Determinants of legacy effects in pine trees - implications from an irrigation-stop experiment.

ABSTRACT: Tree responses to altered water availability range from immediate (e.g. stomatal regulation) to delayed (e.g. crown size adjustment). The interplay of the different response times and processes, and their effects on long-term whole-tree performance, however, is hardly understood. Here we investigated legacy effects on structures and functions of mature Scots pine in a dry inner-Alpine Swiss valley after stopping an 11-yr lasting irrigation treatment. Measured ecophysiological time series were analysed and interpreted with a system-analytic tree model. We found that the irrigation stop led to a cascade of downregulations of physiological and morphological processes with different response times. Biophysical processes responded within days, whereas needle and shoot lengths, crown transparenc

SUBMITTER: Zweifel R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7383578 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature