Are marginal beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) provenances a source for drought tolerant ecotypes?

By Laura Rose, Christoph Leuschner, Benjamin Köckemann, H. Buschmann. European Journal of Forest Research, 2009

173 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Due to the expected increases of number and intensity of summer droughts in Central Europe the identification of drought tolerant ecotypes becomes more important in future forestry. A common garden experiment with seedlings of Fagus sylvatica provenances from the center (Germany) and eastern margin (Poland) of the species’ distribution range was conducted. Responses of morphological, physiological, chemical and growth parameters to three drought treatments were analyzed. Relative growth rates of the marginal provenance were lower as compared to the central provenance. The marginal seedlings showed a tendency to higher total biomasses because of higher seed masses. In both provenances drought decreased biomass production and root/shoot ratio which was lower in the central provenance. A lower specific root area of the marginal provenance indicated a better adaptation to low xylem water potentials. Under moderate drought, lower leaf δ13C signatures may indicate lower stomatal limitation (or a reduced rate of CO2 assimilation) in the marginal provenance. We conclude that marginal beech provenances may exhibit a better drought adaptation.

Subfields: Atmospheric Science, Global and Planetary Change, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/cdcd44f5585edd3c1141df030e34f19fb6d65adb

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Citations in the corpus

Biological Flora of the British Isles: Fagus sylvatica (2012, background): “Drought tolerance may to some degree be under genetic control since trees from drought-prone areas have proved more drought tolerance in common garden experiments (e.g. Rose et al. 2009).”
Fine root biomass and dynamics in beech forests across a precipitation gradient – is optimal resource partitioning theory applicable to water‐limited mature trees? (2013, background): “The type of response may depend on the vitality and preadaptation of the trees and the growing conditions (Tognetti, Johnson & Michelozzi 1995; Cordell et al. 1998; Meier & Leuschner 2008b; Rose et al. 2009) and is likely to vary with species (e.”
Extreme drought alters competitive dominance within and between tree species in a mixed forest stand (2013, background): “Common garden studies have demonstrated considerable intraspecific varia- tion in drought traits and responses for seedlings and saplings of provenances taken from different areas of a species’ range (Peuke et al. 2002; Meier & Leuschner 2008; Rose et al. 2009; Robson et al. 2012).”
Ecological and evolutionary responses of Mediterranean plants to global change. (2014, unknown): “Therefore, divergence among populations in traits related to adaptation to global change may represent an inherent source for stress-tolerant ecotypes (Hamrick, 2004; Reusch and Wood, 2007; Rose et al., 2009; Hoffmann and Sgrò, 2011; Camarero et al., 2012).”