Forest Tree Responses and Adjustments to Abiotic Factors: Limitations and Potentials

Dear Colleagues,

The effect of the environment and of abiotic stresses (warming, drought, storms, fires, etc.) on forest trees and the fact that climatic models predict an increase of frequency of extreme events are subject to lots of debates in the world forestry community. Beside tree vulnerability to abiotic stresses and the variability of adjustments according to species, one of the prominent concerns is the risk of large-scale tree mortality. Consequently, there is a pressing need for knowledge and for years, scientists have been consulted by forest managers in need of information to help forest management decisions and strategy for the future. This is a very challenging scientific area because potential risks to forests need monitoring in order to evaluate potentials and benefits and anticipate changes at a long-term time scale. Moreover, scientists are being confronted with the inherent practical difficulties linked to the number of species to consider, the spatial dimension of forest plantations, the long life span and height of adult forest trees and climate uncertainties. Through experimental approaches in controlled environments on trees at juvenile stages to studies in young and adult trees in the forest, researchers look for evidence on the adjustment potential and its limits in terms of tree growth and functioning (tipping points) facing long term environmental threats. Many thematic fields are involved in understanding and predicting how abiotic factors and their effects on forest trees might change over time and impact forest management. The approaches are multi-disciplinary and range from ecophysiology and metabolism to genomics. The integration of knowledge through the use of functional modelling as a long term predictor of potential climate impacts, but also the help of bioeconomy, may provide at the end solid insights for finding suitable adaptation measures to decision makers and forest managers.

The objective of this Special Issue is to compile the most recent research on forest tree responses facing abiotic stresses and extreme events. A series of papers will describe results, and scientific prospects of the acquired knowledge, but will discuss also the potential interest of these advances for forest management in future. Opinion and review papers are also welcome.

Dr. Pascale Maillard
Guest Editor

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• climate change
• abiotic factor
• ecophysiology
• genomics
• modelling
• species