scholarly journals Significance of current weather conditions for foliar traits of old-growth sessile oak (Quercus petraea Liebl) trees

Trees ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leila Arab ◽  
Stefan Seegmueller ◽  
Jürgen Kreuzwieser ◽  
Monika Eiblmeier ◽  
Michael Dannenmann ◽  
...  

Abstract Key message Sessile oak leaves showed a high degree of plasticity to atmospheric and pedospheric conditions. Abstract The aim of the present study was to elucidate the significance of current weather conditions for foliar traits of adult sessile oak (Quercus petraea), one of the most valuable forest tree species in Central Europe. For this purpose, structural and functional traits were analysed in fully expanded, sun exposed leaves collected in south-west Germany from five old-growth forest stands, representing the meteorological and pedospheric conditions in the growing region, but differing in aridity during the 12 days before harvest in two consecutive years. Across the forest stands, most foliar traits differed significantly between wet and dry weather conditions before harvest as indicated by partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). These traits included fresh weight/dry weight ratio, leaf hydration, leaf-C content, leaf-C/N ratio, structural N, soluble protein-N, total amino acid-N, cell wall composition, numerous specific amino acids as well as soluble sugar content. Structural biomass, δ13C signature, total N and total C as well as H2O2 contents were not affected by the weather before harvest. These results indicate a high plasticity of the foliar metabolism of drought-tolerant sessile oak to current weather conditions. They also suggest that sessile oak is characterized by a high potential to cope with the growth conditions expected as a consequence of future climate change.

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (12) ◽  
pp. 1648-1667
Author(s):  
Leila Arab ◽  
Stefan Seegmueller ◽  
Michael Dannenmann ◽  
Monika Eiblmeier ◽  
Ghada Albasher ◽  
...  

Abstract Due to climate change, sessile oak (Quercus petraea) seedlings experience an increasing risk of drought during regeneration of forest stands by management practices. The present study was aimed at elucidating the potential of sessile oak seedlings originating from sites with different aridity and nitrogen (N) supply to acclimate to contrasting water availability. For this purpose, a free-air cross-exchange experiment was conducted between a dry and a humid forest stand with high and low soil N contents, respectively, during two consecutive years differing in aridity before harvest. Almost all structural and physiological foliar traits analyzed did not differ consistently between seed origins during both years, when cultivated at the same site. As an exception, the arid provenance upregulated foliar ascorbate contents under drought, whereas the humid provenance accumulated the phenolic antioxidants vescalagin and castalagin (VC) under favorable weather conditions and consumed VC upon drought. Apparently, differences in long-term aridity at the forest sites resulted in only few genetically fixed differences in foliar traits between the provenances. However, structural and physiological traits strongly responded to soil N contents and weather conditions before harvest. Foliar N contents and their partitioning were mostly determined by the differences in soil N availability at the sites, but still were modulated by weather conditions before harvest. In the first year, differences in aridity before harvest resulted in differences between most foliar traits. In the second year, when weather conditions at both sites were considerably similar and more arid compared to the first year, differences in foliar traits were almost negligible. This pattern was observed irrespective of seed origin. These results support the view that leaves of sessile oak seedlings generally possess a high plasticity to cope with extreme differences in aridity by immediate acclimation responses that are even better developed in plants of arid origin.


2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-56
Author(s):  
Bálint Horváth ◽  
Viktória Tóth ◽  
Gyula Kovács

