Tree ecophysiology in the context of climate change

Forest structure and function strongly depend on and concurrently influence environmental conditions. Tree performance is generally governed by its genetics and environment; thus, recent hotspots in this field include tree genotype x environment, phenotype x environment, and functional trait x environment interactions. The editorial, review, and 22 original research articles in this Special Issue, Tree ecophysiology in the context of climate change , highlight ecophysiological phenomena (e.g., climate hormesis, seed germination, tree mortality), processes (e.g., tree metabolism, photosynthate allocation, nutrient uptake and transport), indicators (e.g., carbon sequestration, pollutants), measurements (e.g., thermal time methods, soil quality indices, vegetation spectral index, and near-infrared leaf reflectance), and modeling (e.g., climate correlations with tree growth, photosynthetic phenology, hydraulic strategies, OliveCan model) in the context of global climate change. Understanding forest-environment interactions from an ecophysiological perspective as climate changes provides insights into species fitness in suboptimal environments, species competition for limited resources, and phylogenetic divergence or convergence of species, and predicting species distributions.

Automated summary

Forest structure and function are influenced by and also have an impact on environmental conditions. Recent research in this field focuses on the interactions between tree genotype and environment, phenotype and environment, and functional traits and environment. This Special Issue on Tree Ecophysiology in the Context of Climate Change includes editorial, review, and 22 original research articles that highlight ecophysiological phenomena, processes, indicators, measurements, and modeling related to global climate change. Understanding forest-environment interactions from an ecophysiological perspective provides insights into species fitness, resource competition, phylogenetic divergence or convergence, and predicting species distributions.