• search hit 4 of 6
Back to Result List

How Do Mediterranean Pine Trees Respond to Drought and Precipitation Events along an Elevation Gradient

  • Drought is a major factor limiting tree growth and plant vitality. In the Mediterranean region,the length and intensity of drought stress strongly varies with altitude and site conditions. We usedelectronic dendrometers to analyze the response of two native pine species to drought and precipitationevents. The five study sites were located along an elevation gradient on the Mediterranean islandof Corsica (France). Positive stem increment in the raw dendrometer measurements was separatedinto radial stem growth and stem swelling/shrinkage in order to determine which part of the trees’response to climate signals can be attributed to growth. Precipitation events of at least 5 mm anddry periods of at least seven consecutive days without precipitation were determined over a periodof two years. Seasonal dynamics of stem circumference changes were highly variable among thefive study sites. At higher elevations, seasonal tree growth showed patterns characteristic for coldenvironments, while low-elevation sites showed bimodal growth patternsDrought is a major factor limiting tree growth and plant vitality. In the Mediterranean region,the length and intensity of drought stress strongly varies with altitude and site conditions. We usedelectronic dendrometers to analyze the response of two native pine species to drought and precipitationevents. The five study sites were located along an elevation gradient on the Mediterranean islandof Corsica (France). Positive stem increment in the raw dendrometer measurements was separatedinto radial stem growth and stem swelling/shrinkage in order to determine which part of the trees’response to climate signals can be attributed to growth. Precipitation events of at least 5 mm anddry periods of at least seven consecutive days without precipitation were determined over a periodof two years. Seasonal dynamics of stem circumference changes were highly variable among thefive study sites. At higher elevations, seasonal tree growth showed patterns characteristic for coldenvironments, while low-elevation sites showed bimodal growth patterns characteristic of droughtprone areas. The response to precipitation events was uniform and occurred within the first six hoursafter the beginning of a precipitation event. The majority of stem circumference increases were causedby radial growth, not by stem swelling due to water uptake. Growth-induced stem circumferenceincrease occurred at three of the five sites even during dry periods, which could be attributed tostored water reserves within the trees or the soils. Trees at sites with soils of low water-holdingcapacity were most vulnerable to dry periods.show moreshow less

Export metadata

Additional Services

Search Google Scholar
Metadaten
Author: Sonja Szymczak, Martin Häusser, Emilie Garel, Sébastien SantoniORCiD, Frédéric HuneauORCiD, Isabel KnerrORCiD, Katja TrachteORCiD, Jörg Bendix
DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/f11070758
Title of the source (English):Forests
Document Type:Scientific journal article peer-reviewed
Language:English
Year of publication:2020
Tag:dendrometer; stem circumference changes; climate response; Mediterranean;Pinus nigra;Pinus pinaster
Volume/Year:7
Issue number:11
Number of pages:17
Article number:758
Faculty/Chair:Fakultät 2 Umwelt und Naturwissenschaften / FG Atmosphärische Prozesse
Einverstanden ✔
Diese Webseite verwendet technisch erforderliche Session-Cookies. Durch die weitere Nutzung der Webseite stimmen Sie diesem zu. Unsere Datenschutzerklärung finden Sie hier.