Journal
TREE PHYSIOLOGY
Volume 42, Issue 4, Pages 727-739Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/treephys/tpab137
Keywords
drought; growth; pine; tree-ring; xylem hydraulics
Categories
Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [31722013]
- National Key R&D Program of China [2020YFA0608104]
- K. C. Wong Education Foundation [GJTD-201807]
- Key Research program of Frontier Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences [ZDBS-LY-DQC019]
- Liaoning Revitalization Talents Program [XLYC1807204]
- Science and Technology Innovation Talent Program of Shenyang City [RC190143]
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Quantifying inter-specific variations of tree resilience to drought is crucial for understanding forest functionality in water-limited regions. A study in northern China found significant inter-specific variations in radial growth rate, growth response to drought, and physiological characteristics among seven pine species. Species with higher hydraulic conductivity and photosynthetic capacity were more sensitive to drought stress, indicating a trade-off between hydraulic efficiency and safety across species.
Quantifying inter-specific variations of tree resilience to drought and revealing the underlying mechanisms are of great importance to the understanding of forest functionality, particularly in water-limited regions. So far, comprehensive studies incorporating investigations in inter-specific variations of long-term growth patterns of trees and the underlying physiological mechanisms are very limited. Here, in a semi-arid site of northern China, tree radial growth rate, inter-annual tree-ring growth responses to climate variability, as well as physiological characteristics pertinent to xylem hydraulics, carbon assimilation and drought tolerance were analyzed in seven pine species growing in a common environment. Considerable inter-specific variations in radial growth rate, growth response to drought and physiological characteristics were observed among the studied species. Differently, the studied species exhibited similar degrees of resistance to drought-induced branch xylem embolism, with water potential corresponding to 50% loss hydraulic conductivity ranging from -2.31 to -2.96 MPa. We found that higher branch hydraulic efficiency is related to greater leaf photosynthetic capacity, smaller hydraulic safety margin and lower woody density (P < 0.05, linear regressions), but not related to higher tree radial growth rate (P > 0.05). Rather, species with higher hydraulic conductivity and photosynthetic capacity were more sensitive to drought stress and tended to show weaker growth resistance to extreme drought events as quantified by tree-ring analyses, which is at least partially due to a trade-off between hydraulic efficiency and safety across species. This study thus demonstrates the importance of drought resilience rather than instantaneous water and carbon flux capacity in determining tree growth in water-limited environments.
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