Rhizosphere activity in an old-growth forest reacts rapidly to changes in soil moisture and shapes whole-tree carbon allocation.

ABSTRACT: Drought alters carbon (C) allocation within trees, thereby impairing tree growth. Recovery of root and leaf functioning and prioritized C supply to sink tissues after drought may compensate for drought-induced reduction of assimilation and growth. It remains unclear if C allocation to sink tissues during and following drought is controlled by altered sink metabolic activities or by the availability of new assimilates. Understanding such mechanisms is required to predict forests' resilience to a changing climate. We investigated the impact of drought and drought release on C allocation in a 100-y-old Scots pine forest. We applied ¹³CO₂ pulse labeling to naturally dry control and long-term irrigated trees and tracked the fate of the label in above- and belowground C poo

SUBMITTER: Joseph J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7547207 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature