Genotypic variability and phenotypic plasticity of cavitation resistance in Fagus sylvatica L. across Europe

Wortemann, Rémi; Herbette, Stéphane; Barigah, Têtè Sévérien; Fumanal, Boris; Alı́a, Ricardo; Ducousso, Alexis; Gömöry, Dušan; Roeckel‐Drevet, Patricia; Cochard, Hervé

doi:10.1093/treephys/tpr101

Cited by 161 publications

(155 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Common garden experiments of phenology (Robson et al 2013), seedling response to drought (Thiel et al 2014) and water-conducting anatomy (Eilmann et al 2014) have suggested that F. sylvatica populations have a high degree of adaptation to local climate. F. sylvatica also exhibits the potential for acclimation to changes in climate over timescales up to several years (Wortemann et al 2011). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consistent limitation of growth by high temperature and low precipitation from range core to southern edge of European beech indicates widespread vulnerability to changing climate

et al. 2016

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The aim of our study was to determine variation in the response of radial growth in Fagus sylvatica L (European Beech) to climate across the species full geographical distribution and climatic tolerance. We combined new and existing data to build a database of 140 tree-ring chronologies to investigate patterns in growth-climate relationships. Our novel meta-analysis approach has allowed the first investigation of the effect of climate on tree growth across the entire geographical distribution of the species. We identified key climate signals in tree-ring chronologies and then investigated how these varied geographically and according to mean local climate, and by tree age and size. We found that the most important climate variables significantly correlated with growth did not show strong geographical patterns. Growth of trees in the core and at the southern edge of the distribution was reduced by high temperature and low precipitation during the growing season, and by high temperatures in the previous summer. However, growth of trees growing in warmer and drier locations was more frequently significantly correlated with summer precipitation than other populations. Additionally, the growth of older and larger trees was more frequently significantly correlated with previous summer temperature than younger and smaller trees. Trees growing at the south of the species geographical distributions are often considered most at risk from climate change, but our results indicate that radial growth of populations in other areas of the distribution is equally likely to be significantly correlated with summer climate and may also be vulnerable. Additionally, tree-rings from older trees contain particular growth-climate relationships that are rarely found in younger trees. These results have important implications for predicting forest carbon balance, resource use and likely future changes to forest composition across the continent.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consistent limitation of growth by high temperature and low precipitation from range core to southern edge of European beech indicates widespread vulnerability to changing climate

et al. 2016

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“…A fundamental question concerns the plasticity and genetic diversity of embolism resistance within species 22,29,30 . If the tight link between embolism resistance and water availability is the product of natural selection over many generations and adaptation is limited by a long generation cycle of perennial plants, then the rapid pace of climate change may outstrip the capacity of populations to adapt.…”

Section: Letter Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global convergence in the vulnerability of forests to drought

Choat

Jansen

Brodribb

et al. 2012

Nature

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101

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Shifts in rainfall patterns and increasing temperatures associated with climate change are likely to cause widespread forest decline in regions where droughts are predicted to increase in duration and severity. One primary cause of productivity loss and plant mortality during drought is hydraulic failure. Drought stress creates trapped gas emboli in the water transport system, which reduces the ability of plants to supply water to leaves for photosynthetic gas exchange and can ultimately result in desiccation and mortality. At present we lack a clear picture of how thresholds to hydraulic failure vary across a broad range of species and environments, despite many individual experiments. Here we draw together published and unpublished data on the vulnerability of the transport system to drought-induced embolism for a large number of woody species, with a view to examining the likely consequences of climate change for forest biomes. We show that 70% of 226 forest species from 81 sites worldwide operate with narrow hydraulic safety margins against injurious levels of drought stress and therefore potentially face long-term reductions in productivity and survival if temperature and aridity increase as predicted for many regions across the globe. Safety margins are largely independent of mean annual precipitation, showing that there is global convergence in the vulnerability of forests to drought, with all forest biomes equally vulnerable to hydraulic failure regardless of their current rainfall environment. These findings provide insight into why drought-induced forest decline is occurring not only in arid regions but also in wet forests not normally considered at drought risk

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“…In particular, there are relatively few common garden experiments that have measured anatomical or hydraulic traits (but see Lamy et al 2013;Schreiber et al 2011;Wortemann et al 2011), which are useful in determining the relative influence of adaptation versus plasticity, and also relatively few studies that quantify trait variation of multiple coordinated traits such as gas exchange, morphology, and hydraulic traits across a species range (but see Martínez-Vilalta et al 2009). Additionally, the temporal scales and potential for turnover and plasticity in anatomy and hydraulic traits over multiple years is not well known.…”

Section: Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%