulate the biosynthesis of waxes to changing conditions (e.g., drought, light exposition) remain an open question, especially during the late growing season. This holds also true for one of the most widely distributed trees in Central Europe, the European beech tree (Fagus sylvatica L.). In order to investigate the ongoing formation of wax constituents like alkanes and fatty acids, we conducted a 13CO2 pulse-chase labelling experiment on sun-exposed and shaded branches of a mature beech tree during the late summer 2018. The 13C-label was traced via compound-specific δ13C isotope analysis of n-alkanes and fatty acids to determine the de-novo biosynthesis within these compound classes. We did not observe a significant change in lipid concentrations during the late growing season, but we found higher n-alkane concentrations in sun-exposed compared to shaded leaves in August and September. The n-alkane and fatty acid composition showed ongoing modifications during the late growing season. Together with the uptake and following subsequent decrease of the 13C-label, this suggests ongoing de-novo biosynthesis, especially of fatty acids in European beech leaves. Moreover, there is a high variability in the 13C-label among individual branches and between sun-exposed and shaded leaves. At the same time, sun-exposed leaves invest more of the assimilated C into secondary metabolites such as lipids than shaded leaves. This indicates that the investigated mature beech tree could adjust its lipid production and composition in order to acclimate to changes in microclimates within the tree crown and during the investigated period.
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17
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Losso A, Challis A, Gauthey A, Nolan RH, Hislop S, Roff A, Boer MM, Jiang M, Medlyn BE, Choat B. Canopy dieback and recovery in Australian native forests following extreme drought. Sci Rep 2022; 12:21608. [PMID: 36517498 PMCID: PMC9751299 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-24833-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2022] [Accepted: 11/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
In 2019, south-eastern Australia experienced its driest and hottest year on record, resulting in massive canopy dieback events in eucalypt dominated forests. A subsequent period of high precipitation in 2020 provided a rare opportunity to quantify the impacts of extreme drought and consequent recovery. We quantified canopy health and hydraulic impairment (native percent loss of hydraulic conductivity, PLC) of 18 native tree species growing at 15 sites that were heavily impacted by the drought both during and 8-10 months after the drought. Most species exhibited high PLC during drought (PLC:65.1 ± 3.3%), with no clear patterns across sites or species. Heavily impaired trees (PLC > 70%) showed extensive canopy browning. In the post-drought period, most surviving trees exhibited hydraulic recovery (PLC:26.1 ± 5.1%), although PLC remained high in some trees (50-70%). Regained hydraulic function (PLC < 50%) corresponded to decreased canopy browning indicating improved tree health. Similar drought (37.1 ± 4.2%) and post-drought (35.1 ± 4.4%) percentages of basal area with dead canopy suggested that trees with severely compromised canopies immediately after drought were not able to recover. This dataset provides insights into the impacts of severe natural drought on the health of mature trees, where hydraulic failure is a major contributor in canopy dieback and tree mortality during extreme drought events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adriano Losso
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia.
- Department of Botany, University of Innsbruck, Sternwartestraße 15, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.
| | - Anthea Challis
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
| | - Alice Gauthey
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
- Plant Ecology Research Laboratory PERL, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne EPFL, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Rachael H Nolan
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
- NSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
| | - Samuel Hislop
- Forest Science, NSW Department of Primary Industries, Parramatta, NSW, 2150, Australia
| | - Adam Roff
- Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, Remote Sensing and Landscape Science, 26 Honeysuckle Drive, Newcastle, NSW, 2302, Australia
| | - Matthias M Boer
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
- NSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
| | - Mingkai Jiang
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
- College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, 866 Yuhangtang Rd, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
| | - Belinda E Medlyn
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
| | - Brendan Choat
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia.
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18
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Klesse S, Wohlgemuth T, Meusburger K, Vitasse Y, von Arx G, Lévesque M, Neycken A, Braun S, Dubach V, Gessler A, Ginzler C, Gossner MM, Hagedorn F, Queloz V, Samblás Vives E, Rigling A, Frei ER. Long-term soil water limitation and previous tree vigor drive local variability of drought-induced crown dieback in Fagus sylvatica. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2022; 851:157926. [PMID: 35985592 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157926] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2022] [Revised: 08/03/2022] [Accepted: 08/05/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Ongoing climate warming is increasing evapotranspiration, a process that reduces plant-available water and aggravates the impact of extreme droughts during the growing season. Such an exceptional hot drought occurred in Central Europe in 2018 and caused widespread defoliation in mid-summer in European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) forests. Here, we recorded crown damage in 2021 in nine mature even-aged beech-dominated stands in northwestern Switzerland along a crown damage severity gradient (low, medium, high) and analyzed tree-ring widths of 21 mature trees per stand. We aimed at identifying predisposing factors responsible for differences in crown damage across and within stands such as tree growth characteristics (average growth rates and year-to-year variability) and site-level variables (mean canopy height, soil properties). We found that stand-level crown damage severity was strongly related to soil water availability, inferred from tree canopy height and plant available soil water storage capacity (AWC). Trees were shorter in drier stands, had higher year-to-year variability in radial growth, and showed higher growth sensitivity to moisture conditions of previous late summer than trees growing on soils with sufficient AWC, indicating that radial growth in these forests is principally limited by soil water availability. Within-stand variation of post-drought crown damage corresponded to growth rate and tree size (diameter at breast height, DBH), i.e., smaller and slower-growing trees that face more competition, were associated with increased crown damage after the 2018 drought. These findings point to tree vigor before the extreme 2018 drought (long-term relative growth rate) as an important driver of damage severity within and across stands. Our results suggest that European beech is less likely to be able to cope with future climate change-induced extreme droughts on shallow soils with limited water retention capacity.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Klesse
- Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland.
| | - T Wohlgemuth
- Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - K Meusburger
- Forest Soils and Biogeochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Y Vitasse
- Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - G von Arx
- Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland; Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - M Lévesque
- Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - A Neycken
- Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - S Braun
- Institute for Applied Plant Biology AG, Witterswil, Switzerland
| | - V Dubach
- Forest Health & Biotic Interactions, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - A Gessler
- Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland; Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - C Ginzler
- Land Change Science, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - M M Gossner
- Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland; Forest Health & Biotic Interactions, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - F Hagedorn
- Forest Soils and Biogeochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - V Queloz
- Forest Health & Biotic Interactions, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - E Samblás Vives
- Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland; Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), 08193 Cerdanyola del Valles, Spain
| | - A Rigling
- Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland; Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - E R Frei
- Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland; Alpine Environment and Natural Hazards, WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, 7260 Davos Dorf, Switzerland; Climate Change and Extremes in Alpine Regions Research Centre CERC, 7260 Davos Dorf, Switzerland
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19
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Weithmann G, Schuldt B, Link RM, Heil D, Hoeber S, John H, Müller-Haubold H, Schüller LM, Schumann K, Leuschner C. Leaf trait modification in European beech trees in response to climatic and edaphic drought. PLANT BIOLOGY (STUTTGART, GERMANY) 2022; 24:1272-1286. [PMID: 34854183 DOI: 10.1111/plb.13366] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2021] [Revised: 10/07/2021] [Accepted: 10/17/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Leaf morphological and physiological traits control the carbon and water relations of mature trees and are determinants of drought tolerance, but it is not well understood how they are modified in response to water deficits. We analysed five sun-canopy leaf traits (mean leaf size (LS), specific leaf area (SLA), Huber value (HV), water potential at turgor loss point (Ψtlp ) and foliar carbon isotope signature (δ13 C)) in European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) across three precipitation gradients sampled in moist (2010), dry (2019) and very dry (2018) summers, and tested their response to short-term water deficits (climatic water balance (CWB) preceding sample collection) and long-term water availability (mean annual precipitation (MAP), plant-available soil water capacity (AWC) and neighbourhood competition). Across the 34 sites, LS varied seven-fold (3.9-27.0 cm2 ), SLA four-fold (77.1-306.9 cm²·g-1 ) and HV six-fold (1.0-6.65 cm2 ·m-2 ). In the 2018 dataset, LS showed a negative and HV a positive relationship to MAP, which contradicts relations found in multi-species samples. Average Ψtlp ranged from -1.90 to -2.62 MPa and decreased across the sites with decreasing CWB in the month prior to measurement, as well as with decreasing MAP and AWC in 2019. Studied leaf traits varied considerably between years, suggesting that mast fruiting and the severe 2018 drought caused the formation of smaller leaves. We conclude that sun-canopy leaf traits of European beech exhibit considerable plasticity in response to climatic and edaphic aridity, and that osmotic adjustment may be an important element in the drought response strategy of this anisohydric tree species.
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Affiliation(s)
- G Weithmann
- Plant Ecology, Albrecht von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - B Schuldt
- Plant Ecology, Albrecht von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - R M Link
- Plant Ecology, Albrecht von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - D Heil
- Plant Ecology, Albrecht von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - S Hoeber
- Plant Ecology, Albrecht von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - H John
- Plant Ecology, Albrecht von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - H Müller-Haubold
- Plant Ecology, Albrecht von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - L-M Schüller
- Plant Ecology, Albrecht von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - K Schumann
- Plant Ecology, Albrecht von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - C Leuschner
- Plant Ecology, Albrecht von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Centre for Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Use (CBL), University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
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20
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Kahmen A, Basler D, Hoch G, Link RM, Schuldt B, Zahnd C, Arend M. Root water uptake depth determines the hydraulic vulnerability of temperate European tree species during the extreme 2018 drought. PLANT BIOLOGY (STUTTGART, GERMANY) 2022; 24:1224-1239. [PMID: 36219537 DOI: 10.1111/plb.13476] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2022] [Accepted: 09/27/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
We took advantage of the European 2018 drought and assessed the mechanisms causing differences in drought vulnerability among mature individuals of nine co-occurring tree species at the Swiss Canopy Crane II site in Switzerland. Throughout the drought we monitored leaf water status and determined native embolism formation in the canopy of the trees as indicators of drought vulnerability. We also determined hydraulic vulnerability thresholds (Ψ12 -, Ψ50 - and Ψ88 -values), corresponding hydraulic safety margins (HSMs) and carbohydrate reserves for all species as well as total average leaf area per tree, and used stable isotopes to assess differences in root water uptake depth among the nine species as variables predicting differences in drought vulnerability among species. Marked differences in drought vulnerability were observed among the nine tree species. Six species maintained their water potentials above hydraulic thresholds, while three species, Fagus sylvatica, Carpinus betulus and Picea abies, were pushed beyond their hydraulic thresholds and showed loss of hydraulic conductivity in their canopies at the end of the drought. Embolism resistance thresholds and associated HSMs did not explain why the co-existing species differed in their drought vulnerability, neither did their degree of isohydry, nor their regulation of carbohydrate reserves. Instead, differences in structural-morphological traits, in particular root water uptake depth, were associated with the risk of reaching hydraulic vulnerability thresholds and embolism formation among the nine species. Our study shows that structural-morphological traits, such as root water uptake depth, determine how quickly different species approach hydraulic vulnerability thresholds during a drought event and can thus explain species differences in drought vulnerability among mature field-grown trees.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Kahmen
- Department of Environmental Sciences - Botany, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - D Basler
- Department of Environmental Sciences - Botany, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - G Hoch
- Department of Environmental Sciences - Botany, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - R M Link
- Ecophysiology and Vegetation Ecology, Universität Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - B Schuldt
- Ecophysiology and Vegetation Ecology, Universität Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - C Zahnd
- Department of Environmental Sciences - Botany, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - M Arend
- Department of Environmental Sciences - Botany, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
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21
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Bose AK, Rohner B, Bottero A, Ferretti M, Forrester DI. Did the 2018 megadrought change the partitioning of growth between tree sizes and species? A Swiss case-study. PLANT BIOLOGY (STUTTGART, GERMANY) 2022; 24:1146-1156. [PMID: 34939277 PMCID: PMC10078792 DOI: 10.1111/plb.13380] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2021] [Accepted: 11/29/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
By killing or weakening trees, drought could change the partitioning of growth between tree sizes or species, thereby altering stand structure. Growth partitioning, often quantified using the growth dominance coefficient (DC) or the shape of tree size versus growth relationships (SGR), indicates the relative contribution of differently sized trees to the total stand growth. Changes in growth partitioning due to droughts are rarely examined but provide valuable information that links tree- and stand-level responses to droughts. The objective of this study was to test whether the 2018 European megadrought altered the growth partitioning among tree sizes and species. For this purpose, we first evaluated whether DC or SGR can be calculated from small sample sizes of trees typical of individual forest inventory plots. DC, and particularly SGR, were sensitive to sample size, forest type (even-aged and uneven-aged), target variable (tree diameter, basal area or stem mass) and range of tree sizes within the sample. SGR could therefore not be used for our analyses. We found no differences in DC prior to and during the 2018 drought. However, when considering only beech (Fagus sylvatica)-dominated stands, DC was lower during post-drought years than during the 2018 drought. The growth of larger trees, especially beech, was more negatively affected during post-drought years. Therefore, an extreme drought event can indeed alter the growth partitioning within forest stands. The DC indicates such changes in partitioning and, hence, which trees can be selected for commercial thinning, or released from competition, to minimize potential impacts of droughts.
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Affiliation(s)
- A. K. Bose
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSLBirmensdorfSwitzerland
- Forestry and Wood Technology DisciplineKhulna UniversityKhulnaBangladesh
| | - B. Rohner
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSLBirmensdorfSwitzerland
- SwissForestLabBirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - A. Bottero
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSLBirmensdorfSwitzerland
- SwissForestLabBirmensdorfSwitzerland
- WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLFDavos DorfSwitzerland
- Climate Change, Extremes and Natural Hazards in Alpine Regions Research Center (CERC)Davos DorfSwitzerland
| | - M. Ferretti
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSLBirmensdorfSwitzerland
- SwissForestLabBirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - D. I. Forrester
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSLBirmensdorfSwitzerland
- SwissForestLabBirmensdorfSwitzerland
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22
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Frei ER, Gossner MM, Vitasse Y, Queloz V, Dubach V, Gessler A, Ginzler C, Hagedorn F, Meusburger K, Moor M, Samblás Vives E, Rigling A, Uitentuis I, von Arx G, Wohlgemuth T. European beech dieback after premature leaf senescence during the 2018 drought in northern Switzerland. PLANT BIOLOGY (STUTTGART, GERMANY) 2022; 24:1132-1145. [PMID: 36103113 PMCID: PMC10092601 DOI: 10.1111/plb.13467] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2022] [Accepted: 09/04/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
During the particularly severe hot summer drought in 2018, widespread premature leaf senescence was observed in several broadleaved tree species in Central Europe, particularly in European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.). For beech, it is yet unknown whether the drought evoked a decline towards tree mortality or whether trees can recover in the longer term. In this study, we monitored crown dieback, tree mortality and secondary drought damage symptoms in 963 initially live beech trees that exhibited either premature or normal leaf senescence in 2018 in three regions in northern Switzerland from 2018 to 2021. We related the observed damage to multiple climate- and stand-related parameters. Cumulative tree mortality continuously increased up to 7.2% and 1.3% in 2021 for trees with premature and normal leaf senescence in 2018, respectively. Mean crown dieback in surviving trees peaked at 29.2% in 2020 and 8.1% in 2019 for trees with premature and normal leaf senescence, respectively. Thereafter, trees showed first signs of recovery. Crown damage was more pronounced and recovery was slower for trees that showed premature leaf senescence in 2018, for trees growing on drier sites, and for larger trees. The presence of bleeding cankers peaked at 24.6% in 2019 and 10.7% in 2020 for trees with premature and normal leaf senescence, respectively. The presence of bark beetle holes peaked at 22.8% and 14.8% in 2021 for trees with premature and normal leaf senescence, respectively. Both secondary damage symptoms occurred more frequently in trees that had higher proportions of crown dieback and/or showed premature senescence in 2018. Our findings demonstrate context-specific differences in beech mortality and recovery reflecting the importance of regional and local climate and soil conditions. Adapting management to increase forest resilience is gaining importance, given the expected further beech decline on dry sites in northern Switzerland.
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Affiliation(s)
- E. R. Frei
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSLBirmensdorfSwitzerland
- WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLFDavos DorfSwitzerland
- SwissForestLabBirmensdorfSwitzerland
- Climate Change and Extremes in Alpine Regions Research Centre CERCDavos DorfSwitzerland
| | - M. M. Gossner
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSLBirmensdorfSwitzerland
- SwissForestLabBirmensdorfSwitzerland
- Department of Environmental Systems ScienceETH ZurichZurichSwitzerland
| | - Y. Vitasse
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSLBirmensdorfSwitzerland
- SwissForestLabBirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - V. Queloz
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSLBirmensdorfSwitzerland
- SwissForestLabBirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - V. Dubach
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSLBirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - A. Gessler
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSLBirmensdorfSwitzerland
- SwissForestLabBirmensdorfSwitzerland
- Department of Environmental Systems ScienceETH ZurichZurichSwitzerland
| | - C. Ginzler
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSLBirmensdorfSwitzerland
- SwissForestLabBirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - F. Hagedorn
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSLBirmensdorfSwitzerland
- SwissForestLabBirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - K. Meusburger
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSLBirmensdorfSwitzerland
- SwissForestLabBirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - M. Moor
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSLBirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - E. Samblás Vives
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSLBirmensdorfSwitzerland
- Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB)Cerdanyola del VallesSpain
| | - A. Rigling
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSLBirmensdorfSwitzerland
- SwissForestLabBirmensdorfSwitzerland
- Department of Environmental Systems ScienceETH ZurichZurichSwitzerland
| | - I. Uitentuis
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSLBirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - G. von Arx
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSLBirmensdorfSwitzerland
- SwissForestLabBirmensdorfSwitzerland
- Oeschger Centre for Climate Change ResearchUniversity of BernBernSwitzerland
| | - T. Wohlgemuth
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSLBirmensdorfSwitzerland
- SwissForestLabBirmensdorfSwitzerland
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23
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Meyer P, Spînu AP, Mölder A, Bauhus J. Management alters drought-induced mortality patterns in European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) forests. PLANT BIOLOGY (STUTTGART, GERMANY) 2022; 24:1157-1170. [PMID: 35137514 DOI: 10.1111/plb.13396] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2021] [Accepted: 01/06/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
The high tree mortality during the dry and hot years of 2018-2019 in Europe has triggered concerns on the future of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) forests under climate change and raised questions as to whether forest management may increase tree mortality. We compared long-term mortality rates of beech between managed and unmanaged stands including the years 2018-2019 at 11 sites in Hesse, Germany. We hypothesized that mortality would increase with climate water deficits during the growing season, initial stand density, decreasing dominance of trees, and decreasing intensity of tree removals. Initial stand density, tree removals, the climate water balance and the competitive status of trees were used as predictor variables. Mean annual natural mortality rates ranged between 0.5% and 2.1%. Even in the drought years, we observed no signs of striking canopy disintegration. The significantly higher mortality (1.6-2.1%) in unmanaged stands during the drought years 2018 and 2019 was largely confined to suppressed trees. There was no significant increase of mortality in managed stands during the drought years, but a shift in mortality towards larger canopy trees. Our study did not confirm a general influence of management, in the form of tree removals, on mortality rates. Yet, we found that during drought years, management changed the distribution of mortality within the tree community. To analyse the effects of management on mortality rates more comprehensively, a wider gradient in site moisture conditions, including sites drier than in this study, and longer post-drought periods should be employed.
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Affiliation(s)
- P Meyer
- Department of Forest Nature Conservation, Northwest German Forest Research Institute, Hann. Münden, Germany
| | - A P Spînu
- Chair of Silviculture, Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - A Mölder
- Department of Forest Nature Conservation, Northwest German Forest Research Institute, Hann. Münden, Germany
| | - J Bauhus
- Chair of Silviculture, Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
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24
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Knüver T, Bär A, Ganthaler A, Gebhardt T, Grams TEE, Häberle K, Hesse BD, Losso A, Tomedi I, Mayr S, Beikircher B. Recovery after long-term summer drought: Hydraulic measurements reveal legacy effects in trunks of Picea abies but not in Fagus sylvatica. PLANT BIOLOGY (STUTTGART, GERMANY) 2022; 24:1240-1253. [PMID: 35611757 PMCID: PMC10084041 DOI: 10.1111/plb.13444] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2021] [Accepted: 05/09/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of summer droughts. Sufficient drought resistance, the ability to acclimate to and/or recover after drought, is thus crucial for forest tree species. However, studies on the hydraulics of mature trees during and after drought in natura are scarce. In this study, we analysed trunk water content (electrical resistivity: ER) and further hydraulic (water potential, sap flow density, specific hydraulic conductivity, vulnerability to embolism) as well as wood anatomical traits (tree ring width, conduit diameter, conduit wall reinforcement) of drought-stressed (artificially induced summer drought via throughfall-exclusion) and unstressed Picea abies and Fagus sylvatica trees. In P. abies, ER indicated a strong reduction in trunk water content after 5 years of summer drought, corresponding to significantly lower pre-dawn leaf water potential and xylem sap flow density. Vulnerability to embolism tended to be higher in drought-stressed trees. In F. sylvatica, only small differences between drought-stressed and control trees were observed. Re-watering led to a rapid increase in water potentials and xylem sap flow of both drought-stressed trees, and to increased growth rates in the next growing season. ER analyses revealed lower trunk water content in P. abies trees growing on throughfall-exclusion plots even 1 year after re-watering, indicating a limited capacity to restore internal water reserves. Results demonstrated that P. abies is more susceptible to recurrent summer drought than F. sylvatica, and can exhibit long-lasting and pronounced legacy effects in trunk water reserves.
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Affiliation(s)
- T. Knüver
- Department of BotanyUniversity of InnsbruckInnsbruckAustria
| | - A. Bär
- Department of BotanyUniversity of InnsbruckInnsbruckAustria
| | - A. Ganthaler
- Department of BotanyUniversity of InnsbruckInnsbruckAustria
| | - T. Gebhardt
- Technical University of MunichSchool of Life SciencesProfessorship for Land Surface‐Atmosphere Interactions AG Ecophysiology of PlantsFreisingGermany
| | - T. E. E. Grams
- Technical University of MunichSchool of Life SciencesProfessorship for Land Surface‐Atmosphere Interactions AG Ecophysiology of PlantsFreisingGermany
| | - K.‐H. Häberle
- Technical University of MunichSchool of Life SciencesChair of Restoration EcologyFreisingGermany
| | - B. D. Hesse
- Technical University of MunichSchool of Life SciencesProfessorship for Land Surface‐Atmosphere Interactions AG Ecophysiology of PlantsFreisingGermany
| | - A. Losso
- Department of BotanyUniversity of InnsbruckInnsbruckAustria
- Hawkesbury Institute for the EnvironmentWestern Sydney UniversityRichmondAustralia
| | - I. Tomedi
- Department of BotanyUniversity of InnsbruckInnsbruckAustria
| | - S. Mayr
- Department of BotanyUniversity of InnsbruckInnsbruckAustria
| | - B. Beikircher
- Department of BotanyUniversity of InnsbruckInnsbruckAustria
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25
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Weithmann G, Paligi SS, Schuldt B, Leuschner C. Branch xylem vascular adjustments in European beech in response to decreasing water availability across a precipitation gradient. TREE PHYSIOLOGY 2022; 42:2224-2238. [PMID: 35861677 DOI: 10.1093/treephys/tpac080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2021] [Accepted: 07/02/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Crucial for the climate adaptation of trees is a xylem anatomical structure capable of adjusting to changing water regimes. Although species comparisons across climate zones have demonstrated anatomical change in response to altered water availability and tree height, less is known about the adaptability of tree vascular systems to increasing water deficits at the intraspecific level. Information on the between-population and within-population variability of xylem traits helps assessing a species' ability to cope with climate change. We investigated the variability of wood anatomical and related hydraulic traits in terminal branches of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) trees across a precipitation gradient (520-890 mm year-1) and examined the influence of climatic water balance (CWB), soil water capacity (AWC), neighborhood competition (CI), tree height and branch age on these traits. Furthermore, the relationship between xylem anatomical traits and embolism resistance (P50) was tested. Within-population trait variation was larger than between-population variation. Vessel diameter, lumen-to-sapwood area ratio and potential conductivity of terminal branches decreased with decreasing CWB, but these traits were not affected by AWC, whereas vessel density increased with an AWC decrease. In contrast, none of the studied anatomical traits were influenced by variation in tree height (21-34 m) or CI. Branch age was highly variable (2-22 years) despite equal diameter and position in the flow path, suggesting different growth trajectories in the past. Vessel diameter decreased, and vessel density increased, with increasing branch age, reflecting negative annual radial growth trends. Although vessel diameter was not related to P50, vessel grouping index and lumen-to-sapwood area ratio showed a weak, though highly significant, positive relationship to P50. We conclude that the xylem anatomy of terminal tree-top branches in European beech is modified in response to increasing climatic aridity and/or decreasing soil water availability, independent of a tree height effect.
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Affiliation(s)
- Greta Weithmann
- Plant Ecology, Albrecht von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Goettingen, Untere Karspüle 2, 37073 Goettingen, Germany
| | - Sharath Shyamappa Paligi
- Plant Ecology, Albrecht von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Goettingen, Untere Karspüle 2, 37073 Goettingen, Germany
| | - Bernhard Schuldt
- Plant Ecology, Albrecht von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Goettingen, Untere Karspüle 2, 37073 Goettingen, Germany
- Ecophysiology and Vegetation Ecology, Julius-von-Sachs-Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Würzburg, Julius-von-Sachs-Platz, 97082 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Christoph Leuschner
- Plant Ecology, Albrecht von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Goettingen, Untere Karspüle 2, 37073 Goettingen, Germany
- Centre for Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Use (CBL), University of Goettingen, 37075 Goettingen, Germany
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26
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Schönbeck LC, Schuler P, Lehmann MM, Mas E, Mekarni L, Pivovaroff AL, Turberg P, Grossiord C. Increasing temperature and vapour pressure deficit lead to hydraulic damages in the absence of soil drought. PLANT, CELL & ENVIRONMENT 2022; 45:3275-3289. [PMID: 36030547 PMCID: PMC9826222 DOI: 10.1111/pce.14425] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2022] [Accepted: 08/22/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Temperature (T) and vapour pressure deficit (VPD) are important drivers of plant hydraulic conductivity, growth, mortality, and ecosystem productivity, independently of soil water availability. Our goal was to disentangle the effects of T and VPD on plant hydraulic responses. Young trees of Fagus sylvatica L., Quercus pubescens Willd. and Quercus ilex L. were exposed to a cross-combination of a T and VPD manipulation under unlimited soil water availability. Stem hydraulic conductivity and leaf-level hydraulic traits (e.g., gas exchange and osmotic adjustment) were tracked over a full growing season. Significant loss of xylem conductive area (PLA) was found in F. sylvatica and Q. pubescens due to rising VPD and T, but not in Q. ilex. Increasing T aggravated the effects of high VPD in F. sylvatica only. PLA was driven by maximum hydraulic conductivity and minimum leaf conductance, suggesting that high transpiration and water loss after stomatal closure contributed to plant hydraulic stress. This study shows for the first time that rising VPD and T lead to losses of stem conductivity even when soil water is not limiting, highlighting their rising importance in plant mortality mechanisms in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leonie C. Schönbeck
- Plant Ecology Research Laboratory PERL, School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering ENACEPFLLausanneSwitzerland
- Community Ecology Unit, Swiss Federal Institute for ForestSnow and Landscape WSLLausanneSwitzerland
- Department of Botany & Plant SciencesUniversity of California, RiversideRiversideCaliforniaUSA
| | - Philipp Schuler
- Forest Dynamics Unit, Swiss Federal Institute for ForestSnow and Landscape WSLBirmensdorfSwitzerland
- Institute of Agricultural SciencesETH ZurichZurichSwitzerland
| | - Marco M. Lehmann
- Forest Dynamics Unit, Swiss Federal Institute for ForestSnow and Landscape WSLBirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - Eugénie Mas
- Plant Ecology Research Laboratory PERL, School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering ENACEPFLLausanneSwitzerland
- Community Ecology Unit, Swiss Federal Institute for ForestSnow and Landscape WSLLausanneSwitzerland
| | - Laura Mekarni
- Plant Ecology Research Laboratory PERL, School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering ENACEPFLLausanneSwitzerland
- Community Ecology Unit, Swiss Federal Institute for ForestSnow and Landscape WSLLausanneSwitzerland
| | | | - Pascal Turberg
- Plant Ecology Research Laboratory PERL, School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering ENACEPFLLausanneSwitzerland
- Community Ecology Unit, Swiss Federal Institute for ForestSnow and Landscape WSLLausanneSwitzerland
| | - Charlotte Grossiord
- Plant Ecology Research Laboratory PERL, School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering ENACEPFLLausanneSwitzerland
- Community Ecology Unit, Swiss Federal Institute for ForestSnow and Landscape WSLLausanneSwitzerland
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27
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Meusburger K, Trotsiuk V, Schmidt‐Walter P, Baltensweiler A, Brun P, Bernhard F, Gharun M, Habel R, Hagedorn F, Köchli R, Psomas A, Puhlmann H, Thimonier A, Waldner P, Zimmermann S, Walthert L. Soil-plant interactions modulated water availability of Swiss forests during the 2015 and 2018 droughts. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2022; 28:5928-5944. [PMID: 35795901 PMCID: PMC9546155 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16332] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2022] [Revised: 07/02/2022] [Accepted: 06/06/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Central Europe has been experiencing unprecedented droughts during the last decades, stressing the decrease in tree water availability. However, the assessment of physiological drought stress is challenging, and feedback between soil and vegetation is often omitted because of scarce belowground data. Here we aimed to model Swiss forests' water availability during the 2015 and 2018 droughts by implementing the mechanistic soil-vegetation-atmosphere-transport (SVAT) model LWF-Brook90 taking advantage of regionalized depth-resolved soil information. We calibrated the model against soil matric potential data measured from 2014 to 2018 at 44 sites along a Swiss climatic and edaphic drought gradient. Swiss forest soils' storage capacity of plant-available water ranged from 53 mm to 341 mm, with a median of 137 ± 42 mm down to the mean potential rooting depth of 1.2 m. Topsoil was the primary water source. However, trees switched to deeper soil water sources during drought. This effect was less pronounced for coniferous trees with a shallower rooting system than for deciduous trees, which resulted in a higher reduction of actual transpiration (transpiration deficit) in coniferous trees. Across Switzerland, forest trees reduced the transpiration by 23% (compared to potential transpiration) in 2015 and 2018, maintaining annual actual transpiration comparable to other years. Together with lower evaporative fluxes, the Swiss forests did not amplify the blue water deficit. The 2018 drought, characterized by a higher and more persistent transpiration deficit than in 2015, triggered widespread early wilting across Swiss forests that was better predicted by the SVAT-derived mean soil matric potential in the rooting zone than by climatic predictors. Such feedback-driven quantification of ecosystem water fluxes in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum will be crucial to predicting physiological drought stress under future climate extremes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katrin Meusburger
- Swiss Federal Institute for ForestSnow and Landscape Research (WSL)BirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - Volodymyr Trotsiuk
- Swiss Federal Institute for ForestSnow and Landscape Research (WSL)BirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - Paul Schmidt‐Walter
- Agrometeorological Research CenterGerman Weather Service (DWD)BraunschweigGermany
| | - Andri Baltensweiler
- Swiss Federal Institute for ForestSnow and Landscape Research (WSL)BirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - Philipp Brun
- Swiss Federal Institute for ForestSnow and Landscape Research (WSL)BirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - Fabian Bernhard
- Swiss Federal Institute for ForestSnow and Landscape Research (WSL)BirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - Mana Gharun
- Department of Environmental Systems ScienceETH ZürichZürichSwitzerland
- Department of GeosciencesUniversity of MünsterMünsterGermany
| | - Raphael Habel
- Department of Soil and EnvironmentForest Research Institute Baden WürttembergFreiburgGermany
| | - Frank Hagedorn
- Swiss Federal Institute for ForestSnow and Landscape Research (WSL)BirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - Roger Köchli
- Swiss Federal Institute for ForestSnow and Landscape Research (WSL)BirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - Achilleas Psomas
- Swiss Federal Institute for ForestSnow and Landscape Research (WSL)BirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - Heike Puhlmann
- Department of Soil and EnvironmentForest Research Institute Baden WürttembergFreiburgGermany
| | - Anne Thimonier
- Swiss Federal Institute for ForestSnow and Landscape Research (WSL)BirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - Peter Waldner
- Swiss Federal Institute for ForestSnow and Landscape Research (WSL)BirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - Stephan Zimmermann
- Swiss Federal Institute for ForestSnow and Landscape Research (WSL)BirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - Lorenz Walthert
- Swiss Federal Institute for ForestSnow and Landscape Research (WSL)BirmensdorfSwitzerland
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28
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Sorek Y, Greenstein S, Hochberg U. Seasonal adjustment of leaf embolism resistance and its importance for hydraulic safety in deciduous trees. PHYSIOLOGIA PLANTARUM 2022; 174:e13785. [PMID: 36151946 PMCID: PMC9828144 DOI: 10.1111/ppl.13785] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2022] [Revised: 08/27/2022] [Accepted: 09/15/2022] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Embolism resistance is often viewed as seasonally stable. Here we examined the seasonality in the leaf xylem vulnerability curve (VC) and turgor loss point (ΨTLP ) of nine deciduous species that originated from Mediterranean, temperate, tropical, or sub-tropical habitats and were growing on the Volcani campus, Israel. All four Mediterranean/temperate species exhibited a shift of their VC to lower xylem pressures (Ψx ) along the dry season, in addition to two of the five tropical/sub-tropical species. In three of the species that exhibited VC seasonality, it was critical for avoiding embolism in the leaf. In total, seven out of the nine species avoided embolism. The seasonal VC adjustment was over two times higher as compared with the seasonal adjustment of ΨTLP , resulting in improved hydraulic safety as the season progressed. The results suggest that seasonality in the leaf xylem vulnerability is common in species that originate from Mediterranean or temperate habitats that have large seasonal environmental changes. This seasonality is advantageous because it enables a gradual seasonal reduction in the Ψx without increasing the danger of embolism. The results also highlight that measuring the minimal Ψx and the VC at different times can lead to erroneous estimations of the hydraulic safety margins. Changing the current hydraulic dogma into a seasonal dynamic in the vulnerability of the xylem itself should enable physiologists to understand plants' responses to their environment better.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yonatan Sorek
- Institute of Soil, Water and Environmental Science, Volcani CenterAgricultural Research OrganizationRishon LeZionIsrael
- The Robert H. Smith Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Food and EnvironmentThe Hebrew University of JerusalemRehovotIsrael
| | - Smadar Greenstein
- Institute of Soil, Water and Environmental Science, Volcani CenterAgricultural Research OrganizationRishon LeZionIsrael
| | - Uri Hochberg
- Institute of Soil, Water and Environmental Science, Volcani CenterAgricultural Research OrganizationRishon LeZionIsrael
