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Forests
Special Issues
Impact of Climate Change on Tree Growth and Physiology
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Impact of Climate Change on Tree Growth and Physiology

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 November 2020) | Viewed by 9142

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Cristina Nabais

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Assistant Professor, Department of Life Sciences, Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
Interests: ecophysiology, dendrochronology, xylogenesis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The influence of climate on the physiognomy of plants is one of the basic concepts of ecology. This was wonderfully recorded by Alexander von Humboldt in his expeditions around the world showing similar physiognomies in different continents. Climatic conditions establish the matrix of seasonal variation of precipitation and temperature, the two basic parameters that plants need to cope to grow and reproduce. At an evolutionary time-scale, plants adapted to different climatic conditions, developing diverse morphological, physiological, and phenological strategies, help to map biomes. Trees are long-lived structures and in that sense are subjected to short-term weather variations, and long-term climatic trends. Especially since the 1970s, there has been a steady and increasing trend of the global average temperature related to the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. A higher frequency of extreme events (extreme droughts, extreme floods, and heatwaves) has also been recorded. How do trees cope with climate change conditions? What is the impact of increasing temperature on the photosynthesis, hydraulic behaviour, resource allocation, and phenology of trees? What is the impact of a higher frequency of extreme events in tree development and survival? Are climate trends being recorded in tree-rings? Are the responses similar among different tree species and latitudes? Are the recent episodes of tree mortality related to the climatic trends observed? Are trees being stretched to physiological limits? In this Special issue of Forests, we are looking for new research, review articles, and opinion articles on the impact of climate change on trees and trying to answer some of the previous questions or new ones raised by researchers.

Dr. Cristina Nabais
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • hydraulics
  • photosynthesis
  • resource allocation
  • tree mortality

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 2346 KiB  
Article
Timeline of Leaf and Cambial Phenology in Relation to Development of Initial Conduits in Xylem and Phloem in Three Coexisting Sub-Mediterranean Deciduous Tree Species
by Jožica Gričar, Andreja Vedenik, Gregor Skoberne, Polona Hafner and Peter Prislan
Forests 2020, 11(10), 1104; https://doi.org/10.3390/f11101104 - 17 Oct 2020
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3494
Abstract
It is unclear how the anticipated climate change will affect the timing of phenology of different tree organs/tissues and thus the whole-tree functioning. We examined the timing of leaf phenology and secondary growth in three coexisting deciduous tree species (Quercus pubescens Willd., [...] Read more.
It is unclear how the anticipated climate change will affect the timing of phenology of different tree organs/tissues and thus the whole-tree functioning. We examined the timing of leaf phenology and secondary growth in three coexisting deciduous tree species (Quercus pubescens Willd., Fraxinus ornus L. and Ostrya carpinifolia Scop) from a sub-Mediterranean region in 2019. In addition, we investigated the relationship between leaf and cambial phenology and the onset of the potential functioning of initial conduits, as determined by the completed differentiation process (vessels) or final size (sieve tubes). For this purpose, leaf development was monitored and the microcores of cambium and the youngest phloem and xylem increments were repeatedly collected at 7–10-day intervals during the growing season. The results revealed differences in the timing of leaf development and seasonal radial growth patterns in spring among the studied tree species, depending on wood porosity. We found that cambial cell production started in all cases in the first half of March. However, in ring-porous Q. pubescens and F. ornus, radial growth in the stem occurred more than a month before buds were swollen, whereas in diffuse-porous O. carpinifolia, these two events were detected at almost the same time. The end of cambial cell production occurred earliest in F. ornus (mid-July) and two weeks later also in the other two species. The widest initial earlywood vessels and early phloem sieve tubes were found in Q. pubescens, the narrowest initial earlywood vessels in O. carpinifolia and the narrowest early phloem sieve tubes in F. ornus. This indicates differences in the efficiency of conducting systems among the studied species. This novel approach of studying phloem phenology and anatomy in relation to leaf and xylem development contributes to a better understanding of how different tree species adapt their structure of secondary vascular tissues in response to environmental change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of Climate Change on Tree Growth and Physiology)
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10 pages, 1234 KiB  
Article
Phenological Differentiation in Sugar Maple Populations and Responses of Bud Break to an Experimental Warming
by Ping Ren, Eryuan Liang, Patricia Raymond and Sergio Rossi
Forests 2020, 11(9), 929; https://doi.org/10.3390/f11090929 - 26 Aug 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2446
Abstract
Species with wide geographical ranges exhibit specific adaptations to local climates, which may result in diverging responses among populations to changing conditions. Climate change has advanced spring phenology worldwide, but questions of whether and how the phenological responses to warming differ among individuals [...] Read more.
Species with wide geographical ranges exhibit specific adaptations to local climates, which may result in diverging responses among populations to changing conditions. Climate change has advanced spring phenology worldwide, but questions of whether and how the phenological responses to warming differ among individuals across the natural range of a species remain. We conducted two experiments in January and April 2019, and performed daily observations of the timings of bud break in 1-year-old seedlings of sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marshall) from 25 Canadian provenances at two thermal conditions (14/10 and 18/14 °C day/night temperature) in a controlled environment. Overall, bud break started 6 days from the beginning of the experiments and finished after 125 days. The earlier events were observed in seedlings originating from the colder sites. Bud break was delayed by 4.8 days per additional degree Celsius in the mean annual temperature at the origin site. Warming advanced the timing of bud break by 17–27 days in January and by 3–8 days in April. Similar advancements in bud break were observed among provenances under warming conditions, which rejected our hypothesis that sugar maple populations have different phenological responses to warming. Our findings confirm the differentiation in ecotypes for the process of bud break in sugar maple. In cases of homogenous spring warming across the native range of sugar maple, similar advancements in bud phenology can be expected in different populations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of Climate Change on Tree Growth and Physiology)
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14 pages, 4225 KiB  
Article
Impacts of Global Warming on the Radial Growth and Long-Term Intrinsic Water-Use Efficiency (iWUE) of Schrenk Spruce (Picea schrenkiana Fisch. et Mey) in the Sayram Lake Basin, Northwest China
by Li Qin, Yujiang Yuan, Huaming Shang, Shulong Yu, Weiping Liu and Ruibo Zhang
Forests 2020, 11(4), 380; https://doi.org/10.3390/f11040380 - 27 Mar 2020
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2715
Abstract
Global warming and the sharp rise in atmospheric CO2 concentrations have a profound impact on forest ecosystems. To better manage these changes, a comprehensive understanding of forest ecosystem responses to global change is essential. There is a lack of knowledge about the [...] Read more.
Global warming and the sharp rise in atmospheric CO2 concentrations have a profound impact on forest ecosystems. To better manage these changes, a comprehensive understanding of forest ecosystem responses to global change is essential. There is a lack of knowledge about the growth response of Schrenk spruce (Picea schrenkiana Fisch. et Mey)—an endemic tree species found in the arid Central Asian region—to climate change and rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations. In this study, core samples of Schrenk spruce were collected in the Sayram Lake Basin, Xinjiang. Tree-ring radial growth and long-term intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE) chronologies were established based on standard tree-ring width and stable carbon isotope methods. The relationships between atmospheric CO2 concentrations, climate, radial growth, and iWUE were analyzed. Our results indicate that the iWUE of trees in this region has continued to rise rapidly but that radial growth has not increased over the past 160 years. The main factor affecting iWUE is atmospheric CO2 concentrations (Ca), whereas the radial growth is much more sensitive to water availability. This may explain why the increase Ca has not had a fertilizer effect on the radial growth of trees. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of Climate Change on Tree Growth and Physiology)
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