Experimental Study of Intra-Ring Anatomical Variation in Populus alba L. with Respect to Changes in Temperature and Day-Length Conditions
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear Authors,
It is an interesting article, however, some details should be corrected in my opinion.
I present my comments in synthetic form.
Results and Discussion
Figures 2 and 4
I suggest trying different ways of correlating the obtained measurement points.
It seems that such relationships exist and may have significant correlation coefficients, e.g. an increase in double-wall thickness with an increase in distance from the ring boundary. Giving the equations of the correlation lines on the graphs and the correlation coefficients will significantly strengthen the discussion of the results (it will be fuller).
Conclusions
The conclusions should be supplemented with an indication that they refer to the wood of Populus alba L.
Minor editing corrections:
Page 1, left column
The entry "Citation:" should be followed by the information appropriate to the manuscript.
Pages 2 and 3
The text should be flush with both margins.
Yours sincerely
Reviewer
Author Response
Dear Reviewer 1,
Thank you very much for your review, comments and suggestions. We wrote the responses to your suggestions on the attachment file. Please see it.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
The manuscript presents an interesting experiment to understand better the anatomical variation within the tree ring related to changes in temperature and day-length conditions. Experiments under controlled conditions are important to provide data on the tree's response to climate change. The potential of the manuscript is good, nevertheless, I have some concerns about a few points. In my opinion, the introduction doesn't provide enough background and references regarding the topic. Different types of intra-ring variations were defined and described in different climates, but very few citations are present in the text. Why did you decide to shorter the cycle? How long is the natural cycle and what does a normal ring in Populus alba look like? You don't give any information on it. At the end of the introduction, you already give results and a conclusion, which shouldn't be part of this paragraph. Insert instead the main hypothesis and aims, which are missing.
Materials and methods should be improved. You don't mention the number of samples considered for each treatment, nor the age of the samples. What about the irrigation treatments? How the measurements were performed, along the whole ring or in ROI? From lines 125 to 129 the text is not clear, try to explain it better. The part from lines 136 and 141 is difficult to refer to the picture. Please add arrows in picture 1 to highlight the xylem feature you refer to. In the picture, each stem has two rings, to which one do you refer to?
The discussion needs to be enhanced, and also it is not clear what conclusions you have come to and why your findings are important.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer 2,
Thank you very much for your review, comments and suggestions. We wrote the responses to your questions and suggestions on the attachment file. Please see it.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
Dear authors, in my opinion, the revised manuscript has noticeable improved.
