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Dendrochronology and Wood Anatomy: Revealing How Plants Respond to Changing Environment

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A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Response to Abiotic Stress and Climate Change".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 5585

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Weiwei Huang

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Guest Editor

Bamboo Research Institute, College of Science, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Interests: climate change; plant growth
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Patrick Fonti

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Guest Editor

Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Interests: dendrochronology; dendroecology; wood anatomy; plant hydraulic; ecophysiology

Prof. Dr. Biao Pan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Interests: wood anatomy; ecological wood anatomy; archaeological wood anatomy; wood culture

Dr. Junzhou Zhang

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Guest Editor

Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Interests: dendroecology; wood anatomy; tree physiology; climate change; ecophysiology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the upcoming Special Issue on Dendrochronology and Wood Anatomy of Plants, titled “Dendrochronology and Wood Anatomy: Revealing How Plants Respond to Changing Environment”. Tree rings play a vital role in documenting a tree’s growth patterns, acting as valuable repositories of historical information in nature. Traditionally, annual rings in dendrochronology have been utilized primarily for dating archaeological samples or specific events and reconstructing past climates. However, a closer examination reveals that an annual ring, composed of wooden cells continuously produced by the cambium, contains detailed temporal and physiological information about the process of wood formation. Thus, the cell anatomical and chemical features of the xylem cells are not only influenced by a combination of genetic variants and biophysical constraints but also provide valuable insights into the processes of wood formation in response to environmental conditions. In essence, each annual ring encapsulates a narrative of the tree’s intra-annual interaction with its surroundings, offering a nuanced perspective on how plants adapt to the changing environment.

We invite submissions of all article types that offer novel perspectives, theories, methods, tools, and modeling approaches, focusing on the processes of wood growth at the intra-annual resolution. The studied species may originate from temperate, boreal, subtropical, and tropical ecosystems, both in forests and urban settings. Utilizing the methods of dendrochronology, wood anatomy and isotopes, and xylogenesis, contributors are encouraged to address fundamental and applied questions spanning ecophysiological, morphological, and phenological mechanisms, as well as the mathematical intricacies within trees. The goal is to systematically understand a tree’s function and its response to changing climate and environmental conditions. Additionally, we welcome studies on the xylem anatomy of popular plants that do not exhibit growth rings, such as bamboo.

Dr. Weiwei Huang
Dr. Patrick Fonti
Prof. Dr. Biao Pan
Dr. Junzhou Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

dendrochronology
wood anatomy
ecophysiology
climate change
statistical modeling

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 2378 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Growth Rate and Not Growing Season Explains the Increased Productivity of Masson Pine in Mixed Stands

by Chunmei Bai, Wendi Zhao, Marcin Klisz, Sergio Rossi, Weijun Shen and Xiali Guo

Plants 2025, 14(3), 313; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14030313 - 21 Jan 2025

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 834

Abstract

Increased tree species diversity can promote forest production by reducing intra-specific competition and promoting an efficient unitization of resources. However, questions remain on whether and how mixed stands affect the dynamics of intra–annual xylem formation in trees, especially in subtropical forests. In this study, we randomly selected 18 trees from a monoculture of 63-year-old Masson pine (Pinus massoniana) growing in pure stands and mixed them with 39-year-old Castanopsis hystrix in Pinxiang, southern China. A total of 828 microcores were collected biweekly throughout the growing season from 2022 to 2023 to monitor the intra-annual xylem formation. Cell production started in early March and ended in late December and lasted about 281 to 284 days. Xylem phenology was similar between mixed and pure stands. During both seasons, the Masson pine in mixed stands showed higher xylem production and growth rates than those in pure stands. The Masson pine in mixed stands produced 45–51 cells in 2022 (growth rate of 0.22 cells day⁻¹) and 35–41 cells in 2023 (0.17 cells day⁻¹). Growth rate, and not growth seasons, determined the superior xylem growth in the mixed stands. Our study shows that after 39 years of management, Masson pine and C. hystrix unevenly aged mixed stands have a significant positive mixing effect on Masson pine xylem cell production, which demonstrates that monitoring intra-annual xylem growth dynamics can be an important tool to evaluate the effect of species composition and reveal the mechanisms to promote tree growth behind the mixing effect. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dendrochronology and Wood Anatomy: Revealing How Plants Respond to Changing Environment)

