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Sumner EE, Williamson VG, Gleadow RM, Wevill T, Venn SE. Acclimation to water stress improves tolerance to heat and freezing in a common alpine grass. Oecologia 2022; 199:831-843. [PMID: 35974110 PMCID: PMC9464112 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-022-05245-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2022] [Accepted: 08/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Alpine plants in Australia are increasingly exposed to more frequent drought and heatwaves, with significant consequences for physiological stress responses. Acclimation is a critical feature that allows plants to improve tolerance to environmental extremes by directly altering their physiology or morphology. Yet it is unclear how plant performance, tolerance, and recovery are affected when heat and water stress co-occur, and whether prior exposure affects responses to subsequent climate extremes. We grew a common alpine grass species under high or low watering treatments for three weeks before exposure to either none, one, or two heat stress events. We determined photosynthetic heat and freezing tolerance (LT50, mean temperature causing 50% irreversible damage to photosystem II) and growth. Physiological adjustments to low watering, including more negative water potentials and reduced growth, were also characterised by improved tolerance to high and low-temperature extremes. Shifts to higher heat tolerance were also evident with increasing exposure to heat stress events, though freezing tolerance was not affected. Acclimation effects were mostly short-term, however; prior exposure to heat and/or water stress had little to no effect on growth and thermal tolerance following the six-week recovery period. We conclude that rapid acclimation to water and heat stress that co-occur during summer enhances the capacity of alpine plants to tolerate increasingly frequent temperature extremes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma E Sumner
- Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood, 3125, Australia.
| | - Virginia G Williamson
- Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood, 3125, Australia
| | - Roslyn M Gleadow
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, 3800, Australia
| | - Tricia Wevill
- Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood, 3125, Australia
| | - Susanna E Venn
- Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood, 3125, Australia
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Zlobin IE. Linking the growth patterns of coniferous species with their performance under climate aridization. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2022; 831:154971. [PMID: 35367548 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154971] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2022] [Revised: 03/19/2022] [Accepted: 03/28/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Tree growth is highly sensitive to water deficit. At the same time, growth processes substantially influence tree performance under water stress by changing the root-absorbing surface, leaf-transpiring surface, amount of conducting xylem, etc. Drought-induced growth suppression is often higher in conifers than in broadleaf species. This review is devoted to the relations between the growth of coniferous plants and their performance under increasing climate aridization in the temperate and boreal zones of the Northern Hemisphere. For adult trees, available evidence suggests that increasing the frequency and severity of water deficit would be more detrimental to those plants that have higher growth in favorable conditions but decrease growth more prominently under water shortage, compared to trees whose growth is less sensitive to moisture availability. Not only the overall sensitivity of growth processes to water supply but also the asymmetry in response to lower-than-average and higher-than-average moisture conditions can be important for the performance of coniferous trees under upcoming adverse climate change. To fully understand the tree response under future climate change, the responses to both drier and wetter years need to be analyzed separately. In coniferous seedlings, more active growth is usually linked with better drought survival, although physiological reasons for such a link can be different. Growth stability under exacerbating summer water deficit in coniferous plants can be maintained by more active spring growth and/or by a bimodal growth pattern; each strategy has specific advantages and drawbacks. The optimal choice of growth strategy would be critical for future reforestation programs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilya E Zlobin
- K.A. Timiryazev Institute of Plant Physiology, RAS, 35 Botanicheskaya St., Moscow 127276, Russia.
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Scherrer D, Ascoli D, Conedera M, Fischer C, Maringer J, Moser B, Nikolova PS, Rigling A, Wohlgemuth T. Canopy Disturbances Catalyse Tree Species Shifts in Swiss Forests. Ecosystems 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s10021-021-00649-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
AbstractWidely observed inertia of forest communities contrasts with climate change projections that suggest dramatic alterations of forest composition for the coming decades. Disturbances might be a key process to catalyse changes in tree species composition under environmental change by creating opportunities for ‘new’ species to establish. To test this assumption, we compared two assessments (1993–1995, 2009–2017) from the Swiss National Forest Inventory to evaluate which forests were opened by natural canopy disturbance (that is, wind, insect outbreaks, fire and drought) and if these disturbances altered tree species composition both in terms of species-specific basal area and recruitment densities. Natural disturbances affected 14% of the Swiss forests within 25 years, with wind and insect outbreaks being the most frequent (75%) and fire and drought being rare (< 1.5%). Disturbances led to a shift from conifer to broadleaf tree species at low elevation, in particular in dense Picea abies stands, but no change was observed at higher elevations. The composition of undisturbed sites persisted during the same period. Our results demonstrate that undisturbed forests widely resist changes in tree species composition as an effect of direct ingrowth by stand-forming species. Disturbance events seem necessary to create opportunities for climatically ‘better suited and site-adapted’ species to (re-)establish and therefore potentially catalyse tree species turnover under environmental changes. We detected a reduction of tree species that were—centuries ago—cultivated outside their primary natural range, in particular P. abies, or depended on traditional management practices (Pinus sylvestris, Castanea sativa), which may inform us on how the projected increase in disturbance frequency and severity might filter tree species composition and hereby alter forest structure.
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Zhang YL, Moser B, Li MH, Wohlgemuth T, Lei JP, Bachofen C. Contrasting Leaf Trait Responses of Conifer and Broadleaved Seedlings to Altered Resource Availability Are Linked to Resource Strategies. PLANTS 2020; 9:plants9050621. [PMID: 32413963 PMCID: PMC7285355 DOI: 10.3390/plants9050621] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2020] [Revised: 04/27/2020] [Accepted: 05/11/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
(1) Understanding tree seedling responses to water, nutrient, and light availability is crucial to precisely predict potential shifts in composition and structure of forest communities under future climatic conditions. (2) We exposed seedlings of widespread Central European tree species with contrasting leaf habit, deciduous broadleaves (DB) and evergreen conifers (EC), to factorial combinations of manipulated precipitation (100% and 50% of ambient), shade (40% and 60% of full sunlight), and nutrient availability (low and high NPK), and measured specific leaf area, C/N ratio, soluble sugars, starch and non-structural carbohydrate concentration, and δ13C of the leaves. (3) We found contrasting effects of water and nutrient availability on foliar traits of the two species groups: EC exhibited higher tolerance to low resource availability but also less plasticity in foliar traits, which is congruent with a “slow” resource strategy. In contrast, foliage of DB reacted particularly to altered nutrient availability, corresponding to a “fast” resource strategy with high foliar plasticity and rapid adjustments to resource fluctuations, commonly adopted by species with high growth rates. (4) We conclude that DB will respond to environmental change with foliar acclimation, while EC will either tolerate, to some extent, or shift their distribution range in response to environmental change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan-Li Zhang
- Research Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China; (Y.-L.Z.); (J.-P.L.)
- Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland; (M.-H.L.); (T.W.)
| | - Barbara Moser
- Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland; (M.-H.L.); (T.W.)
- Correspondence:
| | - Mai-He Li
- Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland; (M.-H.L.); (T.W.)
- Key Laboratory of Geographical Processes and Ecological Security in Changbai Mountains, Ministry of Education, School of Geographical Sciences, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China
| | - Thomas Wohlgemuth
- Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland; (M.-H.L.); (T.W.)
| | - Jing-Pin Lei
- Research Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China; (Y.-L.Z.); (J.-P.L.)
| | - Christoph Bachofen
- Environmental Sciences and Engineering, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne EPFL, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland;
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Bose AK, Moser B, Rigling A, Lehmann MM, Milcu A, Peter M, Rellstab C, Wohlgemuth T, Gessler A. Memory of environmental conditions across generations affects the acclimation potential of scots pine. PLANT, CELL & ENVIRONMENT 2020; 43:1288-1299. [PMID: 31990067 PMCID: PMC7318169 DOI: 10.1111/pce.13729] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2019] [Accepted: 01/21/2020] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
Long generation times have been suggested to hamper rapid genetic adaptation of organisms to changing environmental conditions. We examined if environmental memory of the parental Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris L.) drive offspring survival and growth. We used seeds from trees growing under naturally dry conditions (control), irrigated trees (irrigated from 2003 to 2016), and formerly irrigated trees ("irrigation stop"; irrigated from 2003-2013; control condition since 2014). We performed two experiments, one under controlled greenhouse conditions and one at the experimental field site. In the greenhouse, the offspring from control trees exposed regularly to drought were more tolerant to hot-drought conditions than the offspring from irrigated trees and showed lower mortality even though there was no genetic difference. However, under optimal conditions (high water supply and full sunlight), these offspring showed lower growth and were outperformed by the offspring of the irrigated trees. This different offspring growth, with the offspring of the "irrigation-stop" trees showing intermediate responses, points to the important role of transgenerational memory for the long-term acclimation of trees. Such memory effects, however, may be overridden by climatic extremes during germination and early growth stages such as the European 2018 mega-drought that impacted our field experiment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arun K Bose
- Forest Dynamics, WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
- Forestry and Wood Technology Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna, Bangladesh
| | - Barbara Moser
- Forest Dynamics, WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Andreas Rigling
- Forest Dynamics, WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
- Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Marco M Lehmann
- Forest Dynamics, WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Alexandru Milcu
- Ecotron (Unité Propre de Service 3248), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Campus Baillarguet, Montferrier-sur-Lez 34980, France
- Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Unité Mixte de Recherche 5175, Université de Montpellier/Université Paul Valéry-École Pratique des Hautes Études, Montpellier 34293, France
| | - Martina Peter
- Forest Dynamics, WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Christian Rellstab
- Forest Dynamics, WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Thomas Wohlgemuth
- Forest Dynamics, WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Arthur Gessler
- Forest Dynamics, WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
- Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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Light and VPD gradients drive foliar nitrogen partitioning and photosynthesis in the canopy of European beech and silver fir. Oecologia 2020; 192:323-339. [DOI: 10.1007/s00442-019-04583-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2019] [Accepted: 12/13/2019] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
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