Carbon isotope discrimination, radial growth, and NDVI share spatiotemporal responses to precipitation in Aleppo pine

Abstract

Manuscript Click here to download Manuscript: del Castillo et al manuscript_REV20140828.doc Click here to view linked References 2 Key message. A common pattern in Aleppo pine Δ 13 C responses to both spatial and temporal variability in precipitation was observed, with a general agreement between NDVI, Δ 13 C and growth that confirms precipitation as key environmental driver.

From Trees to Ecosystems: Spatiotemporal Scaling of Climatic Impacts on Montane Landscapes Using Dendrochronological, Isotopic, and Remotely Sensed Data

“…Consistent with this notion, Leavitt et al (2008) in the southwestern United States found a positive relationship between isotope indices of pinyon pine ( P. edulis and P. monophylla ) and summer NDVI, revealing a potential for long‐term assessment of carbon cycling. Similarly, del Castillo et al (2015) detected a positive association between Δ 13 C and either mean annual NDVI ( r = 0.65) or summer NDVI ( r = 0.69) in Spain, which agrees with our study. This means that high greenness or photosynthetic activity during these months is coupled with lower δ 13 C (more negative), higher discrimination, and lower iWUE, explained by a higher stomatal conductance.…”

“…Traditional approaches to assessing forest response to climate do not typically consider how landscape processes interact with CO 2 to control physiological performance at large scales. Indeed, few studies have attempted to link physiological parameters of trees with remotely sensed data of forest productivity, which is a necessary step toward elucidating ecological and biogeochemical changes spatially and over time (del Castillo et al, 2015; Leavitt et al, 2008; Levesque et al, 2019).…”

“…Multiproxy approaches that incorporate other variables related to physiological processes (e.g., stable isotope ratios in tree rings) and anatomical wood properties (e.g., size of xylem conduits or maximum wood density) are customary in dendrochronology and have helped to provide additional insights into factors that modulate tree response to environmental change (Martínez‐Vilalta, 2018; McCarroll & Loader, 2004). The addition of remotely sensed information combined with standard locally sourced tree ring data presents a new opportunity to assess and predict forest response to climate variability and potential biogeochemical changes over large spatiotemporal scales (del Castillo et al, 2015; Levesque et al, 2019; Tei et al, 2019; Vicente‐Serrano et al, 2016). For example, tree ring stable isotopes ratios can be combined with the dynamics of an ecosystem from remotely sensed vegetation indices (e.g., Normalized Difference Vegetation Index [NDVI]) (Guo & Xie, 2006; Leavitt et al, 2008).…”

Increasing drought effects on five European pines modulate Δ13C‐growth coupling along a Mediterranean altitudinal gradient

“…Both radial growth and D 13 C are influenced by water availability in drought-prone environments, so their association increases in parallel with an enhanced frequency and intensity of drought episodes. Hence, where D 13 C is more responsive to variations in water availability, D 13 C i and TRW i share a robust temporal signal, as shown at the regional level for P. halepensis (del Castillo, Voltas & Ferrio 2015). In this regard, it is expected that pines when more exposed to drought (i.e.…”

“…) and in the French Alps (Gagen, McCarroll & Edouard ). Conversely, Δ 13 C i was positively related to spring and early autumn precipitation at low and mid‐elevations (del Castillo, Voltas & Ferrio ), suggesting that cambial activity slows down during summer because of water shortage in sub‐Mediterranean pinewoods (Voltas et al . ).…”