1,721,645 research outputs found
Replication Data for: Root and shoot traits of two common herbs respond differently to drought and fertilization in a multifactorial global change experiment
No full textBackground
Plants must adapt locally to the recent global change, such as increasing drought exposure or altering nutrient availability. In ecological theory, all functional traits of the plant move towards strategies of stability and resource conservation. In particular fine roots are responsible for water and nutrient uptake and they are highly plastic to stress. In contrast to shoot traits, the dynamics of root growth and the relationship between root and shoot trait responses are still understudied and poorly understood.
Methods
Therefore, we investigated the shoot and root trait responses of two herbaceous plants, Plantago lanceolata and Rumex acetosa, growing in monoculture or in mixture in a drought x nutrient greenhouse experiment.
Results
Low-nutrient stress, more than drought stress, led to a strong carbon allocation to the roots, because the root–shoot ratio increased to compensate for stress with improved root development. Roots responded with a more conservative resource use strategy, e.g., an actually decreasing biomass and surface area to drought and, in contrast, unexpectedly with acquisitive strategy by strongly increasing the root–shoot ratio in nutrient-poor conditions. Classical shoot traits such as the decreasing specific leaf area (SLA) indicated a more resource-conservative strategy in response to any stressor.
Conclusions
Understanding whole-plant responses to global change scenarios urgently requires a much more specific exploration of the adaptation and acclimatisation potential of roots in the application of ecological research. In view of climate-smart land management, the study highlights the importance of maintaining species-rich ecosystems in face of increasing likelihood of global change-type droughts
Replication Data for: Douglas fir - A victim of its high productivity in a warming climate? Predominantly negative growth trends in the North German Lowlands
No full textReplication data in form of site average growth chronologies from tree rings
Losing half the crown hardly affects the stem growth of a xeric southern beech population
Full text linkAbstract Globally, forest ecosystems face increasing climate warming-driven stress. Crown dieback is commonly used as an indicator of declining tree vitality and is closely related to reduced stem radial growth rates. In a xeric northern Patagonian Nothofagus pumilio population, in which the majority of trees possess damaged crowns, we explored the relationship between percent crown damage and growth trends (basal area increment, BAI), interannual growth variability, and the climate sensitivity of growth. The majority of trees show stable BAI since about 1940 despite 5 to > 50% crown damage, which ranges from dieback of small branches to the presence of decades-old snagged branches. A minority of trees with more severe crown damage (> 50 to 95%) show continued growth decline during the last 80 years, but have not yet died. Crown damage was the best predictor of the BAI trend which turned negative at about 50% damage. Stronger damaged trees showed a higher growth sensitivity to summer heat and drought. Thus, the health of this population is apparently not threatened by crown damage up to 50%. Rather, trees might profit from the reduced foliage area, allowing them to stabilize their water relations and maintain stable but fairly slow growth in a drying climate.Open-Access-Publikationsfonds 202
Both climate sensitivity and growth trend of European beech decrease in the North German Lowlands, while Scots pine still thrives, despite growing sensitivity
No full textAbstract Key message Beech and pine respond differently to climate change. June precipitation is of particular influence for beech, and February/March temperature for pine. Abstract Climate warming exposes forests to increasing abiotic stress, demanding for difficult silvicultural decisions about the right choice of future timber species. Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris ) and European beech ( Fagus sylvatica ) are major timber species in the North German Lowlands, which have suffered from recent hot droughts, thus raising concern about their suitability for future production forests in the region. We investigated the climate sensitivity of tree growth and long-term growth trends of ten paired beech and pine forests along a precipitation gradient in the North German Lowlands with the aim to compare the species’ climate sensitivity and to search for species-specific climatic thresholds. In the majority of beech stands, basal area increment (BAI) has lost its positive trend since the 1980s or growth declined since then, while the BAI of pine has continually increased. Long-term change in June precipitation is in the study region a more important determinant of beech growth trends than the amount of MAP, while pine growth is largely dependent on the warmth of February/March. Yet, pine growth is also sensitive to dry mid summers, with sensitivity increasing toward low MAP. Climate sensitivity of growth has significantly declined since the 1980s in beech, while the dominant drought signal of June persisted in pine. We conclude that recent climate change is affecting radial growth of beech and pine differently with both species revealing signs of vulnerability to hot droughts, suggesting for the drier part of the study region the preference of more drought-tolerant hardwood timber species over beech and pine.Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002347Georg-August-Universität Göttingen 50110000338
Soils from cold and snowy temperate deciduous forests release more nitrogen and phosphorus after soil freeze–thaw cycles than soils from warmer, snow-poor conditions
No full textReplication Data for: Summer drought exposure, stand structure, and soil properties jointly control the growth of European beech along a steep precipitation gradient in northern Germany
No full textWe investigated the drought sensitivity and response to recent climate warming of Europe's most important forest tree, European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.), at 30 sites along a precipitation gradient that is only a few hundred kilometers short but very strong (<500–850 mm/year), corresponding to the main climatic distribution range of beech. We analysed which factors (local climate, soil, stand properties) influence tree growth sensitivity to climate. This dataset contains the replication data for the main analysis of the manuscript
Replication Data for: Increasing winter temperatures stimulate Scots pine growth in the North German Lowlands despite stationary sensitivity to summer drought
No full textMore than half of the forest area of the North German Lowlands is stocked with Scots pine-dominated forests, mostly plantations. Climate change suggests a declining suitability of Europe’s temperate zone for conifer plantations, but only few studies have examined the long-term growth trends of Scots pine in relation to environmental and site factors in this region. We studied the radial growth patterns of Scots pine over the last 60 years at ten sites along a precipitation gradient (830–530 mm mean annual precipitation) from an oceanic to a sub-continental climate, analyzing the spatial and temporal variability of the climate sensitivity of growth in order to identify the main climatic factors influencing pine growth across this gradient, which covers a large part of the species’ tolerated precipitation range. Annual radial increment was sensitive to late-winter temperatures (February, March) and summer drought and heat (June–August), with sensitivity increasing from the oceanic to the drier continental sites. Warmer late-winter periods apparently have stimulated growth during the last decades, while the sensitivity to summer-drought has remained fairly stable. Until recently, the negative impact of warming summers on growth has been compensated by the positive effect of late-winter warming, resulting in stable (or increasing) growth trends. However, our comparison of the climate sensitivity across sites suggests that the drought effect compensation through winter warming will in future be limited by increasing drought exposure. Thus, future productivity declines are likely in the northern German lowlands despite warming winters, discouraging large-scale pine plantations in the face of climate warming
Replication Data for: Ecosystem processes show uniform sensitivity to winter soil temperature change across a gradient from central to cold-marginal stands of a major temperate forest tree
No full textWe conducted a gradient-design snow cover and soil temperature manipulation experiment across a range of lowland beech forest sites to assess the site-specific sensitivity of tree growth and biogeochemical cycling to soil cooling. Even mild and inconsistent soil frost affected tree increment, germination, litter decomposition and the retention of added 15 N
Wetter winters amplify temperature effects on fine root growth and increase tree growth in north-eastern European beech forests
No full texthttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001659 German Research Foundatio
Douglas fir – A victim of its high productivity in a warming climate? Predominantly negative growth trends in the North German Lowlands
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