Climate Differently Impacts the Growth of Coexisting Trees and Shrubs under Semi-Arid Mediterranean Conditions

Background and Objectives-Coexisting tree and shrub species will have to withstand more arid conditions as temperatures keep rising in the Mediterranean Basin. However, we still lack reliable assessments on how climate and drought affect the radial growth of tree and shrub species at intra- and interannual time scales under semi-arid Mediterranean conditions. Materials and Methods-We investigated the growth responses to climate of four co-occurring gymnosperms inhabiting semi-arid Mediterranean sites in northeastern Spain: two tree species (Aleppo pine, Pinus halepensis Mill.; Spanish juniper, Juniperus thurifera L.) and two shrubs (Phoenicean juniper, Juniperus phoenicea L.; Ephedra nebrodensis Tineo ex Guss.). First, we quantified the intra-annual radial-growth rates of the four species by periodically sampling wood samples during one growing season. Second, we quantified the climate-growth relationships at an interannual scale at two sites with different soil water availability by using dendrochronology. Third, we simulated growth responses to temperature and soil moisture using the forward, process-based Vaganov-Shashkin (VS-Lite) growth model to disentangle the main climatic drivers of growth. Results-The growth of all species peaked in spring to early summer (May-June). The pine and junipers grew after the dry summer, i.e., they showed a bimodal growth pattern. Prior wet winter conditions leading to high soil moisture before cambium reactivation in spring enhanced the growth of P. halepensis at dry sites, whereas the growth of both junipers and Ephedra depended more on high spring-summer soil moisture. The VS-Lite model identified these different influences of soil moisture on growth in tree and shrub species. Conclusions-Our approach (i) revealed contrasting growth dynamics of co-existing tree and shrub species under semi-arid Mediterranean conditions and (ii) provided novel insights on different responses as a function of growth habits in similar drought-prone regions.

Automated summary

The research revealed the contrasting growth dynamics of coexisting tree and shrub species under semi-arid Mediterranean conditions, showing different responses to seasonal soil moisture levels based on their growth habits.