Impacts of warming and changes in precipitation frequency on the regeneration of two Acer species

Abstract

a b s t r a c tClimate projections indicate that temperatures will increase by up to 4.5 • C in Europe by the end of this century, and that more extreme rainfall events and longer intervening dry periods will take place. Climate change will likely affect all phases of the life cycle of plants, but plant reproduction has been suggested to be especially sensitive. Here, using a combination of approaches (soil heaters and different provenances along a latitudinal gradient), we analyzed the regeneration from seeds of Acer platanoides and A. pseudoplatanus, two tree species considered, from a management point of view, of secondary relevance. We studied germination, seedling survival and growth in a full-factorial experiment including warming and changes in watering frequency. Both species responded to warming, watering frequency and seed provenance, with stronger (negative) effects of warming and provenance than of watering frequency. In general, the central provenances performed better than the northernmost and southernmost provenances. We also detected interactive effects between warming, watering frequency and/or seed provenance. Based on these results, both species are expected to show dissimilar responses to the changes in the studied climatic factors, but also the impacts of climate change on the different phases of plant regeneration may differ in direction and magnitude. In general increases in the precipitation, frequency will stimulate germination while warming will reduce survival and growth. Moreover, the frequent divergent responses of seedlings along the latitudinal gradient suggest that climate change will likely have heterogeneous impacts across Europe, with stronger impacts in the northern and southern parts of the species' distribution ranges.

Adaptive Diversity of Beech Seedlings Under Climate Change Scenarios

“…Since the overall response of plants to abiotic and biotic stressors is determined by both environmental and genetic factors that act in combination, common garden experiments are needed in order to separate environmental from genetic effects on plant adaptive traits and to describe their interactions (Scheepens et al, 2010; Malyshev et al, 2014; de Villemereuil et al, 2016). In addition, provenance tests may contribute to the selection of suitable sources of reproductive material for future forest restoration and management activities (Bezděčková and Matějka, 2015; Carón et al, 2015). Several provenance tests exist in Europe for beech, under field or glasshouse conditions (e.g.…”

Temperature Effects on Biomass and Regeneration of Vegetation in a Geothermal Area

“…Similarly, root biomass may change in response to altered environmental variables ( Norby and Jackson, 2000 ). Soil temperature is a primary rate-regulating factor ( Berg et al, 1993 ; Kirschbaum, 1995 ) and an increase in soil temperature may lead to an overall reduction in root biomass ( Milchunas and Lauenroth, 2001 ; Carón et al, 2015 ).…”

Do trees on agrarian stone walls respond to contemporary climate warming?

“…The effect of global warming on the sycamore maple is still a subject of debates (Hemery et al 2010;Carón et al 2015a). Initial studies in experimental plant ecology about seed germination suggest that Acer species react negatively to extreme warming conditions and are weakly resilient to excess or irregular water availability (Carón et al 2015b).…”