Black spruce growth under climate extremes: Genetic insights for managing a key resource production species

IF 3.7 2区农林科学 Q1 FORESTRY

Forest Ecology and Management Pub Date : 2025-09-05 DOI:10.1016/j.foreco.2025.123129

Etienne Robert , Patrick Lenz , Yves Bergeron , Nathalie Isabel , Martin P. Girardin

{"title":"Black spruce growth under climate extremes: Genetic insights for managing a key resource production species","authors":"Etienne Robert , Patrick Lenz , Yves Bergeron , Nathalie Isabel , Martin P. Girardin","doi":"10.1016/j.foreco.2025.123129","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding the influence of intraspecific genetic variation on the response of tree species to stress events—like heatwaves, droughts, and growing season frost—is crucial. This genetic variation is linked to species adaptive potential and plays a pivotal role in shaping the resilience and long-term adaptability of species to climate change. Furthermore, genetic variation can affect populations’ responses to stress events, thereby influencing forest productivity and carbon sequestration potential. We combined dendroecological and genomic approaches to analyze the growth response of 61 black spruce (<em>Picea mariana</em>) populations, grown for over 40 years in four common gardens, to daily extreme vapor pressure, soil moisture deficits, and growing season frosts. Our objectives were to 1) assess the effects of stress events defined from physiological thresholds on annual biomass production and 2) explore the potential influence of standing genetic variation on trees’ responses to stress events at the population scale. The growth response of black spruce to those events was site-specific but with an important influence of soil or atmospheric drought at most sites. This response was also nonlinear, with a negative effect on growth occurring only after several stress events a year. Additionally, an interaction between this response and the geographic origin of the population indicated an influence of standing genetic variation, notably linked to local adaptation. These results may provide insight into tree resilience to stress events and help estimate the adaptive potential of the Canadian boreal forest. Moreover, this knowledge can help guiding forest management, for example assisted gene flow.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12350,"journal":{"name":"Forest Ecology and Management","volume":"597 ","pages":"Article 123129"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Forest Ecology and Management","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112725006371","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

Understanding the influence of intraspecific genetic variation on the response of tree species to stress events—like heatwaves, droughts, and growing season frost—is crucial. This genetic variation is linked to species adaptive potential and plays a pivotal role in shaping the resilience and long-term adaptability of species to climate change. Furthermore, genetic variation can affect populations’ responses to stress events, thereby influencing forest productivity and carbon sequestration potential. We combined dendroecological and genomic approaches to analyze the growth response of 61 black spruce (Picea mariana) populations, grown for over 40 years in four common gardens, to daily extreme vapor pressure, soil moisture deficits, and growing season frosts. Our objectives were to 1) assess the effects of stress events defined from physiological thresholds on annual biomass production and 2) explore the potential influence of standing genetic variation on trees’ responses to stress events at the population scale. The growth response of black spruce to those events was site-specific but with an important influence of soil or atmospheric drought at most sites. This response was also nonlinear, with a negative effect on growth occurring only after several stress events a year. Additionally, an interaction between this response and the geographic origin of the population indicated an influence of standing genetic variation, notably linked to local adaptation. These results may provide insight into tree resilience to stress events and help estimate the adaptive potential of the Canadian boreal forest. Moreover, this knowledge can help guiding forest management, for example assisted gene flow.

查看原文本刊更多论文

极端气候下的黑云杉生长：管理关键资源生产物种的遗传见解

了解种内遗传变异对树种对压力事件（如热浪、干旱和生长季节霜冻）的反应的影响至关重要。这种遗传变异与物种适应潜力有关，在塑造物种对气候变化的恢复力和长期适应性方面起着关键作用。此外，遗传变异可以影响种群对胁迫事件的反应，从而影响森林生产力和碳固存潜力。我们结合树木生态学和基因组学方法，分析了在4个普通园林中生长超过40年的61个黑云杉（Picea mariana）种群对日常极端蒸汽压、土壤水分缺乏和生长季节霜冻的生长响应。我们的目标是1)评估从生理阈值定义的胁迫事件对年生物量产量的影响；2)在种群尺度上探索直立遗传变异对树木对胁迫事件反应的潜在影响。黑云杉对这些事件的生长响应具有站点特异性，但在大多数站点都受到土壤或大气干旱的重要影响。这种反应也是非线性的，只有在一年发生几次压力事件后才会对生长产生负面影响。此外，这种反应与种群的地理起源之间的相互作用表明，存在遗传变异的影响，特别是与当地适应有关。这些结果可能有助于深入了解树木对压力事件的恢复能力，并有助于估计加拿大北方森林的适应潜力。此外，这些知识可以帮助指导森林管理，例如辅助基因流动。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Forest Ecology and Management 农林科学-林学

CiteScore

7.50

自引率

10.80%

发文量

665

审稿时长

39 days

期刊介绍： Forest Ecology and Management publishes scientific articles linking forest ecology with forest management, focusing on the application of biological, ecological and social knowledge to the management and conservation of plantations and natural forests. The scope of the journal includes all forest ecosystems of the world. A peer-review process ensures the quality and international interest of the manuscripts accepted for publication. The journal encourages communication between scientists in disparate fields who share a common interest in ecology and forest management, bridging the gap between research workers and forest managers. We encourage submission of papers that will have the strongest interest and value to the Journal''s international readership. Some key features of papers with strong interest include: 1. Clear connections between the ecology and management of forests; 2. Novel ideas or approaches to important challenges in forest ecology and management; 3. Studies that address a population of interest beyond the scale of single research sites, Three key points in the design of forest experiments, Forest Ecology and Management 255 (2008) 2022-2023); 4. Review Articles on timely, important topics. Authors are welcome to contact one of the editors to discuss the suitability of a potential review manuscript. The Journal encourages proposals for special issues examining important areas of forest ecology and management. Potential guest editors should contact any of the Editors to begin discussions about topics, potential papers, and other details.