Daily stem water deficit of Norway spruce and European beech in intra- and interspecific neighborhood under heavy drought

ABSTRACT High-resolution measurements of stem radius variations provide information about the tree water status with changing climate conditions by swelling and shrinking due to the reduction of xylem water potential and to the exceedance of leaf transpiration over root water uptake. The aim of this study was to analyze daily stem radius variations of Norway spruce and European beech in intra- and interspecific neighborhood. The experimental plots are part of a rainfall exclusion experiment. These variations are species-specific, i.e. spruces have a higher phloem thickness and higher amplitudes during a day than beeches. The amplitudes were significantly higher at the rainfall exclusion plots, but the amplitudes of spruces decreased above 27°C with increasing drought due to reduced transpiration rates and exhausted soil water reserves. The shrinking amplitude was observed for spruces in intraspecific neighborhood from a soil volumetric water content of 0.21 m3 m−3. In interspecific neighborhood, a shrinking amplitude for spruces could not be observed and revealed a lesser tree water deficit than in intraspecific neighborhood. Beeches showed minor differences with a higher tree water deficit in interspecific neighborhood. Consequently, stem radius variations give insights into a tree's water supply, which could help to understand changes in tree growth.

[1]  Nina Buchmann,et al.  Temperate tree species show identical response in tree water deficit but different sensitivities in sap flow to summer soil drying. , 2016, Tree physiology.

[2]  A. Göttlein,et al.  Site Conditions and Tree-Internal Nutrient Partitioning in Mature European Beech and Norway Spruce at the Kranzberger Forst , 2012 .

[3]  Theodore C. Hsiao,et al.  Plant responses to water deficits, water-use efficiency, and drought resistance , 1974 .

[4]  Kathy Steppe,et al.  Stem diameter variations as a versatile research tool in ecophysiology. , 2015, Tree physiology.

[5]  R. Grote,et al.  The timing of bud burst and its effect on tree growth , 2004, International journal of biometeorology.

[6]  N. Buchmann,et al.  Are trees able to grow in periods of stem shrinkage? , 2016, The New phytologist.

[7]  Kathy Steppe,et al.  A mathematical model linking tree sap flow dynamics to daily stem diameter fluctuations and radial stem growth. , 2006, Tree physiology.

[8]  D. Bates,et al.  Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4 , 2014, 1406.5823.

[9]  Hans Pretzsch,et al.  Diversity and Productivity in Forests: Evidence from Long-Term Experimental Plots , 2005 .

[10]  A. Barbati,et al.  Climate change impacts, adaptive capacity, and vulnerability of European forest ecosystems , 2010 .

[11]  H. W. Kassier.  Forest Dynamics, Growth and Yield: From Measurement to Model , 2011 .

[12]  R. Zweifel,et al.  Stem radius changes and their relation to stored water in stems of young Norway spruce trees , 2000, Trees.

[13]  H. Pretzsch,et al.  Tree diameter growth after root trenching in a mature mixed stand of Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica [L.]) , 2016, Trees.

[14]  S. Wood.  Fast stable restricted maximum likelihood and marginal likelihood estimation of semiparametric generalized linear models , 2011 .

[15]  Hans Pretzsch,et al.  Structural crown properties of Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst.) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica [L.]) in mixed versus pure stands revealed by terrestrial laser scanning , 2013, Trees.

[16]  R. Häsler,et al.  Diurnal changes in the radius of a subalpine Norway spruce stem: their relation to the sap flow and their use to estimate transpiration , 1995, Trees.

[17]  C. Ammer,et al.  Converting Norway spruce stands with beech - a review of arguments and techniques. , 2008 .

[18]  T. Klein.  The variability of stomatal sensitivity to leaf water potential across tree species indicates a continuum between isohydric and anisohydric behaviours , 2014 .

[19]  H. Pretzsch,et al.  Does belowground interaction with Fagus sylvatica increase drought susceptibility of photosynthesis and stem growth in Picea abies , 2016 .

[20]  A. Bolte,et al.  Relationships between tree dimension and coarse root biomass in mixed stands of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies[L.] Karst.) , 2004, Plant and Soil.

[21]  R. C. Dobbs,et al.  Distribution of Diurnal Fluctuations in Stem Circumference of Douglas-fir , 1971 .

[22]  Martijn Gough.  Climate change , 2009, Canadian Medical Association Journal.

[23]  A. Deslauriers,et al.  Using simple causal modeling to understand how water and temperature affect daily stem radial variation in trees. , 2007, Tree physiology.

[24]  T. Dawson.  Hydraulic lift and water use by plants: implications for water balance, performance and plant-plant interactions , 1993, Oecologia.

[25]  A. Hammerle,et al.  Tree water status and growth of saplings and mature Norway spruce (Picea abies) at a dry distribution limit , 2015, Front. Plant Sci..

[26]  M. Caldwell,et al.  Hydraulic lift: consequences of water efflux from the roots of plants , 1998, Oecologia.

[27]  R. Zweifel,et al.  Frost-induced reversible shrinkage of bark of mature subalpine conifers. , 2000 .

[28]  A. Dolman,et al.  Land Cover and the Climate System , 2003 .

[29]  Mixed Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica [L.]) stands under drought: from reaction pattern to mechanism , 2014, Trees.

[30]  A. Deslauriers,et al.  Daily weather response of balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.) stem radius increment from dendrometer analysis in the boreal forests of Québec (Canada) , 2003, Trees.

[31]  W. Lucht,et al.  Terrestrial vegetation and water balance-hydrological evaluation of a dynamic global vegetation model , 2004 .