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25 pages, 22247 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Small Gap Dynamics in High Mountain Central European Spruce Forests—The Role of Standing Dead Trees in Gap Formation

by Denisa Sedmáková, Peter Jaloviar, Oľga Mišíková, Ladislav Šumichrast, Barbora Slováčková, Stanislav Kucbel, Jaroslav Vencurik, Michal Bosela and Róbert Sedmák

Plants 2024, 13(24), 3502; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13243502 - 15 Dec 2024

Viewed by 765

Abstract

Gap dynamics are driving many important processes in the development of temperate forest ecosystems. What remains largely unknown is how often the regeneration processes initialized by endogenous mortality of dominant and co-dominant canopy trees take place. We conducted a study in the high mountain forests of the Central Western Carpathians, naturally dominated by the Norway spruce. Based on the repeated forest inventories in two localities, we quantified the structure and amount of deadwood, as well as the associated mortality of standing dead canopy trees. We determined the basic specific gravity of wood and anatomical changes in the initial phase of wood decomposition. The approach for estimating the rate of gap formation and the number of canopy trees per unit area needed for intentional gap formation was formulated based on residence time analysis of three localities. The initial phase of gap formation (standing dead tree in the first decay class) had a narrow range of residence values, with a 90–95% probability that gap age was less than 10 or 13 years. Correspondingly, a relatively constant absolute number of 12 and 13 canopy spruce trees per hectare died standing in 10 years, with a mean diameter reaching 50–58 cm. Maximum diameters trees (70–80 cm) were represented by 1–4 stems per hectare. The values of the wood-specific gravity of standing trees were around 0.370–0.380 g.cm⁻³, and varied from 0.302 to 0.523 g.cm⁻³. Microscopically, our results point out that gap formation is a continuous long-lasting process, starting while canopy trees are living. We observed early signs of wood degradation and bacteria, possibly associated with bark beetles, that induce a strong effect when attacking living trees with vigorous defenses. New information about the initial phase of gap formation has provided a basis for the objective proposal of intervals and intensities of interventions, designed to promote a diversified structure and the long-term ecological stability of the mountain spruce stands in changing climate conditions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dendrochronology and Wood Anatomy: Revealing How Plants Respond to Changing Environment)

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14 pages, 1844 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Superellipse Equation Describing the Geometries of Abies alba Tree Rings

by Weiwei Huang, Kehang Ma, Jiaxin Tan, Meixiang Wei and Yunjie Lu

Plants 2024, 13(24), 3487; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13243487 - 13 Dec 2024

Viewed by 710

Abstract

Our previous study using 41 tree rings of one Abies alba Mill. disc indicated that the superellipse equation can accurately fit its tree-ring shape. This study further used the superellipse equation (

{|\frac{x}{a}|}^{n} + {|\frac{y}{β}|}^{n} = 1

) to [...] Read more.

{|\frac{x}{a}|}^{n} + {|\frac{y}{β}|}^{n} = 1

) to model the geometries of 1090 tree rings of A. alba discs collected from five sites in Denmark. The adjusted root-mean-square-error (RMSE_adj) was calculated to assess the goodness of fit between observed and predicted tree-ring boundaries. The results showed that RMSE_adj ranged between 0.0038 and 0.0591, with a mean value of 0.0141. This verified that the superellipse equation sufficiently describes the A. alba tree-ring shape. In the polar coordinate system, the superellipse equation can be expressed as

r = {a ({|c o s φ|}^{n} + {|s i n φ / k|}^{n})}^{- 1 / n}

. Where

r

and

φ

are the polar radius and polar angle, respectively.