Abstract Vegetation beneath the canopy might be an important factor for macromoth community composition in forest ecosystems, strongly determined by forest management practices. Herein, we compared nocturnal macrolepidoptera communities and herb layers in young and old sessile oak (Quercus petraea) dominated forest stands in the Sopron Mountains (Western Hungary). The investigation of Lepidoptera species was performed 15 times from the end of March to the end of October in 2011. Portable light traps were used, and a total of 257 species and 5503 individuals were identified. The Geometridae family was the most abundant, followed by Noctuidae and Notodontidae. To investigate vascular plant species in the herb layer, circular plots with a 10-m radius around the moth traps were used. In each plot, we estimated the abundance of plant species in 20 sub-plots with a 1-m radius from May to July of 2011. The abundance of macromoth species was higher in the old forest stand, which might be influenced by the trees’ higher foliar biomass. However, the mean abundance of herbs was lower in the old forest. Diversity of both the herb layer and the moth community were significantly higher in the young forest. However we found higher species richness of moths in the old forest. For additional analyses, moths feeding on plants in the herb layer were selected, but neither the difference in species number, neither mean abundance between the young and old forest were significant. Our results suggest that the herb layer is not a key factor for macrolepidoptera communities in Hungarian sessile oak forest stands.


2018 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 521-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milun Krstic ◽  
Branko Kanjevac ◽  
Violeta Babic

This paper presents research results on the effects of the extremely high temperatures during the heat wave of August 2017 on the growth and development of injury symptoms in sessile oak (Quercus petraea /Matt./Liebl.) seedlings of different age in the area of the Majdanpek municipality in northeastern Serbia. The starting hypotheses of this study is that the resistance of sessile oak seedlings to extremely high temperatures changes with age and that the stand canopy has a significant protective role in situations where sessile oak seedlings are endangered by extremely high temperatures. The extreme weather conditions at the beginning of August manifested themselves in extremely high temperatures and prolonged absence of precipitation. The average temperature at the beginning of August 2017 was 5.0 to 5.1o? (depending on the altitude) higher compared to the period of seedling growth (2010-2016). During the heat wave, the recorded precipitation was in the range from 0 to 1 mm. These climate conditions significantly affected the development of young seedlings, causing wilting of smaller or larger parts of the leaf surface and sometimes leading to plant death. Using analysis of variance, differences in the intensity of seedling damage were found to depend on age, height, and the protection provided by the mature stand canopy. The obtained results point to the very important role of mature trees in the protection of seedlings from the dangers of extremely high temperatures.


2005 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 391-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurent Bergès ◽  
Richard Chevalier ◽  
Yann Dumas ◽  
Alain Franc ◽  
Jean-Michel Gilbert

2000 ◽  
Vol 78 (12) ◽  
pp. 1531-1544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Nicolini ◽  
Daniel Barthélémy ◽  
Patrick Heuret

The growth and branching patterns of the main axis of 6-year-old sessile oak, growing in a natural regeneration in the north of France, were analysed each year retrospectively according to three increasing canopy density conditions: large gap, small gap, and dense canopy. Increasing gap size is associated with an increase in the total height, basal diameter, branching probability, and global polycyclism rate of the trees. At the growth unit or annual shoot level, from dense canopy to large gaps these botanical entities also show an increase in their total length, number of nodes, polycyclism, and branching rate as well as mean number of branches and mean internode length. A discussion of our results revealed some endogenous features of growth and branching patterns in young sessile oak trees. It is also shown that increasing canopy density generally tends to reduce the expression of the endogenous architectural sequence of differentiation of young sessile oak trees. Young trees growing below dense canopy thus seem to be "delayed" in their sequence of differentiation and appear to be in a "waiting" status, whereas young trees growing in large gaps exhibit an architecture very similar to trees growing in nurseries under nonlimiting growth conditions.Key words: architecture, Quercus petraea, growth, morphology, canopy density.


1978 ◽  
Vol 56 (13) ◽  
pp. 1505-1509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen A. Whipple

Species of buried, germinating seeds and species occurring in the vegetation are compared for two Colorado subalpine forest stands, one dry and one mesic, both over 325 years old. The total numbers of seeds found were small and the correspondence with species in the vegetation was poor. This is consistent with reports from other old-growth forests and may be accounted for by a combination of low seed input and rapid loss of viable seeds from the soil reservoir for old-growth forest species.


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