Above-Ground Dimensions and Acclimation Explain Variation in Drought Mortality of Scots Pine Seedlings from Various Provenances.

ABSTRACT: Seedling establishment is a critical part of the life cycle, thus seedling survival might be even more important for forest persistence under recent and future climate change. Scots pine forests have been disproportionally more affected by climate change triggered forest-dieback. Nevertheless, some Scots pine provenances might prove resilient to future drought events because of the species' large distributional range, genetic diversity, and adaptation potential. However, there is a lack of knowledge on provenance-specific survival under severe drought events and on how acclimation alters survival rates in Scots pine seedlings. We therefore conducted two drought-induced mortality experiments with potted Scots pine seedlings in a greenhouse. In the first experiment, 760 three-year-old seedli

SUBMITTER: Seidel H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4935725 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature