Mediterranean service trees respond less to drought than oaks
Some widely distributed timber species, such as oaks, are vulnerable to low soil water availability and drought. Therefore, selecting broadleaved minor species with lower sensitivity to drought could be an alternative in seasonally dry areas. However, the growth performance of these minor hardwood s...
| Autores: | , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2023 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) |
| Repositorio: | DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:digital.csic.es:10261/345066 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/345066 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Minor broadleaved tree species Post-drought recovery Quercus faginea Quercus pyrenaica Sorbus domestica |
| Sumario: | Some widely distributed timber species, such as oaks, are vulnerable to low soil water availability and drought. Therefore, selecting broadleaved minor species with lower sensitivity to drought could be an alternative in seasonally dry areas. However, the growth performance of these minor hardwood species is unknown, particularly under warm and dry conditions at the southern limit of their distribution range. We assessed the radial growth response to drought by correlating tree-ring and climate data in coexisting service trees (Sorbus domestica) and two oak species (Quercus faginea, Quercus pyrenaica). Trees were sampled in three Mediterranean sites located in Spain with different precipitation patterns. We used the Vaganov–Shashkin (VS) growth model to infer the main climate constraints of growth. To ascertain whether climate is changing tree phenology, we also simulated changes in xylem onset and cessation timings and compared them with leaf falling dates in service trees. Service trees showed a trend towards advancing leaf fall, but this was not related to xylem growth. Oaks responded more to a drought index than service trees. The strongest responses corresponded to droughts peaking from spring to summer, but oaks tended to respond to longer droughts (9–13 months) than service trees (2–7 months). These different responses are due to the positive responses of all species to high precipitation in the growing season, but the sensitivity of oak growth to warm summer conditions and increased atmospheric water demand. The VS model indicated a more bimodal growth pattern in services trees than in oaks, which could allow the former to recover better after a dry summer. Service trees could be more widely used as a source of valuable timber wood under Mediterranean continental conditions. |
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