Effects of Recent Minimum Temperature and Water Deficit Increases on Pinus pinaster Radial Growth and Wood Density in Southern Portugal.

Western Iberia has recently shown increasing frequency of drought conditions coupled with heatwave events, leading to exacerbated limiting climatic conditions for plant growth. It is not clear to what extent wood growth and density of agroforestry species have suffered from such changes or recent extreme climate events. To address this question, tree-ring width and density chronologies were built for a Pinus pinaster stand in southern Portugal and correlated with climate variables, including the minimum, mean and maximum temperatures and the number of cold days. Monthly and maximum daily precipitations were also analyzed as well as dry spells. The drought effect was assessed using the standardized precipitation-evapotranspiration (SPEI) multi-scalar drought index, between 1 to 24-months. The climate-growth/density relationships were evaluated for the period 1958-2011. We show that both wood radial growth and density highly benefit from the strong decay of cold days and the increase of minimum temperature. Yet the benefits are hindered by long-term water deficit, which results in different levels of impact on wood radial growth and density. Despite of the intensification of long-term water deficit, tree-ring width appears to benefit from the minimum temperature increase, whereas the effects of long-term droughts significantly prevail on tree-ring density. Our results further highlight the dependency of the species on deep water sources after the juvenile stage. The impact of climate changes on long-term droughts and their repercussion on the shallow groundwater table and P. pinaster's vulnerability are also discussed. This work provides relevant information for forest management in the semi-arid area of the Alentejo region of Portugal. It should ease the elaboration of mitigation strategies to assure P. pinaster's production capacity and quality in response to more arid conditions in the near future in the region.

The impact of drought on leaf physiology of Quercus suber L. trees: comparison of an extreme drought event with chronic rainfall reduction.

Understanding the responses of cork oak (Quercus suber L.) to actual and predicted summer conditions is essential to determine the future sustainability of cork oak woodlands in Iberia. Thermal imaging may provide a rapid method for monitoring the extent of stress. The ecophysiology of cork trees was studied over three years. Three treatments were applied by means of rainfall capture and irrigation, with plots receiving 120%, 100%, or 80% of natural precipitation. Despite stomatal closure, detected using both thermal imaging and porometry, leaf water potential fell during the summer, most drastically during the third year of accumulative stress. The quantum efficiency (ΦPSII) and the maximum efficiency Fv' /FM' of photosystem II also fell more intensely over the third summer, while non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) increased. The reduced precipitation treatment sporadically further reduced leaf water potential, stomatal conductance (gs), IG (an index of gs derived from thermal imaging), ΦPSII, and Fv' /FM', and increased leaf temperature and NPQ. It is concluded that these are very resilient trees since they were only severely affected in the third year of severe drought (the third year registering 45% less rainfall than average), and removing 20% of rainfall had a limited impact..

Variation in cold hardiness and carbohydrate concentration from dormancy induction to bud burst among provenances of three European oak species.

Although cold hardiness is known to be a major determinant of tree species distribution, its dynamics and the factors that regulate it remain poorly understood. Variation in cold hardiness and carbohydrate concentration, from dormancy induction until bud burst, were investigated in populations of two deciduous (Quercus robur L. and Quercus pubescens Willd.) and one evergreen (Quercus ilex L.) European oak. Mean cold hardiness values in January were -56, -45 and -27 degrees C for Q. robur, Q. pubescens and Q. ilex, respectively. Soluble carbohydrate concentrations were closely related to instantaneous cold hardiness, estimated by the electrolyte leakage method, whereas total carbohydrate concentration was related to maximum cold hardiness. Both cold hardiness and carbohydrate concentration showed a close linear relationship with temperatures at the location of the sampled population. Our results show that temporal variation in both the inter- and intraspecific cold hardiness in European oaks can be related to variations in the concentrations of soluble carbohydrates and that these relationships appear to be driven by temperature.

Importance of short-term dynamics in carbon isotope ratios of ecosystem respiration (delta13C(R)) in a Mediterranean oak woodland and linkage to environmental factors.

Temporal dynamics in carbon isotope ratios of ecosystem respiration (delta13C(R)) were evaluated on hourly, daily and annual timescales in a Mediterranean woodland. Emphasis was given to the periods of transition from wet to dry season and vice versa, when the system turns from a net carbon sink to a source. The constancy of nocturnal delta13C(R) was tested. The relationship between delta13C(R) (determined through Keeling plots) and environmental factors was evaluated through time-lag analysis. Delta13C(R) exhibited high annual variation (> 7). During the transition periods, delta13C(R) correlated significantly with factors influencing photosynthetic discrimination, soil respiration, and whole-canopy conductance. Time-lags differed between below- and above-ground variables, and between seasons. A shift in regression parameters with environmental factors indicated seasonal differences in ecosystem responsiveness (e.g. temperature acclimation). Delta13C(R) exhibited substantial nocturnal enrichment (> 4) from dusk to dawn. These data indicate pronounced short-term dynamics in delta13C(R) at hourly to daily timescales and a modulated response to environmental drivers. Substantial short-term changes in nocturnal delta13C(R) may have important implications for the sampling protocols of nocturnal Keeling plots.