[32]  H. Schume,et al.  Soil water depletion and recharge patterns in mixed and pure forest stands of European beech and Norway spruce , 2004 .

[33]  D. Frank,et al.  Climatic drivers of hourly to yearly tree radius variations along a 6 ◦ C natural warming gradient , 2013 .

[34]  Friedrich Engels,et al.  Survival of Norway spruce remains higher in mixed stands under a dryer and warmer climate , 2015, Global change biology.

[35]  Christian S. Zang,et al.  Size-dependent responses to summer drought in Scots pine, Norway spruce and common oak , 2012, Trees.

[36]  H. Pretzsch.  Forest Dynamics, Growth, and Yield , 2010 .

[37]  T. Stocker,et al.  Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. An overview of the Working Group 1 contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). , 2013 .

[38]  A. Gruber,et al.  Climatic influences on intra-annual stem radial increment of Pinus sylvestris (L.) exposed to drought , 2010, Trees.

[39]  H. Pretzsch,et al.  Modelling the impact of climate change on the productivity and water-use efficiency of a central European beech forest , 2013 .

[40]  G. Meehl,et al.  More Intense, More Frequent, and Longer Lasting Heat Waves in the 21st Century , 2004, Science.

[41]  O. Bouriaud,et al.  Intra-annual variations in climate influence growth and wood density of Norway spruce. , 2005, Tree physiology.

[42]  C. Leuschner,et al.  Environmental control of daily stem growth patterns in five temperate broad-leaved tree species. , 2012, Tree physiology.

[43]  R Core Team,et al.  R: A language and environment for statistical computing. , 2014 .

[44]  H. G. Jones,et al.  DIURNAL CHANGES IN WATER-CONTENT OF THE STEMS OF APPLE-TREES, AS INFLUENCED BY IRRIGATION , 1986 .

[45]  H. Mayer,et al.  Meteorological forcing of day-to-day stem radius variations of beech is highly synchronic on opposing aspects of a valley , 2013 .

[46]  Hans Pretzsch,et al.  Stem and root diameter growth of European beech and Norway spruce under extreme drought , 2017 .

[47]  Kathy Steppe,et al.  Diel growth dynamics in tree stems: linking anatomy and ecophysiology. , 2015, Trends in plant science.

[48]  Per B. Brockhoff,et al.  lmerTest Package: Tests in Linear Mixed Effects Models , 2017 .

[49]  H. Pretzsch,et al.  Mixture reduces climate sensitivity of Douglas-fir stem growth , 2016 .

[50]  H. Pretzsch,et al.  Resistance of European tree species to drought stress in mixed versus pure forests: evidence of stress release by inter-specific facilitation. , 2013, Plant biology.

[51]  A. Porporato,et al.  Onset of water stress, hysteresis in plant conductance, and hydraulic lift: Scaling soil water dynamics from millimeters to meters , 2008 .

[52]  A. Bolte,et al.  Interspecific competition impacts on the morphology and distribution of fine roots in European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) , 2006, European Journal of Forest Research.

[53]  H. Pretzsch,et al.  Crown allometry and growing space efficiency of Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst.) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) in pure and mixed stands. , 2005, Plant biology.

[54]  D. Forrester,et al.  Enhanced water use efficiency in a mixed Eucalyptus globulus and Acacia mearnsii plantation. , 2010 .

[55]  A. J. Dolman,et al.  Global Environmental Change and Land Use , 2003 .

[56]  K. Steppe,et al.  Could rapid diameter changes be facilitated by a variable hydraulic conductance? , 2012, Plant, cell & environment.

[57]  E. Gil-Pelegrín,et al.  Living on the Edge: Contrasted Wood-Formation Dynamics in Fagus sylvatica and Pinus sylvestris under Mediterranean Conditions , 2016, Front. Plant Sci..

[58]  David I Forrester,et al.  Transpiration and water-use efficiency in mixed-species forests versus monocultures: effects of tree size, stand density and season. , 2015, Tree physiology.

[59]  J. Bauhus,et al.  The influence of mixed tree plantations on the nutrition of individual species: a review. , 2010, Tree physiology.

[60]  B. C. Larson,et al.  The Ecology and Silviculture of Mixed-Species Forests , 1992, Forestry Sciences.

[61]  R. Zweifel,et al.  Link between diurnal stem radius changes and tree water relations. , 2001, Tree physiology.

[62]  A. O'Grady,et al.  Daily patterns of stem size variation in irrigated and unirrigated Eucalyptus globulus. , 2008, Tree physiology.

[63]  R. Zweifel,et al.  Modeling tree water deficit from microclimate: an approach to quantifying drought stress. , 2005, Tree physiology.

[64]  D. Forrester.  The spatial and temporal dynamics of species interactions in mixed-species forests: From pattern to process , 2014 .

[65]  U. Zimmermann,et al.  Concomitant dendrometer and leaf patch pressure probe measurements reveal the effect of microclimate and soil moisture on diurnal stem water and leaf turgor variations in young oak trees. , 2012, Functional plant biology : FPB.

[66]  S. Seneviratne,et al.  Drought and ecosystem carbon cycling , 2011 .

[67]  Joe Landsberg,et al.  Physiological ecology of forest production , 1986 .

[68]  S. Rossi,et al.  Seasonal and daily cycles of stem radial variation of Pinus pinaster in a drought-prone environment , 2013 .

[69]  Kathy Steppe,et al.  Development and verification of a water and sugar transport model using measured stem diameter variations. , 2010, Journal of experimental botany.

[70]  H. Pretzsch,et al.  Improved productivity and modified tree morphology of mixed versus pure stands of European beech (Fagus sylvatica) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) with increasing precipitation and age , 2016, Annals of Forest Science.