Growth of 19 conifer species is highly sensitive to winter warming, spring frost and summer drought.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Conifers are key components of many temperate and boreal forests and are important for forestry, but species differences in stem growth responses to climate are still poorly understood and may hinder effective management of these forests in a warmer and drier future.

Methods

We studied 19 Northern Hemisphere conifer species planted in a 50-year-old common garden experiment in the Netherlands to (1) assess the effect of temporal dynamics in climate on stem growth, (2) test for a possible positive relationship between the growth potential and climatic growth sensitivity across species, and (3) evaluate the extent to which stem growth is controlled by phylogeny.

Key results

Eighty-nine per cent of the species showed a significant reduction in stem gro

SUBMITTER: Song Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8422889 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature