How Global Warming Affects Xylogenesis: Tree Responses and Consequences

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecophysiology and Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (29 August 2017) | Viewed by 20434

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Departamento de Botánica, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, EPSE, Campus Terra, 27002 Lugo, Spain
Interests: tree-ring dating; dendroecology; wood anatomy; forest history
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Dear Colleagues,

Ongoing global warming is considerably expected to modify the performance of terrestrial ecosystems, and, consequently, have a critical impact on forest productivity. As environmental changes occur, trees need to adapt to the new prevalent conditions by altering many physiological processes. Among them, xylogenesis, i.e., the production of wood throughout the season, is one of the most affected. Thus, cambial activity occurs annually, and new xylem and phloem are produced as long as certain requirements are met, mainly temperature and day length. However, the raise of temperature is considerably modifying the rate and duration of this process, especially by advancing the breaking of dormancy in spring. However, these responses considerably vary across tree species and geographical regions, which can lead to a considerable variation of the distribution of species and the performance of ecosystems. The behavior of different forest species, ecosystems, and biomes needs to be better understood in order to project the potential future consequences on forest productivity. Therefore, studies involving any aspect of the influence of changing environmental conditions caused by global warming on the dynamics of xylem and phloem formation are welcome to this Special Issue.

Dr. Ignacio García-González
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Global change
  • Wood formation
  • Tree Ring
  • Cambial activity
  • Phenology
  • Growing period length
  • Season advancment
  • Cell differentiation
  • Threshold temperature

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

6286 KiB  
Article
Intra-Annual Variation of Stem Radius of Larix principis-rupprechtii and Its Response to Environmental Factors in Liupan Mountains of Northwest China
by Zebin Liu, Yanhui Wang, Ao Tian, Pengtao Yu, Wei Xiong, Lihong Xu and Yarui Wang
Forests 2017, 8(10), 382; https://doi.org/10.3390/f8100382 - 7 Oct 2017
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 4603
Abstract
Fine-resolution studies on the stem radius variation at short timescale can provide useful information about the tree growth process and the major environmental variables that trigger and drive stem radius variation. This study investigated the stem radius variation of Larix principis-rupprechtii Mayr growing [...] Read more.
Fine-resolution studies on the stem radius variation at short timescale can provide useful information about the tree growth process and the major environmental variables that trigger and drive stem radius variation. This study investigated the stem radius variation of Larix principis-rupprechtii Mayr growing in the semi-humid Liupan Mountains of Northwest China at daily and seasonal scales using high-resolution automatic band dendrometers from May to October in 2015. The results showed that the stem radius variation of Larix principis-rupprechtii has a clear diurnal pattern which can be divided into contraction, recovery, and increment phases; and also a seasonal pattern which can be divided into three stages: (1) the rapid growth stage in spring (stage 1) with the radius increment of 94.0% of the total in the entire growing period; (2) the persistent shrinkage stage in the dry summer (stage 2) with a negative diurnal radius increment for most days, and a significantly larger amplitude of stem contraction and recovery than other stages; (3) the minimal growth stage in autumn (stage 3), mainly caused by the lowering temperature and leaf area. The amplitude of stem contraction was significantly correlated with air temperature (both the mean and highest value) in all three stages: vapor pressure deficit (VPD) in stage 1; relative humidity (RH), VPD and soil moisture (Ms) in stage 2; and soil temperature (Ts) in stage 3. This indicates that the stem radius contraction was mainly controlled by the factors influencing tree transpiration rate in spring and autumn stages, but jointly controlled by the factors influencing both the tree transpiration rate and the soil moisture availability in the dry summer stage. The factors controlling the stem radius recovery was similar to the stem contraction. The amplitude of stem increment was significantly correlated with the rainfall amount and air temperature (both the mean and highest value) in stage 1 and 3, Ms in stage 2, and the lowest air temperature and Ts in stage 3. This indicates that temperature and precipitation were the key factors controlling the stem radius increment in the spring and autumn stages, and soil moisture was the main factor limiting the stem radius increment in the dry summer stage at the study site with semi-humid climate in Northwest China. Full article
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15557 KiB  
Article
Variability in Larch (Larix Decidua Mill.) Tree-Ring Growth Response to Climate in the Polish Carpathian Mountains
by Małgorzata Danek, Monika Chuchro and Adam Walanus
Forests 2017, 8(10), 354; https://doi.org/10.3390/f8100354 - 21 Sep 2017
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 5673
Abstract
The climate–growth relationship of larch (Larix decidua Mill.) in the Polish Carpathian Mountains was studied. We explored the spatial variability of the common signal observed in larch tree-ring growth, distinguished regions with uniform tree-ring growth patterns (dendrochronological signal), and determined the climatic [...] Read more.
The climate–growth relationship of larch (Larix decidua Mill.) in the Polish Carpathian Mountains was studied. We explored the spatial variability of the common signal observed in larch tree-ring growth, distinguished regions with uniform tree-ring growth patterns (dendrochronological signal), and determined the climatic factors that are particularly important for the growth of larch in this area. Uniformity in the growth reaction across the analyzed area was found in the positive response to May temperatures (significant correlation values range from 0.21 to 0.48); this indicates that the warm beginning of the growing season is important for larch growth across the study area. The signal variability from west to east found in the principal components analysis (PCA) results and differences in climate response between analyzed sites suggest their relation to increasing influence of the continental climate to the east. However, the observed relationship is not stable and does not occur systematically. Although the climate–growth response of larch at lower elevations is highly variable, a positive influence of July precipitation and a negative influence of April precipitation, and previous May and July temperature can be observed. The growth of larch from the highest study sites (Tatra Mountains, above 950 m a.s.l.) is related to temperature. This is manifested by a strong positive correlation with temperature during late spring, early summer, and the end of the previous growing season, and a negative or no response to late spring/summer precipitation. No relation between the observed correlations and slope aspect was found. Full article
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7299 KiB  
Article
Age-Effect Radial Growth Responses of Picea schrenkiana to Climate Change in the Eastern Tianshan Mountains, Northwest China
by Liang Jiao, Yuan Jiang, Mingchang Wang, Wentao Zhang and Yiping Zhang
Forests 2017, 8(9), 294; https://doi.org/10.3390/f8090294 - 26 Aug 2017
Cited by 35 | Viewed by 5355
Abstract
The climate changed from warm-dry to warm-wet during the 1960s in northwest China. However, the effects of climate change on the response of radial growth from different age-class trees have been unclear. We assessed the age-effect radial growth responses in three age-classes (ml-old: [...] Read more.
The climate changed from warm-dry to warm-wet during the 1960s in northwest China. However, the effects of climate change on the response of radial growth from different age-class trees have been unclear. We assessed the age-effect radial growth responses in three age-classes (ml-old: ≥200 years, ml-middle: 100–200 years and ml-young: <100 years) of Schrenk spruce (Picea schrenkiana Fisch. et Mey.) in the eastern Tianshan Mountains. The primary conclusions were as follows: the developed chronologies of the three age-class trees contained significant climate information and exhibited high similarity as shown by calculating the statistical parameter characteristics and Gleichlaufigkeit index. The three age-class trees were consistent for annual variation trends of radial growth under climate change, showing similar fluctuations, tree-ring width chronology trends, time trends of cumulative radial growth, and basal area increment. In addition, the old and middle trees were found to be more sensitive to climate variability by analyzing Pearson correlations between radial growth from three age-class trees and climate factors. As a result, the drought caused by reduced total precipitation and higher mean temperature was a limiting factor of tree radial growth, and the trees with ages of up to 100 years were more suitable for studies on the growth-climate relationships. Thus, the studies on age-effect radial growth responses of Schrenk spruce can help not only in understanding the adaptive strategies of different-age trees to climate change, but also provide an accurate basis for climate reconstruction. Full article
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6543 KiB  
Article
Reconstructed Inter-Annual Variation in September–October Precipitation for the Upper Reaches of the Heihe River and Its Implications for Regional Drought Conditions
by Bo Wang, Tuo Chen, Guobao Xu and Guoju Wu
Forests 2017, 8(8), 256; https://doi.org/10.3390/f8080256 - 29 Jul 2017
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3744
Abstract
Due to the lack of available long-term climatic records, data related to past autumn precipitation variability throughout Northwest China, especially high-frequency variation, remains limited. In this study, it was found that inter-annual changes in Qinghai spruce radial growth were significantly and negatively ( [...] Read more.
Due to the lack of available long-term climatic records, data related to past autumn precipitation variability throughout Northwest China, especially high-frequency variation, remains limited. In this study, it was found that inter-annual changes in Qinghai spruce radial growth were significantly and negatively (p < 0.05) correlated to inter-annual differences in precipitation during the late growing season (September–October) at all sampling sites in the upper reaches of the Heihe River. Based on the growth–climate relationship, a reconstruction of the inter-annual variation in September–October precipitation from 1839 was developed. With the help of this reconstruction, we successfully captured increased inter-annual variations in September–October precipitation during 1855–1861, 1892–1902, and 1969–1986. Furthermore, we found that increased precipitation variation might be related to variation in the westerlies and instability in the relationship between the regional westerly and precipitation. Moreover, our reconstructed data significantly correlated to the drought index (i.e., October SPEI_01) and moisture-related parameters (i.e., September–October cloud fraction), suggesting that our reconstructed data could be used as an indicator of the drought condition in the Heihe River Basin during the late growing season. Full article
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