TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of competition, drought stress and photosynthetic productivity on the radial growth of white spruce in western Canada
AU - Alam, Syed Ashraful
AU - Huang, Jianguo
AU - Stadt, Kenneth J.
AU - Comeau, Philip G.
AU - Dawson, Andria
AU - Gea-Izquierdo, Guillermo
AU - Aakala, Tuomas
AU - Hölttä, Teemu Samuli
AU - Vesala, Timo Veikko
AU - Mäkelä, Annikki
AU - Berninger, Frank Alexander
PY - 2017/11/7
Y1 - 2017/11/7
N2 - Understanding the complex interactions of competition, climate warming-induced drought stress, and photosynthetic productivity on the radial growth of trees is central to linking climate change impacts on tree growth, stand structure and in general, forest productivity. Using a mixed modelling approach, a stand-level photosynthetic production model, climate, stand competition and tree-ring data from mixedwood stands in western Canada, we investigated the radial growth response of white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench.) Voss) to simulated annual photosynthetic production, simulated drought stress, and tree and stand level competition. The long-term (~80-year) radial growth of white spruce was constrained mostly by competition, as measured by total basal area, with minor effects from drought. There was no relation of competition and drought on tree growth but dominant trees increased their growth more strongly to increases in modelled photosynthetic productivity, indicating asymmetric competition. Our results indicate a co-limitation of drought and climatic factors inhibiting photosynthetic productivity for radial growth of white spruce in western Canada. These results illustrate how a modelling approach can separate the complex factors regulating both multi-decadal average radial growth and interannual radial growth variations of white spruce, and contribute to advance our understanding on sustainable management of mixedwood boreal forests in western Canada.
AB - Understanding the complex interactions of competition, climate warming-induced drought stress, and photosynthetic productivity on the radial growth of trees is central to linking climate change impacts on tree growth, stand structure and in general, forest productivity. Using a mixed modelling approach, a stand-level photosynthetic production model, climate, stand competition and tree-ring data from mixedwood stands in western Canada, we investigated the radial growth response of white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench.) Voss) to simulated annual photosynthetic production, simulated drought stress, and tree and stand level competition. The long-term (~80-year) radial growth of white spruce was constrained mostly by competition, as measured by total basal area, with minor effects from drought. There was no relation of competition and drought on tree growth but dominant trees increased their growth more strongly to increases in modelled photosynthetic productivity, indicating asymmetric competition. Our results indicate a co-limitation of drought and climatic factors inhibiting photosynthetic productivity for radial growth of white spruce in western Canada. These results illustrate how a modelling approach can separate the complex factors regulating both multi-decadal average radial growth and interannual radial growth variations of white spruce, and contribute to advance our understanding on sustainable management of mixedwood boreal forests in western Canada.
KW - 4112 Forestry
KW - Boreal forest
KW - Drought
KW - Photosynthetic production
KW - Tree-tree competition
KW - Tree growth
KW - Western Canada
UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2017.01915/abstract
U2 - 10.3389/fpls.2017.01915
DO - 10.3389/fpls.2017.01915
M3 - Article
VL - 8
JO - Frontiers in plant science
JF - Frontiers in plant science
SN - 1664-462X
M1 - 1915
ER -