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29
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Arend M, Link RM, Zahnd C, Hoch G, Schuldt B, Kahmen A. Lack of hydraulic recovery as a cause of post-drought foliage reduction and canopy decline in European beech. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2022; 234:1195-1205. [PMID: 35238410 PMCID: PMC9310744 DOI: 10.1111/nph.18065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2021] [Accepted: 02/19/2022] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
European beech (Fagus sylvatica) was among the most affected tree species during the severe 2018 European drought. It not only suffered from instant physiological stress but also showed severe symptoms of defoliation and canopy decline in the following year. To explore the underlying mechanisms, we used the Swiss-Canopy-Crane II site and studied in branches of healthy and symptomatic trees the repair of hydraulic function and concentration of carbohydrates during the 2018 drought and in 2019. We found loss of hydraulic conductance in 2018, which did not recover in 2019 in trees that developed defoliation symptoms in the year after drought. Reduced branch foliation in symptomatic trees was associated with a gradual decline in wood starch concentration throughout summer 2019. Visualization of water transport in healthy and symptomatic branches in the year after the drought confirmed the close relationship between xylem functionality and supported branch leaf area. Our findings showed that embolized xylem does not regain function in the season following a drought and that sustained branch hydraulic dysfunction is counterbalanced by the reduction in supported leaf area. It suggests acclimation of leaf development after drought to mitigate disturbances in canopy hydraulic function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthias Arend
- Physiological Plant EcologyUniversity of Basel4056BaselSwitzerland
| | - Roman Mathias Link
- Ecophysiology and Vegetation EcologyUniversität Würzburg97082WürzburgGermany
| | - Cedric Zahnd
- Physiological Plant EcologyUniversity of Basel4056BaselSwitzerland
| | - Günter Hoch
- Physiological Plant EcologyUniversity of Basel4056BaselSwitzerland
| | - Bernhard Schuldt
- Ecophysiology and Vegetation EcologyUniversität Würzburg97082WürzburgGermany
| | - Ansgar Kahmen
- Physiological Plant EcologyUniversity of Basel4056BaselSwitzerland
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30
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Miranda JC, Calderaro C, Cocozza C, Lasserre B, Tognetti R, von Arx G. Wood Anatomical Responses of European Beech to Elevation, Land Use Change, and Climate Variability in the Central Apennines, Italy. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2022; 13:855741. [PMID: 35401623 PMCID: PMC8983936 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.855741] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2022] [Accepted: 02/21/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) is a widespread and economically important temperate tree species in Europe. The warmer temperatures and severe drought events expected in the future, especially in Mediterranean areas, could affect the vitality and productivity of beech stands that have been intensively used in these areas in the past. Here, we aim to assess the wood anatomical responses of beech to environmental variability and silvicultural practices by investigating three beech stands along an elevational gradient (1,200 to 1,950 m a.s.l.) in the Apennines (Italy). Therefore, we quantified several anatomical traits of the xylem vessels related to tree hydraulics from five trees per stand and investigated variability between and within tree rings. Our results suggest generally limited trait plasticity, with higher plasticity of mean vessel lumen area and theoretical hydraulic conductivity, while maximum vessel size and mean hydraulic diameter were less plastic, likely because of the stronger determination by tree height. High-elevation trees were hydraulically more limited than trees at a mid and lower elevation as indicated by the more conservative anatomical configuration, i.e., comparatively smaller vessels and a 50% tighter trait coordination. Cessation of coppicing resulted in a hydraulically safer anatomy with comparatively smaller vessels at the most intensively used site (1,200 m), triggered by increased water demand due to an increase in canopy density, and thus, an increase in stand transpiration. Furthermore, maximum vessel size at the beginning showed different climate sensitivity compared to the rest of the tree ring, while intra-ring anatomical profiles showed little difference between normal and the 5 years with the highest and lowest mean temperature and precipitation. Overall, this study highlights the challenges to separate the externally induced medium- to longer-term responses from ontogenetically determined patterns. We, therefore, call for more comprehensive studies to further explore and verify the plasticity of wood anatomical traits in European beech in response to short- to long-term environmental fluctuations to gain a mechanistic understanding useful for sustainable forest ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jose Carlos Miranda
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Chiara Calderaro
- Dipartimento di Bioscienze e Territorio, Università degli Studi del Molise, Pesche, Italy
| | - Claudia Cocozza
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Agrarie, Alimentari Ambientali e Forestali, Università di Firenze, Firenze, Italy
| | - Bruno Lasserre
- Dipartimento di Bioscienze e Territorio, Università degli Studi del Molise, Pesche, Italy
| | - Roberto Tognetti
- Dipartimento di Agricoltura, Ambiente e Alimenti, Università degli Studi del Molise, Campobasso, Italy
| | - Georg von Arx
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
- Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
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31
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Tumajer J, Scharnweber T, Smiljanic M, Wilmking M. Limitation by vapour pressure deficit shapes different intra-annual growth patterns of diffuse- and ring-porous temperate broadleaves. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2022; 233:2429-2441. [PMID: 35000201 DOI: 10.1111/nph.17952] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2021] [Accepted: 12/20/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the effects of temperature and moisture on radial growth is vital for assessing the impacts of climate change on carbon and water cycles. However, studies observing growth at sub-daily temporal scales remain scarce. We analysed sub-daily growth dynamics and its climatic drivers recorded by point dendrometers for 35 trees of three temperate broadleaved species during the years 2015-2020. We isolated irreversible growth driven by cambial activity from the dendrometer records. Next, we compared the intra-annual growth patterns among species and delimited their climatic optima. The growth of all species peaked at air temperatures between 12 and 16°C and vapour pressure deficit (VPD) below 0.1 kPa. Acer pseudoplatanus and Fagus sylvatica, both diffuse-porous, sustained growth under suboptimal VPD. Ring-porous Quercus robur experienced a steep decline of growth rates with reduced air humidity. This resulted in multiple irregular growth peaks of Q. robur during the year. By contrast, the growth patterns of the diffuse-porous species were always right-skewed unimodal with a peak in June between day of the year 150-170. Intra-annual growth patterns are shaped more by VPD than temperature. The different sensitivity of radial growth to VPD is responsible for unimodal growth patterns in both diffuse-porous species and multimodal growth pattern in Q. robur.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Tumajer
- Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Soldmannstraβe 15, 17487, Greifswald, Germany
- Department of Physical Geography and Geoecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Albertov 6, 12843, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Tobias Scharnweber
- Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Soldmannstraβe 15, 17487, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Marko Smiljanic
- Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Soldmannstraβe 15, 17487, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Martin Wilmking
- Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Soldmannstraβe 15, 17487, Greifswald, Germany
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32
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Weithmann G, Link RM, Banzragch BE, Würzberg L, Leuschner C, Schuldt B. Soil water availability and branch age explain variability in xylem safety of European beech in Central Europe. Oecologia 2022; 198:629-644. [PMID: 35212818 PMCID: PMC8956530 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-022-05124-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2021] [Accepted: 01/24/2022] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Xylem embolism resistance has been identified as a key trait with a causal relation to drought-induced tree mortality, but not much is known about its intra-specific trait variability (ITV) in dependence on environmental variation. We measured xylem safety and efficiency in 300 European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) trees across 30 sites in Central Europe, covering a precipitation reduction from 886 to 522 mm year−1. A broad range of variables that might affect embolism resistance in mature trees, including climatic and soil water availability, competition, and branch age, were examined. The average P50 value varied by up to 1 MPa between sites. Neither climatic aridity nor structural variables had a significant influence on P50. However, P50 was less negative for trees with a higher soil water storage capacity, and positively related to branch age, while specific conductivity (Ks) was not significantly associated with either of these variables. The greatest part of the ITV for xylem safety and efficiency was attributed to random variability within populations. We conclude that the influence of site water availability on P50 and Ks is low in European beech, and that the high degree of within-population variability for P50, partly due to variation in branch age, hampers the identification of a clear environmental signal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Greta Weithmann
- Plant Ecology, Albrecht Von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Goettingen, Untere Karspüle 2, 37073, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Roman M Link
- Plant Ecology, Albrecht Von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Goettingen, Untere Karspüle 2, 37073, Göttingen, Germany.,Ecophysiology and Vegetation Ecology, Julius-von-Sachs-Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Würzburg, Julius-von-Sachs-Platz, 97082, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Bat-Enerel Banzragch
- Plant Ecology, Albrecht Von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Goettingen, Untere Karspüle 2, 37073, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Laura Würzberg
- Plant Ecology, Albrecht Von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Goettingen, Untere Karspüle 2, 37073, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Christoph Leuschner
- Plant Ecology, Albrecht Von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Goettingen, Untere Karspüle 2, 37073, Göttingen, Germany.,Centre for Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Use (CBL), University of Goettingen, 37075, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Bernhard Schuldt
- Plant Ecology, Albrecht Von Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Goettingen, Untere Karspüle 2, 37073, Göttingen, Germany. .,Ecophysiology and Vegetation Ecology, Julius-von-Sachs-Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Würzburg, Julius-von-Sachs-Platz, 97082, Würzburg, Germany.
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33
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Leuschner C, Schipka F, Backes K. Stomatal regulation and water potential variation in European beech: challenging the iso/anisohydry concept. TREE PHYSIOLOGY 2022; 42:365-378. [PMID: 34415347 DOI: 10.1093/treephys/tpab104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2021] [Accepted: 07/21/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The iso/anisohydric continuum has been used to classify tree species' drought response strategies. The range over which stomata are regulating leaf water potential (ψl) before turgor loss occurs can be described with metrics such as the dependence of ψl on soil water potential (ψsoil) and the size of 'hydroscape area' (HA), but corresponding field data from adult trees are scarce. We examined the stomatal conductance (gs)-ψl relationship in its temporal (diurnal vs seasonal and interannual) and spatial (within-crown vs between-site) variation in European beech, using extensive ψl and gs measurements in the canopy of four beech stands across a precipitation gradient, and complemented the data set by published ψl and gs measurements in further Central European beech stands (including the extreme 2018 drought) in order to cover the full water potential operation space of the species. Both metrics characterize beech as a strictly anisohydric species with δψl/δψsoil >> 1 and HA = 4 MPa2. However, stomates close sensitively in response to increasing vapor pressure deficit, disproving the widely assumed dependence of large ψl variation on looser stomatal control. Characterizing the water status regulation mechanisms of trees requires separating diurnal from day-to-day variation in ψl and gs. The large diurnal and seasonal ψl variation in beech leaves is partly caused by a low leaf tissue elasticity, suggesting that a whole-plant perspective with consideration of osmotic and elastic tissue properties and stem and root hydraulics is needed for fully understanding ψl regulation and the drought tolerance strategy of trees.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Florian Schipka
- Plant Ecology, University of Goettingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Katharina Backes
- Plant Ecology, University of Goettingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
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34
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Salomón RL, Peters RL, Zweifel R, Sass-Klaassen UGW, Stegehuis AI, Smiljanic M, Poyatos R, Babst F, Cienciala E, Fonti P, Lerink BJW, Lindner M, Martinez-Vilalta J, Mencuccini M, Nabuurs GJ, van der Maaten E, von Arx G, Bär A, Akhmetzyanov L, Balanzategui D, Bellan M, Bendix J, Berveiller D, Blaženec M, Čada V, Carraro V, Cecchini S, Chan T, Conedera M, Delpierre N, Delzon S, Ditmarová Ľ, Dolezal J, Dufrêne E, Edvardsson J, Ehekircher S, Forner A, Frouz J, Ganthaler A, Gryc V, Güney A, Heinrich I, Hentschel R, Janda P, Ježík M, Kahle HP, Knüsel S, Krejza J, Kuberski Ł, Kučera J, Lebourgeois F, Mikoláš M, Matula R, Mayr S, Oberhuber W, Obojes N, Osborne B, Paljakka T, Plichta R, Rabbel I, Rathgeber CBK, Salmon Y, Saunders M, Scharnweber T, Sitková Z, Stangler DF, Stereńczak K, Stojanović M, Střelcová K, Světlík J, Svoboda M, Tobin B, Trotsiuk V, Urban J, Valladares F, Vavrčík H, Vejpustková M, Walthert L, Wilmking M, Zin E, Zou J, Steppe K. The 2018 European heatwave led to stem dehydration but not to consistent growth reductions in forests. Nat Commun 2022; 13:28. [PMID: 35013178 PMCID: PMC8748979 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27579-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2021] [Accepted: 11/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Heatwaves exert disproportionately strong and sometimes irreversible impacts on forest ecosystems. These impacts remain poorly understood at the tree and species level and across large spatial scales. Here, we investigate the effects of the record-breaking 2018 European heatwave on tree growth and tree water status using a collection of high-temporal resolution dendrometer data from 21 species across 53 sites. Relative to the two preceding years, annual stem growth was not consistently reduced by the 2018 heatwave but stems experienced twice the temporary shrinkage due to depletion of water reserves. Conifer species were less capable of rehydrating overnight than broadleaves across gradients of soil and atmospheric drought, suggesting less resilience toward transient stress. In particular, Norway spruce and Scots pine experienced extensive stem dehydration. Our high-resolution dendrometer network was suitable to disentangle the effects of a severe heatwave on tree growth and desiccation at large-spatial scales in situ, and provided insights on which species may be more vulnerable to climate extremes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberto L Salomón
- Laboratory of Plant Ecology, Department of Plants and Crops, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
- Grupo de Investigación Sistemas Naturales e Historia Forestal, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040, Madrid, Spain
| | - Richard L Peters
- Laboratory of Plant Ecology, Department of Plants and Crops, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Roman Zweifel
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Ute G W Sass-Klaassen
- Forest Ecology and Forest Management, Wageningen University and Research, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
| | - Annemiek I Stegehuis
- European Forest Institute, Resilience Programme, 53113, Bonn, Germany
- Department of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, 165 00, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Marko Smiljanic
- DendroGreif, Institute for Botany and Landscape Ecology, University Greifswald, 17487, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Rafael Poyatos
- CREAF, E08193, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Catalonia, Spain
- Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, E08193, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Catalonia, Spain
| | - Flurin Babst
- School of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA
- Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA
| | - Emil Cienciala
- IFER-Institute of Forest Ecosystem Research, 254 01, Jilove u Prahy, Czech Republic
- Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, 603 00, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Patrick Fonti
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Bas J W Lerink
- Wageningen Environmental Research, Wageningen University and Research, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Marcus Lindner
- European Forest Institute, Resilience Programme, 53113, Bonn, Germany
| | - Jordi Martinez-Vilalta
- CREAF, E08193, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Catalonia, Spain
- Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, E08193, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Catalonia, Spain
| | - Maurizio Mencuccini
- CREAF, E08193, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Catalonia, Spain
- ICREA, 08010, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Gert-Jan Nabuurs
- Forest Ecology and Forest Management, Wageningen University and Research, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
- Wageningen Environmental Research, Wageningen University and Research, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Ernst van der Maaten
- Chair of Forest Growth and Woody Biomass Production, TU Dresden, 01737, Tharandt, Germany
| | - Georg von Arx
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Andreas Bär
- Department of Botany, University of Innsbruck, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Linar Akhmetzyanov
- Forest Ecology and Forest Management, Wageningen University and Research, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Daniel Balanzategui
- Climate Dynamics and Landscape Evolution, Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, 14473, Potsdam, Germany
- Geography Department, Humboldt University, 12489, Berlin, Germany
| | - Michal Bellan
- Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, 603 00, Brno, Czech Republic
- Department of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, 613 00, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Jörg Bendix
- Laboratory for Climatology and Remote Sensing (LCRS), Faculty of Geography, 35032, Marburg, Germany
| | - Daniel Berveiller
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Ecologie Systématique et Evolution, 91405, Orsay, France
| | - Miroslav Blaženec
- Institute of Forest Ecology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, 96053, Zvolen, Slovakia
| | - Vojtěch Čada
- Department of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, 165 00, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Vinicio Carraro
- Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Sébastien Cecchini
- Office National des Forêts, Département Recherche Développement et Innovation, 77300, Fontainebleau, France
| | - Tommy Chan
- Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research/Forest Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Marco Conedera
- Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Insubric Ecosystems Research Group, 6593, Cadenazzo, Switzerland
| | - Nicolas Delpierre
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Ecologie Systématique et Evolution, 91405, Orsay, France
| | - Sylvain Delzon
- Universite de Bordeaux, INRAE, BIOGECO, 33615, Pessac, France
| | - Ľubica Ditmarová
- Institute of Forest Ecology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, 96053, Zvolen, Slovakia
| | - Jiri Dolezal
- Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Průhonice, Czech Republic
- Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Eric Dufrêne
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Ecologie Systématique et Evolution, 91405, Orsay, France
| | - Johannes Edvardsson
- Laboratory for Wood Anatomy and Dendrochronology, Department of Geology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | | | - Alicia Forner
- Departamento de Ecología, Centro de Investigaciones sobre Desertificación (CIDE-CSIC), 46113, Moncada, Valencia, Spain
- National Museum of Natural Sciences, CSIC, 28006, Madrid, Spain
| | - Jan Frouz
- Institute for environmental studies, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Praha, Czech Republic
| | - Andrea Ganthaler
- Department of Botany, University of Innsbruck, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Vladimír Gryc
- Department of Wood Science and Technology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, 613 00, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Aylin Güney
- Izmir Katip Çelebi University, Faculty of Forestry, Çigli, Izmir, Turkey
- Southwest Anatolia Forest Research Institute, Antalya, Turkey
| | - Ingo Heinrich
- Climate Dynamics and Landscape Evolution, Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, 14473, Potsdam, Germany
- Geography Department, Humboldt University, 12489, Berlin, Germany
- Natural Sciences Unit, German Archaeological Institute, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Rainer Hentschel
- Brandenburg State Forestry Center of Excellence, Eberswalde, Germany
| | - Pavel Janda
- Department of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, 165 00, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Marek Ježík
- Institute of Forest Ecology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, 96053, Zvolen, Slovakia
| | - Hans-Peter Kahle
- Chair of Forest Growth and Dendroecology, University of Freiburg, 79085, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Simon Knüsel
- Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Insubric Ecosystems Research Group, 6593, Cadenazzo, Switzerland
