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Forests
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Radial Tree-Ring Traits Variation in Relation to Climate Factors
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Radial Tree-Ring Traits Variation in Relation to Climate Factors

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecophysiology and Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 May 2020) | Viewed by 14649

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Emilia Gutiérrez Merino

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Ecology, University of Barcelona, 08007 Barcelona, Spain
Interests: tree adaptation; tree phenology; tree physiology; dendrochronology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Tree radius growth occurs based on xylem increments on structures already formed, so that trees increase in size with age. Tree-rings, annually resolved radial xylem increments (growth footprints), are accurate measures of tree performance, forest production, and of their capacity to capture and store carbon. Thus, xylem traits are important variables involved in tree performance and forest function due to the physiological processes involved (CO2 fixation and water transpiration) and the structural traits of the xylem in tree trunk growth.

Trees are necessarily highly plastic in their response to environmental factors, otherwise they would not attain such longevity. Understanding the effects of climate change on tree ring traits, tree growth and performance is an issue of paramount importance. In addition, because wood accomplishes different functions, conflicting demands on the xylem structure can appear under different environmental conditions. Under these circumstances, there are changes in the xylem traits, such as modifications in the cell morphology and chemical composition, changes in cellulose and lignin proportions, and changes in the proportion of cell types, that at the same time induce changes in higher level traits, e.g. xylem density and hydraulic conductivity.

In the last decades, tree-ring traits have been extensively analyzed to ascertain tree and forest responses to ongoing climate change, but a deeper knowledge on climate effects on trees of different age and size classes, at different temporal scales and across different climate regimes is needed. Stratified studies of this kind will be very helpful to better understand tree acclimation involving a one trait tradeoff or several traits, future responses of tree growth, mortality risks and forest function. Within this framework, the nature of the relationships between tree-ring traits at different stages of a tree’s life will shed light on the relevance of tree-ring traits for tree performance, and the relevance of tradeoffs among traits will be very helpful to unravel the potential effects of natural selection on surviving trees.

We encourage studies from all fields of dendroecology with or without ecophysiological research, including experimental studies, monitoring approaches (phenology, dendrometer records) and models to contribute to this Special Issue in order to promote knowledge and adaptation strategies for the preservation, management, and future development of forest ecosystems.

Prof. Dr. Emilia Gutiérrez
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Dendrochronology and dendroecology
  • Tree age and tree size
  • Tree-ring traits
  • Tree phenology
  • Tree growth and performance
  • Climate–tree-ring trait relationships
  • Tree acclimation
  • Trade-offs among tree-ring traits

