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Responses of wood anatomy and carbon isotope composition of Quercus pubescens saplings subjected to two consecutive years of summer drought

Galle, Alexander ; Esper, Jan ; Feller, Urs ; Ribas-Carbo, Miquel ; Fonti, Patrick

In: Annals of Forest Science, 2010, vol. 67, no. 8, p. 809-809

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    Titre
    • Responses of wood anatomy and carbon isotope composition of Quercus pubescens saplings subjected to two consecutive years of summer drought
    Auteur
    • Galle, Alexander. Institute of Plant Sciences and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR), University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, 3013, Bern, Switzerland
    • Esper, Jan. Department of Geography, Johannes Gutenberg University, Becherweg 21, 55099, Mainz, Germany
    • Feller, Urs. Institute of Plant Sciences and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR), University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, 3013, Bern, Switzerland
    • Ribas-Carbo, Miquel. Grup de Recerca en Biologia de les Plantes en Condicions Mediterrànies, Departament de Biologia, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Carretera de Valldemossa km 7.5, 07122, Palma de Mallorca, Spain
    • Fonti, Patrick. Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
    Type de document
    • Postprint
    Langue
    • Anglais
    Publié dans
    • Annals of Forest Science, 2010, vol. 67, no. 8, p. 809-809. Springer Netherlands
    Autre version électronique
    Identifiant OAI-PMH
    • oai:doc.rero.ch:313298
    Summary
    • To withstand and to recover from severe summer drought is crucial for trees, as dry periods are predicted to occur more frequently over the coming decades. • In order to better understand growth-related tree responses to drought, wood formation, vessel characteristics and stable carbon isotope composition (δ13C) in tree rings of Quercus pubescens saplings imposed to two consecutive summer droughts were compared with regularly watered control trees. • In both years, photosynthetic activity was strongly inhibited during the drought periods of five to seven weeks but quickly restored after re-watering, reinitiating wood formation. Stress caused more than a 20% reduction in ring width, a 0.5‰ increase in latewood δ13C and changes in vessels characteristics in both the current year latewood and the next year earlywood. The latewood displayed up to 90% increased hydraulic conductivity than control trees, likely to compensate for a cavitation-induced reduction of water transport. • The earlywood after the first drought year was characterized by more but smaller vessels suggesting the attempt of restoring conductivity while minimizing the risk of hydraulic failure. However, after the second year, the reduction of hydraulic conductivity and the increased δ13C values indicate a structural adjustment towards a reduced growth induced by exhaustion of carbon reserves