| | - Jan Krejza
- Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, 603 00, Brno, Czech Republic
- Department of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, 613 00, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Łukasz Kuberski
- Department of Natural Forests, Forest Research Institute, 17-230, Białowieża, Poland
| | - Jiří Kučera
- Environmental Measuring Systems Ltd., 621 00, Brno, Czech Republic
| | | | - Martin Mikoláš
- Department of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, 165 00, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Radim Matula
- Department of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, 165 00, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Stefan Mayr
- Université de Lorraine, AgroParisTech, INRAE, SILVA, F-54000, Nancy, France
| | - Walter Oberhuber
- Université de Lorraine, AgroParisTech, INRAE, SILVA, F-54000, Nancy, France
| | - Nikolaus Obojes
- Institute for Alpine Environment, Eurac Research, 39100, Bozen/Bolzano, Italy
| | - Bruce Osborne
- UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, Ireland
- UCD Earth Institute, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Teemu Paljakka
- Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research/Forest Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Roman Plichta
- Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, 613 00, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Inken Rabbel
- Department for Geography, University of Bonn, 53115, Bonn, Germany
| | - Cyrille B K Rathgeber
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
- Université de Lorraine, AgroParisTech, INRAE, SILVA, F-54000, Nancy, France
| | - Yann Salmon
- Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research/Forest Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland
- Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research/Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Matthew Saunders
- Trinity College Dublin, School of Natural Sciences, Botany Department, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Tobias Scharnweber
- DendroGreif, Institute for Botany and Landscape Ecology, University Greifswald, 17487, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Zuzana Sitková
- National Forest Centre, Forest Research Institute, 96001, Zvolen, Slovakia
| | | | | | - Marko Stojanović
- Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, 603 00, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Katarína Střelcová
- Technical University in Zvolen, Faculty of Forestry, 96001, Zvolen, Slovakia
| | - Jan Světlík
- Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, 603 00, Brno, Czech Republic
- Department of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, 613 00, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Miroslav Svoboda
- Department of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, 165 00, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Brian Tobin
- UCD Earth Institute, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, Ireland
- UCD Forestry, School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Volodymyr Trotsiuk
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
- Department of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, 165 00, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Josef Urban
- Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, 613 00, Brno, Czech Republic
- Siberian Federal University, 660041, Krasnoyarsk, Russia
| | | | - Hanuš Vavrčík
- Department of Wood Science and Technology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, 613 00, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Monika Vejpustková
- Forestry and Game Management Research Institute, 252 02, Jíloviště, Czech Republic
| | - Lorenz Walthert
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research WSL, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Martin Wilmking
- DendroGreif, Institute for Botany and Landscape Ecology, University Greifswald, 17487, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Ewa Zin
- Department of Natural Forests, Forest Research Institute, 17-230, Białowieża, Poland
- Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), 230 53, Alnarp, Sweden
| | - Junliang Zou
- Beijing Research & Development Centre for Grass and Environment, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, 100097, Beijing, China
| | - Kathy Steppe
- Laboratory of Plant Ecology, Department of Plants and Crops, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, 9000, Ghent, Belgium.
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Gessler A, Bächli L, Rouholahnejad Freund E, Treydte K, Schaub M, Haeni M, Weiler M, Seeger S, Marshall J, Hug C, Zweifel R, Hagedorn F, Rigling A, Saurer M, Meusburger K. Drought reduces water uptake in beech from the drying topsoil, but no compensatory uptake occurs from deeper soil layers. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2022; 233:194-206. [PMID: 34610146 PMCID: PMC9293437 DOI: 10.1111/nph.17767] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2021] [Accepted: 09/26/2021] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
The intensity and frequency of droughts events are projected to increase in future with expected adverse effects for forests. Thus, information on the dynamics of tree water uptake from different soil layers during and after drought is crucial. We applied an in situ water isotopologue monitoring system to determine the oxygen isotope composition in soil and xylem water of European beech with a 2-h resolution together with measurements of soil water content, transpiration and tree water deficit. Using a Bayesian isotope mixing model, we inferred the relative and absolute contribution of water from four different soil layers to tree water use. Beech took up more than 50% of its water from the uppermost 5 cm soil layer at the beginning of the 2018 drought, but then reduced absolute water uptake from the drying topsoil by 84%. The trees were not able to quantitatively compensate for restricted topsoil water availability by additional uptake from deeper soil layers, which is related to the fine root depth distribution. Absolute water uptake from the topsoil was restored to pre-drought levels within 3 wk after rewetting. These uptake patterns help to explain both the drought sensitivity of beech and its high recovery potential after drought release.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arthur Gessler
- Research Unit Forest DynamicsSwiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL8903BirmensdorfSwitzerland
- Institute of Terrestrial EcosystemsETH Zurich8092ZurichSwitzerland
| | - Lukas Bächli
- Research Unit Forest DynamicsSwiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL8903BirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | | | - Kerstin Treydte
- Research Unit Forest DynamicsSwiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL8903BirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - Marcus Schaub
- Research Unit Forest DynamicsSwiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL8903BirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - Matthias Haeni
- Research Unit Forest DynamicsSwiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL8903BirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - Markus Weiler
- Hydrology, Faculty of Environment and Natural ResourcesUniversity of Freiburg79098FreiburgGermany
| | - Stefan Seeger
- Hydrology, Faculty of Environment and Natural ResourcesUniversity of Freiburg79098FreiburgGermany
| | - John Marshall
- Department of Forest Ecology and ManagementSwedish University of Agricultural SciencesUmeå90283Sweden
| | - Christian Hug
- Research Unit Forest DynamicsSwiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL8903BirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - Roman Zweifel
- Research Unit Forest DynamicsSwiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL8903BirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - Frank Hagedorn
- Research Unit Forest Soils and BiogeochemistrySwiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL8903BirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - Andreas Rigling
- Research Unit Forest DynamicsSwiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL8903BirmensdorfSwitzerland
- Institute of Terrestrial EcosystemsETH Zurich8092ZurichSwitzerland
| | - Matthias Saurer
- Research Unit Forest DynamicsSwiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL8903BirmensdorfSwitzerland
| | - Katrin Meusburger
- Research Unit Forest Soils and BiogeochemistrySwiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL8903BirmensdorfSwitzerland
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36
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Bose AK, Scherrer D, Camarero JJ, Ziche D, Babst F, Bigler C, Bolte A, Dorado-Liñán I, Etzold S, Fonti P, Forrester DI, Gavinet J, Gazol A, de Andrés EG, Karger DN, Lebourgeois F, Lévesque M, Martínez-Sancho E, Menzel A, Neuwirth B, Nicolas M, Sanders TGM, Scharnweber T, Schröder J, Zweifel R, Gessler A, Rigling A. Climate sensitivity and drought seasonality determine post-drought growth recovery of Quercus petraea and Quercus robur in Europe. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2021; 784:147222. [PMID: 34088042 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2021] [Revised: 04/14/2021] [Accepted: 04/14/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Recent studies have identified strong relationships between delayed recovery of tree growth after drought and tree mortality caused by subsequent droughts. These observations raise concerns about forest ecosystem services and post-drought growth recovery given the projected increase in drought frequency and extremes. For quantifying the impact of extreme droughts on tree radial growth, we used a network of tree-ring width data of 1689 trees from 100 sites representing most of the distribution of two drought tolerant, deciduous oak species (Quercus petraea and Quercus robur). We first examined which climatic factors and seasons control growth of the two species and if there is any latitudinal, longitudinal or elevational trend. We then quantified the relative departure from pre-drought growth during droughts, and how fast trees were able to recover the pre-drought growth level. Our results showed that growth was more related to precipitation and climatic water balance (precipitation minus potential evapotranspiration) than to temperature. However, we did not detect any clear latitudinal, longitudinal or elevational trends except a decreasing influence of summer water balance on growth of Q. petraea with latitude. Neither species was able to maintain the pre-drought growth level during droughts. However, both species showed rapid recovery or even growth compensation after summer droughts but displayed slow recovery in response to spring droughts where none of the two species was able to fully recover the pre-drought growth-level over the three post-drought years. Collectively, our results indicate that oaks which are considered resilient to extreme droughts have also shown vulnerability when droughts occurred in spring especially at sites where long-term growth is not significantly correlated with climatic factors. This improved understanding of the role of drought seasonality and climate sensitivity of sites is key to better predict trajectories of post-drought growth recovery in response to the drier climate projected for Europe.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arun K Bose
- WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Zürcherstrasse 111, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland; Forestry and Wood Technology Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna, Bangladesh.