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 6991 KiB  
Article
The Climatic Response of Tree Ring Width Components of Ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.) and Common Oak (Quercus robur L.) from Eastern Europe
by Cătălin-Constantin Roibu, Victor Sfeclă, Andrei Mursa, Monica Ionita, Viorica Nagavciuc, Francisca Chiriloaei, Ilarie Leșan and Ionel Popa
Forests 2020, 11(5), 600; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f11050600 - 25 May 2020
Cited by 31 | Viewed by 4915
Abstract
This paper aims to develop the first differentiated (earlywood—EW, latewood—LW, and total ring width—RW) dendrochronological series for ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.) and oak (Quercus robur L.) trees from the Republic of Moldova, and to analyze their climatic response and their spatio-temporal [...] Read more.
This paper aims to develop the first differentiated (earlywood—EW, latewood—LW, and total ring width—RW) dendrochronological series for ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.) and oak (Quercus robur L.) trees from the Republic of Moldova, and to analyze their climatic response and their spatio-temporal stability. For this, 18 ash and 26 oak trees were cored from the Dobrușa protected area, Republic of Moldova, Eastern Europe, and new EW, LW, and RW chronologies were developed for ash and oak covering the last century. The obtained results showed that the RW and LW have a similar climatic response for both species, while EW is capturing interannual climate variations and has a different reaction. The analyses performed with monthly climatic data revealed a significant and negative correlation with the mean air temperature and a significant and positive correlation with precipitation and the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) for both ash and oak. The temperature during the vegetation period has a strong influence on all tree-ring components of ash, while for oak the strong correlation was found only for LW. The positive and significant correlation between LW and RW with precipitation for both species, suggests that ash and oak are sensitive to the hydrological component and the precipitation is the main tree growth-limiting factor. Despite the significant correlation with precipitation and temperature for the whole analyzed period, the 25-year moving correlation analyses show that they are not stable in time and can switch from positive to negative or vice versa, while the correlation with SPEI3 drought index, which is a integration of both climatic parameters, is stable in time. By employing the stability map analysis, we show that oak and ash tree ring components, from the eastern part of the Republic of Moldova, have a stable and significant correlation with SPEI3 and scPDSI drought indices from February (January) until September, over the eastern part of Europe. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Radial Tree-Ring Traits Variation in Relation to Climate Factors)
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18 pages, 4467 KiB  
Article
Long-Term Wood Micro-Density Variation in Alpine Forests at Central México and Their Spatial Links with Remotely Sensed Information
by A. Correa-Díaz, A. Gómez-Guerrero, J. J. Vargas-Hernández, P. Rozenberg and W. R. Horwath
Forests 2020, 11(4), 452; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f11040452 - 16 Apr 2020
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3016
Abstract
Ongoing climate variability strongly affects high-elevation forests, influencing the wood formation process (e.g., xylogenesis). Furthermore, spatio-temporal studies to establish links of wood properties and tree performance are needed. Using linear mixed-effects models, empirical cumulative distribution functions, and spatial analysis, we explore time trends [...] Read more.
Ongoing climate variability strongly affects high-elevation forests, influencing the wood formation process (e.g., xylogenesis). Furthermore, spatio-temporal studies to establish links of wood properties and tree performance are needed. Using linear mixed-effects models, empirical cumulative distribution functions, and spatial analysis, we explore time trends and space connections of wood density of Pinus hartwegii Lindl. to remotely sensed variables (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer MODIS-derived) in two high-elevation forests in México, Tláloc (TLA) and Jocotitlán (JOC) Mountains. Results indicated that elevation and cambial age effects are important factors explaining wood density variation. Minimum earlywood—MID, average—AVE, and maximum latewood density—MXD were statistically similar between mountains (p > 0.05), but TLA showed a significant increase in MID over time with higher values after 1950. Wood density values and spatial correlations were site-dependent with TLA exhibiting the highest correlations between MXD and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) of the spring season (r = 0.59, p < 0.05). Overall, correlations to remotely sensed information were positive with MXD, negative for MID and divergent for AVE. Historical temperature defines MID along the elevation gradient, while MXD was related to soil moisture only at low-elevation sites where soils are deeper. We found that two high-elevation forests, 115 km away from each other, with similar climate, soil, and vegetation, behaved differently regarding their xylogenesis, indicating the potential of using the link between wood micro-density and remotely sensed information to understand forest response to climate change effects. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Radial Tree-Ring Traits Variation in Relation to Climate Factors)
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13 pages, 1222 KiB  
Article
Competition, Climate, and Size Effects on Radial Growth in an Old-Growth Hemlock Forest
by Seth W. Bigelow, James R. Runkle and Evan M. Oswald
Forests 2020, 11(1), 52; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f11010052 - 31 Dec 2019
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2816
Abstract
Research Highlights: We applied neighborhood and dendro-ecological methods in a stand with a 33-year record of forest dynamics, finding that growth will decrease for several species under predicted climate trends. Background and Objectives: Conventional tree-ring analysis removes the influence of competition and size [...] Read more.
Research Highlights: We applied neighborhood and dendro-ecological methods in a stand with a 33-year record of forest dynamics, finding that growth will decrease for several species under predicted climate trends. Background and Objectives: Conventional tree-ring analysis removes the influence of competition and size on growth, precluding assessment of the relative influence of these factors. An old-growth eastern hemlock forest in east–central New York was mapped in 1978 and was measured at eight-year intervals since then. Our objective was to use these data to examine the influence of climate, neighborhood, and tree size on radial growth. Materials and Methods: We evaluated an array of climatic indices to find which ones had the strongest influence on radial growth from increment cores of eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis L.), yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis Britton), and sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.). We used the strongest climatic indices in combination with neighborhood and target-tree size information to create growth models for the three tree species. Results: Size accounted for 2% to 21% of observed growth; the shade-tolerant sugar maple and eastern hemlock grew fastest when large, but the mid-tolerant yellow birch grew fastest when small. Competition accounted for 9% to 21% of growth; conifers had a weaker competitive effect than deciduous trees, and eastern hemlock was less sensitive to competition than sugar maple and yellow birch. Climate accounted for only 2% of growth variation; eastern hemlock showed a positive response to warming climate trends, but yellow birch and sugar maple showed negative responses. Conclusions: Predicted climate trends are likely to result in decreased growth of sugar maple and yellow birch, and the sensitivity of these species to competition suggests the effect will be exacerbated when they grow in crowded conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Radial Tree-Ring Traits Variation in Relation to Climate Factors)
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18 pages, 8454 KiB  
Article
Response of Four Tree Species to Changing Climate in a Moisture-Limited Area of South Siberia
by Elena A. Babushkina, Dina F. Zhirnova, Liliana V. Belokopytova, Ivan I. Tychkov, Eugene A. Vaganov and Konstantin V. Krutovsky
Forests 2019, 10(11), 999; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f10110999 - 08 Nov 2019
Cited by 25 | Viewed by 3350
Abstract
The response of vegetation to climate change is of special interest in regions where rapid warming is coupled with moisture deficit. This raises the question of the limits in plants’ acclimation ability and the consequent shifts of the vegetation cover. Radial growth dynamics [...] Read more.
The response of vegetation to climate change is of special interest in regions where rapid warming is coupled with moisture deficit. This raises the question of the limits in plants’ acclimation ability and the consequent shifts of the vegetation cover. Radial growth dynamics and climatic response were studied in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), Siberian larch (Larix sibirica Ledeb.), and silver birch (Betula pendula Roth.) in the forest-steppe, and for Siberian elm (Ulmus pumila L.) in the steppe of South Siberia, as indicators of vegetation state and dynamics. Climate–growth relationships were analyzed by the following two approaches: (1) correlations between tree-ring width chronologies and short-term moving climatic series, and (2) optimization of the parameters of the Vaganov–Shashkin tree growth simulation model to assess the ecophysiological characteristics of species. Regional warming was accompanied by a slower increase of the average moisture deficit, but not in the severity of droughts. In the forest-steppe, the trees demonstrated stable growth and responded to the May–July climate. In the steppe, elm was limited by moisture deficit in May–beginning of June, during the peak water deficit. The forest-steppe stands were apparently acclimated successfully to the current climatic trends. It seems that elm was able to counter the water deficit, likely through its capacity to regulate transpiration by the stomatal morphology and xylem structure, using most of the stem as a water reservoir; earlier onset; and high growth rate, and these physiological traits may provide advantages to this species, leading to its expansion in steppes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Radial Tree-Ring Traits Variation in Relation to Climate Factors)
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