Phenology and growth of Fagus sylvatica and Quercus robur seedlings in response to temperature variation in the parental versus offspring generation

Abstract

Plants are known to respond to warming temperatures. Few studies, however, have included the temperature experienced by the parent plant in the experimental design, in spite of the importance of this factor for population dynamics.• We investigated the phenological and growth responses of seedlings of two key temperate tree species (Fagus sylvatica and Quercus robur) to spatiotemporal temperature variation during the reproductive period (parental generation) and experimental warming of the offspring. To this end, we sampled oak and beech seedlings of different ages (1-5 years) from isolated mother trees and planted the seedlings in a common garden.• Warming of the seedlings advanced bud burst in both species. In oak seedlings, higher temperatures experienced by mother trees during the reproductive period delayed bud burst in control conditions, but advanced bud burst in heated seedlings. In beech seedlings, bud burst timing advanced both with increasing temperatures during the reproductive period of the parents and with experimental warming of the seedlings. Relative diameter growth was enhanced in control oak seedlings but decreased with warming when the mother plant experienced higher temperatures during the reproductive period.• Overall, oak displayed more plastic responses to temperatures than beech. Our results emphasise that temperature during the reproductive period can be a potential determinant of tree responses to climate change.

Timing of Bud Burst Is Associated With Climate of Maternal Origin in Quercus Lobata Progeny in a Common Garden

“…An asterisk (*) indicates results were confirmed using a Log-Likelihood Ratio Test (see Methods). consistent with a number of other studies that have shown increased temperature of origin is associated with earlier bud burst (Alberto et al 2011;Sampaio et al 2016;Dewan et al 2020).…”

“…Koenig et al (2021, this issue) examined bud burst date in Valley Oak over a 30-yr period, and found that warmer temperatures were associated with earlier bud burst. Studies that used artificial warming to examine the impact of increased temperatures on phenology have found that warmer temperatures are associated with earlier leafing out dates (Morin et al 2010;Fu et al 2013;Fu et al 2016;Dewan et al 2020;Faticov et al 2020). Thus, in addition to the genetic basis of bud burst timing, the environment can influence when leaves emerge.…”

Phenological response of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) to climate change in the Western Carpathian climatic-geographical zones

“…in Slovenia recorded an increasing trend of earlier onset by 1.52 days per 10 years, while no changes were observed in lower elevations ( Čufar et al., 2012 ). Dewan et al. (2020) highlight the spatiotemporal fluctuations of spring air temperature due to ongoing climate change, resulting in a rapid phenological response in beech.…”

Oak seedling microbiome assembly under climate warming and drought

“…However, climate change is also expected to affect the richness, diversity and community composition of microbial communities associated with plants [7,41,48]. Additionally, the majority of studies about the effects of climate change on the plant microbiome have focused on annual crops [56, 70,75], whereas less studies have focused on trees, despite their invaluable importance for global ecosystem functioning [8, 23,29]. While we have a good understanding of the effect of warming and drought on the plant physiology and tness, we lack insights into the independent and interactive effects of warming and drought on the plant-associated microbiome.…”