| | - Daniel Scherrer
- WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Zürcherstrasse 111, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - J Julio Camarero
- Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología (IPE-CSIC), Avda. Montañana 1005, Apdo. 202, Zaragoza E-50192, Spain
| | - Daniel Ziche
- Faculty of Forest and Environment, Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, 16225 Eberswalde, Germany
| | - Flurin Babst
- School of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA; Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA
| | - Christof Bigler
- ETH Zurich, Department of Environmental Systems Science, Forest Ecology, Universitätstrasse 22, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Andreas Bolte
- Thünen Institute of Forest Ecosystems, Alfred-Moeller-Str. 1, Haus 41/42, 16225 Eberswalde, Germany
| | - Isabel Dorado-Liñán
- Forest Genetics and Ecophysiology Research Group, E.T.S. Forestry Engineering, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Madrid, Spain
| | - Sophia Etzold
- WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Zürcherstrasse 111, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Patrick Fonti
- WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Zürcherstrasse 111, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - David I Forrester
- WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Zürcherstrasse 111, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Jordane Gavinet
- Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE), UMR 5175, CNRS, Univ Montpellier, Univ Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, EPHE, IRD, 1919 route de Mende, F-34293 Montpellier, Cedex 5, France
| | - Antonio Gazol
- Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología (IPE-CSIC), Avda. Montañana 1005, Apdo. 202, Zaragoza E-50192, Spain
| | - Ester González de Andrés
- Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología (IPE-CSIC), Avda. Montañana 1005, Apdo. 202, Zaragoza E-50192, Spain
| | - Dirk Nikolaus Karger
- WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Zürcherstrasse 111, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | | | - Mathieu Lévesque
- ETH Zurich, Department of Environmental Systems Science, Forest Ecology, Universitätstrasse 22, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Elisabet Martínez-Sancho
- WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Zürcherstrasse 111, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Annette Menzel
- Technische Universität München, TUM School of Life Sciences, Freising, Germany; Technische Universität München, Institute for Advanced Study, Garching, Germany
| | | | - Manuel Nicolas
- Departement Recherche et Développement, ONF, Office National des Fôrets, Batiment B, Boulevard de Constance, Fontainebleau F-77300, France
| | - Tanja G M Sanders
- Thünen Institute of Forest Ecosystems, Alfred-Moeller-Str. 1, Haus 41/42, 16225 Eberswalde, Germany
| | - Tobias Scharnweber
- Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Soldmannstr.15, 17487 Greifswald, Germany
| | - Jens Schröder
- Faculty of Forest and Environment, Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, 16225 Eberswalde, Germany
| | - Roman Zweifel
- WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Zürcherstrasse 111, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Arthur Gessler
- WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Zürcherstrasse 111, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland; Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zurich, Universitätstrasse 16, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Andreas Rigling
- WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Zürcherstrasse 111, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland; Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zurich, Universitätstrasse 16, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
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Climate Analogues for Temperate European Forests to Raise Silvicultural Evidence Using Twin Regions. SUSTAINABILITY 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/su13126522] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
Climate analogues provide forestry practice with empirical evidence of how forests are managed in “twin” regions, i.e., regions where the current climate is comparable to the expected future climate at a site of interest. As the twin regions and their silvicultural evidence change with each climate scenario and model, we focus our investigation on how the uncertainty in future climate affects tree species prevalence. We calculate the future climate from 2000 to 2100 for three ensemble variants of the mild (representative concentration pathway (RCP) 4.5) and hard (RCP 8.5) climate scenarios. We determine climatic distances between the future climate of our site of interest ‘Roth’ and the current climate in Europe, generating maps with twin regions from 2000 to 2100. From forest inventories in these twin regions we trace how the prevalence of 23 major tree species changes. We realize that it is not the ‘how’ but the ‘how fast’ species’ prevalence changes that differs between the scenario variants. We use this finding to develop a categorization of species groups that integrates the uncertainty in future climate. Twin regions provide further information on silvicultural practices, pest management, product chains etc.
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Frey B, Walthert L, Perez-Mon C, Stierli B, Köchli R, Dharmarajah A, Brunner I. Deep Soil Layers of Drought-Exposed Forests Harbor Poorly Known Bacterial and Fungal Communities. Front Microbiol 2021; 12:674160. [PMID: 34025630 PMCID: PMC8137989 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.674160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2021] [Accepted: 04/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Soil microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi play important roles in the biogeochemical cycling of soil nutrients, because they act as decomposers or are mutualistic or antagonistic symbionts, thereby influencing plant growth and health. In the present study, we investigated the vertical distribution of the soil microbiome to a depth of 2 m in Swiss drought-exposed forests of European beech and oaks on calcareous bedrock. We aimed to disentangle the effects of soil depth, tree (beech, oak), and substrate (soil, roots) on microbial abundance, diversity, and community structure. With increasing soil depth, organic carbon, nitrogen, and clay content decreased significantly. Similarly, fine root biomass, microbial biomass (DNA content, fungal abundance), and microbial alpha-diversity decreased and were consequently significantly related to these physicochemical parameters. In contrast, bacterial abundance tended to increase with soil depth, and the bacteria to fungi ratio increased significantly with greater depth. Tree species was only significantly related to the fungal Shannon index but not to the bacterial Shannon index. Microbial community analyses revealed that bacterial and fungal communities varied significantly across the soil layers, more strongly for bacteria than for fungi. Both communities were also significantly affected by tree species and substrate. In deep soil layers, poorly known bacterial taxa from Nitrospirae, Chloroflexi, Rokubacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, Firmicutes and GAL 15 were overrepresented. Furthermore, archaeal phyla such as Thaumarchaeota and Euryarchaeota were more abundant in subsoils than topsoils. Fungal taxa that were predominantly found in deep soil layers belong to the ectomycorrhizal Boletus luridus and Hydnum vesterholtii. Both taxa are reported for the first time in such deep soil layers. Saprotrophic fungal taxa predominantly recorded in deep soil layers were unknown species of Xylaria. Finally, our results show that the microbial community structure found in fine roots was well represented in the bulk soil. Overall, we recorded poorly known bacterial and archaeal phyla, as well as ectomycorrhizal fungi that were not previously known to colonize deep soil layers. Our study contributes to an integrated perspective on the vertical distribution of the soil microbiome at a fine spatial scale in drought-exposed forests.
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Affiliation(s)
- Beat Frey
- Forest Soils and Biogeochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Lorenz Walthert
- Forest Soils and Biogeochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Carla Perez-Mon
- Forest Soils and Biogeochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Beat Stierli
- Forest Soils and Biogeochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Roger Köchli
- Forest Soils and Biogeochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Alexander Dharmarajah
- Forest Soils and Biogeochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Ivano Brunner
- Forest Soils and Biogeochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
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Puchałka R, Dyderski MK, Vítková M, Sádlo J, Klisz M, Netsvetov M, Prokopuk Y, Matisons R, Mionskowski M, Wojda T, Koprowski M, Jagodziński AM. Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) range contraction and expansion in Europe under changing climate. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2021; 27:1587-1600. [PMID: 33336522 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15486] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2020] [Revised: 10/12/2020] [Accepted: 12/08/2020] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Robinia pseudoacacia is one of the most frequent non-native species in Europe. It is a fast-growing tree of high economic and cultural importance. On the other hand, it is an invasive species, causing changes in soil chemistry and light regime, and consequently altering the plant communities. Previously published models developed for the potential distribution of R. pseudoacacia concerned 2070, and were based mainly on data from Western and Central Europe; here we extended these findings and included additional data from Eastern Europe. To fill the gap in current knowledge of R. pseudoacacia distribution and improve the reliability of forecasts, we aimed to (i) determine the extent to which the outcome of range modeling will be affected by complementing R. pseudoacacia occurrence data with sites from Central, Southeastern, and Eastern Europe, (ii) identify and quantify the changes in the availability of climate niches for 2050 and 2070, and discuss their impacts on forest management and nature conservation. We showed that the majority of the range changes expected in 2070 will occur as early as 2050. In comparison to previous studies, we demonstrated a greater eastward shift of potential niches of this species and a greater decline of potential niches in Southern Europe. Consequently, future climatic conditions will likely favor the occurrence of R. pseudoacacia in Central and Northeastern Europe where this species is still absent or relatively rare. There, controlling the spread of R. pseudoacacia will require monitoring sources of invasion in the landscape and reducing the occurrence of this species. The expected effects of climate change will likely be observed 20 years earlier than previously forecasted. Hence we highlighted the urgent need for acceleration of policies aimed at climate change mitigation in Europe. Also, our results showed the need for using more complete distribution data to analyze potential niche models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Radosław Puchałka
- Department of Ecology and Biogeography, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Toruń, Poland
- Centre for Climate Change Research, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Toruń, Poland
| | | | - Michaela Vítková
- Department of Invasion Ecology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Botany, Průhonice, Czech Republic
| | - Jiří Sádlo
- Department of Invasion Ecology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Botany, Průhonice, Czech Republic
| | - Marcin Klisz
- Department of Silviculture and Genetics, Forest Research Institute, Sękocin Stary, Poland
| | - Maksym Netsvetov
- Department of Phytoecology, Institute for Evolutionary Ecology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
| | - Yulia Prokopuk
- Department of Phytoecology, Institute for Evolutionary Ecology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
| | - Roberts Matisons
- Latvian State Forest Research Institute 'Silava', Salaspils, Latvia
| | - Marcin Mionskowski
- Department of Forest Resources Management, Forest Research Institute, Sękocin Stary, Poland
| | - Tomasz Wojda
- Department of Silviculture and Genetics, Forest Research Institute, Sękocin Stary, Poland
| | - Marcin Koprowski
- Department of Ecology and Biogeography, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Toruń, Poland
- Centre for Climate Change Research, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Toruń, Poland
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