k = β / a

, where

a

and

β

are the major and minor semi-axes of the superellipse. The mean value of k was 0.95, 94% of tree rings had k-values between 0.90 and 1.00, and only 67 tree rings had k-values between 0.71 and 0.90. n-value ranged from 1.62 to 2.81, with an average value of 2.04. 59% of the tree rings had n-values between 1.90 and 2.10, and 62% showed n-values greater than 2.0. This means that most tree rings are a hyperellipse approached to an ellipse. Sites with different soil moisture conditions influenced the size but not the shape of tree rings. This study verified that the tree-ring shape of A. alba tends to be bilaterally symmetric and hyperellipse approached ellipse. Its variation was reflected more in inter-annual differences in k- and n-values. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dendrochronology and Wood Anatomy: Revealing How Plants Respond to Changing Environment)

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8 pages, 2352 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Experimental Induction of Extreme Indented Growth Rings (Hazel Wood) in Pinus halepensis Miller by Wide and Long Parallel Bark and Vascular Cambium Woundings

by Simcha Lev-Yadun, Ján Kováč, Jaroslav Ďurkovič and Vladimír Račko

Plants 2024, 13(16), 2265; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13162265 - 15 Aug 2024

Viewed by 1123

Abstract

Indented growth rings were found long ago to be experimentally induced in Pinus halepensis Miller by thin parallel axial scratching of the bark up to the vascular cambium with a sharp blade. Here, we show that when the bark and vascular cambium of P. halepensis are wounded by wide and long parallel axial wounds (“windows”) rather than by thin scratches, the induced indented growth rings become dramatically more indented. All ten trees that were wounded by long parallel “windows” responded with very strong growth (especially in the first two years) that resulted in the formation of very conspicuous, extremely indented growth rings in the wood formed in between the long and wide woundings. This is true for both the trunks that were wounded all around their circumference and those that were wounded only in part of their circumference. We also suggest further lines of research. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dendrochronology and Wood Anatomy: Revealing How Plants Respond to Changing Environment)

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14 pages, 6412 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Process-Based Modeling of Phenology and Radial Growth in Pinus tabuliformis in Response to Climate Factors over a Cold and Semi-Arid Region

by Zihong Man, Junzhou Zhang, Junjun Liu, Li Liu, Jiqin Yang and Zongying Cao

Plants 2024, 13(7), 980; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13070980 - 29 Mar 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1242

Abstract

(1) Background: Climate change significantly impacts the phenology and dynamics of radial tree growth in alpine dryland forests. However, there remains a scarcity of reliable information on the physiological processes of tree growth and cambial phenology in response to long-term climate change in cold and semi-arid regions. (2) Methods: We employed the process-based Vaganov–Shashkin (VS) model to simulate the phenology and growth patterns of Chinese pine (Pinus tabuliformis) in the eastern Qilian Mountains, northeastern Tibetan Plateau. The model was informed by observed temperature and precipitation data to elucidate the relationships between climate factors and tree growth. (3) Results: The simulated tree-ring index closely aligned with the observed tree-ring chronology, validating the VS model’s effectiveness in capturing the climatic influences on radial growth and cambial phenology of P. tabuliformis. The model outputs revealed that the average growing season spanned from mid-April to mid-October and experienced an extension post-1978 due to ongoing warming trends. However, it is important to note that an increase in the duration of the growing season did not necessarily result in a higher level of radial growth. (4) Conclusions: While the duration of the growing season was primarily determined by temperature, the growth rate was predominantly influenced by water conditions during the growing season, making it the most significant factor contributing to ring formation. Our study provides valuable insights into the potential mechanisms underlying tree growth responses to climate change in cold and semi-arid regions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dendrochronology and Wood Anatomy: Revealing How Plants Respond to Changing Environment)

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