{"title":"Aging Mongolian pine plantations face high risks of drought-induced growth decline: evidence from both individual tree and forest stand measurements","authors":"Mingyong Li, Leilei Yang, Yu Cao, Dedong Wu, Guangyou Hao","doi":"10.1007/s11676-023-01677-4","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Discerning vulnerability differences among different aged trees to drought-driven growth decline or to mortality is critical to implement age-specific countermeasures for forest management in water-limited areas. An important species for afforestation in dry environments of northern China, Mongolian pine (<i>Pinus sylvestris</i> var. <i>mongolica</i> Litv.) has recently exhibited growth decline and dieback on many sites, particularly pronounced in old-growth plantations. However, changes in response to drought stress by this species with age as well as the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. In this study, tree-ring data and remotely sensed vegetation data were combined to investigate variations in growth at individual tree and stand scales for young (9 − 13 years) and aging (35 − 52 years) plantations of Mongolian pine in a water-limited area of northern China. A recent decline in tree-ring width in the older plantation also had lower values in satellited-derived normalized difference vegetation indices and normalized difference water indices relative to the younger plantations. In addition, all measured growth-related metrics were strongly correlated with the self-calibrating Palmer drought severity index during the growing season in the older plantation. Sensitivity of growth to drought of the older plantation might be attributed to more severe hydraulic limitations, as reflected by their lower sapwood- and leaf-specific hydraulic conductivities. Our study presents a comprehensive view on changes of growth with age by integrating multiple methods and provides an explanation from the perspective of plant hydraulics for growth decline with age. The results indicate that old-growth Mongolian pine plantations in water-limited environments may face increased growth declines under the context of climate warming and drying.</p>","PeriodicalId":15830,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Forestry Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Forestry Research","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-023-01677-4","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"FORESTRY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Discerning vulnerability differences among different aged trees to drought-driven growth decline or to mortality is critical to implement age-specific countermeasures for forest management in water-limited areas. An important species for afforestation in dry environments of northern China, Mongolian pine (Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica Litv.) has recently exhibited growth decline and dieback on many sites, particularly pronounced in old-growth plantations. However, changes in response to drought stress by this species with age as well as the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. In this study, tree-ring data and remotely sensed vegetation data were combined to investigate variations in growth at individual tree and stand scales for young (9 − 13 years) and aging (35 − 52 years) plantations of Mongolian pine in a water-limited area of northern China. A recent decline in tree-ring width in the older plantation also had lower values in satellited-derived normalized difference vegetation indices and normalized difference water indices relative to the younger plantations. In addition, all measured growth-related metrics were strongly correlated with the self-calibrating Palmer drought severity index during the growing season in the older plantation. Sensitivity of growth to drought of the older plantation might be attributed to more severe hydraulic limitations, as reflected by their lower sapwood- and leaf-specific hydraulic conductivities. Our study presents a comprehensive view on changes of growth with age by integrating multiple methods and provides an explanation from the perspective of plant hydraulics for growth decline with age. The results indicate that old-growth Mongolian pine plantations in water-limited environments may face increased growth declines under the context of climate warming and drying.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Forestry Research (JFR), founded in 1990, is a peer-reviewed quarterly journal in English. JFR has rapidly emerged as an international journal published by Northeast Forestry University and Ecological Society of China in collaboration with Springer Verlag. The journal publishes scientific articles related to forestry for a broad range of international scientists, forest managers and practitioners.The scope of the journal covers the following five thematic categories and 20 subjects:
Basic Science of Forestry,
Forest biometrics,
Forest soils,
Forest hydrology,
Tree physiology,
Forest biomass, carbon, and bioenergy,
Forest biotechnology and molecular biology,
Forest Ecology,
Forest ecology,
Forest ecological services,
Restoration ecology,
Forest adaptation to climate change,
Wildlife ecology and management,
Silviculture and Forest Management,
Forest genetics and tree breeding,
Silviculture,
Forest RS, GIS, and modeling,
Forest management,
Forest Protection,
Forest entomology and pathology,
Forest fire,
Forest resources conservation,
Forest health monitoring and assessment,
Wood Science and Technology,
Wood Science and Technology.