A multi-species synthesis of physiological mechanisms in drought-induced tree mortality

Widespread tree mortality associated with drought 92 has been observed on all forested continents, and global change is expected to exacerbate vegetation vulnerability. Forest mortality has implications for future biosphere-atmosphere interactions of carbon, water, and energy balance, and is poorly represented in dynamic vegetation models. Reducing uncertainty requires improved mortality projections founded on robust physiological processes. However, the proposed mechanisms of drought-induced mortality, including hydraulic failure and carbon starvation, are unresolved. A growing number of empirical studies have investigated these mechanisms, but data have not been consistently analyzed across species and biomes using a standardized physiological framework. Here we show that xylem hydraulic failure was ubiquitous across multiple tree taxa at drought induced mortality. All species assessed had 60% or higher loss of xylem hydraulic conductivity, consistent with proposed theoretical and modelled survival thresholds. We found diverse responses in non-structural carbohydrate reserves at mortality, indicating that evidence supporting carbon starvation was not universal. Reduced non-structural carbohydrates were more common for gymnosperms than angiosperms, associated with xylem hydraulic vulnerability, and may have a role in reducing hydraulic function. Our finding that hydraulic failure at drought-induced mortality was persistent across species indicates that substantial improvement in vegetation modelling can be achieved using thresholds in hydraulic function

A multi-species synthesis of physiological mechanisms in drought-induced tree mortality

Widespread tree mortality associated with drought 92 has been observed on all forested continents, and global change is expected to exacerbate vegetation vulnerability. Forest mortality has implications for future biosphere-atmosphere interactions of carbon, water, and energy balance, and is poorly represented in dynamic vegetation models. Reducing uncertainty requires improved mortality projections founded on robust physiological processes. However, the proposed mechanisms of drought-induced mortality, including hydraulic failure and carbon starvation, are unresolved. A growing number of empirical studies have investigated these mechanisms, but data have not been consistently analyzed across species and biomes using a standardized physiological framework. Here we show that xylem hydraulic failure was ubiquitous across multiple tree taxa at drought induced mortality. All species assessed had 60% or higher loss of xylem hydraulic conductivity, consistent with proposed theoretical and modelled survival thresholds. We found diverse responses in non-structural carbohydrate reserves at mortality, indicating that evidence supporting carbon starvation was not universal. Reduced non-structural carbohydrates were more common for gymnosperms than angiosperms, associated with xylem hydraulic vulnerability, and may have a role in reducing hydraulic function. Our finding that hydraulic failure at drought-induced mortality was persistent across species indicates that substantial improvement in vegetation modelling can be achieved using thresholds in hydraulic function

Herbivory of wild Manduca sexta causes fast down-regulation of photosynthetic efficiency in Datura wrightii: an early signaling cascade visualized by chlorophyll fluorescence

Plants experiencing herbivory suffer indirect costs beyond direct loss of leaf area, but differentially so based on the herbivore involved. We used a combination of chlorophyll fluorescence imaging and gas exchange techniques to quantify photosynthetic performance, the efficiency of photochemistry, and heat dissipation to examine immediate and longer-term physiological responses in the desert perennial Datura wrightii to herbivory by tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta. Herbivory by colony-reared larvae yielded no significant reduction in carbon assimilation, whereas herbivory by wild larvae induced a fast and spreading down-regulation of photosynthetic efficiency, resulting in significant losses in carbon assimilation in eaten and uneaten leaves. We found both an 89 % reduction in net photosynthetic rates in herbivore-damaged leaves and a whole-plant response (79 % decrease in undamaged leaves from adjacent branches). Consequently, herbivory costs are higher than previously estimated in this well-studied plant-insect interaction. We used chlorophyll fluorescence imaging to elucidate the mechanisms of this down-regulation. Quantum yield decreased up to 70 % in a small concentric band surrounding the feeding area within minutes of the onset of herbivory. Non-photochemical energy dissipation by the plant to avoid permanent damage was elevated near the wound, and increased systematically in distant areas of the leaf away from the wound over subsequent hours. Together, the results underscore not only potential differences between colony-reared and wild-caught herbivores in experimental studies of herbivory but also the benefits of quantifying physiological responses of plants in unattacked leaves

A Microbial-Explicit Soil Organic Carbon Decomposition Model (MESDM): Development and Testing at a Semiarid Grassland Site

Explicit representations of microbial processes in soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition models have received increasing attention, because soil heterotrophic respiration remains one of the greatest uncertainties in climate-carbon feedbacks projected by Earth system models (ESMs). Microbial-explicit models have been developed and applied in site- and global-scale studies. These models, however, lack the ability to represent microbial respiration responses to drying-wetting cycles, and few of them have been incorporated in land surface models (LSMs) and validated against field observations. In this study, we developed a multi-layer, microbial-explicit soil organic carbon decomposition model (MESDM), based on two main assumptions that (a) extracellular enzymes remain active at dry reaction microsites, and (b) microbes at wet microsites are active or potentially active, while microbes at the dry microsites are dormant, by dividing the soil volume into wet and dry zones. MESDM with O2 and CO2 gas transport models was coupled with Noah-MP LSM and tested against half-hourly field observations at a semiarid grassland site in the southwest US characterized by pulsed precipitation. The results show MESDM can reproduce the observed soil respiration pulses of various sizes in response to discrete precipitation events (Birch effect) and thus improve the simulation of net ecosystem exchange. Here, both microbial accessibility to accumulated dissolved organic carbon and reactivation of dormant microbes at the dry microsites upon rewetting are critical to reproducing the Birch effect. This study improves our understanding of and ability to simulate complex soil carbon dynamics that experience drying-wetting cycle in climate-carbon feedbacks. © 2022 The Authors. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Geophysical Union.Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Convergent Hydraulic Redistribution and Groundwater Access Supported Facilitative Dependency Between Trees and Grasses in a Semi-Arid Environment

Hydraulic redistribution is the transport of water from wet to dry soil layers, upward or downward, through plant roots. Often in savanna and woodland ecosystems, deep-rooted trees, and shallow-rooted grasses coexist. The degree to which these different species compete for or share soil-water derived from precipitation or groundwater, as well as how these interactions are altered by hydraulic redistribution, is unknown. We use a multilayer canopy model and field observations to examine how the presence of deep, but tree-root accessible, groundwater impacts seasonal patterns of hydraulic redistribution, and interaction between coexisting vegetation species in a semiarid riparian woodland (US-CMW). Based on the simulation, trees absorb moisture at the water table (∼10 m depth) and release it in the shallow soil depth (0–3 m) during the dry pre-monsoon season. We observed the occurrence of a new convergent hydraulic redistribution pattern during the monsoon season, where moisture is transported from both the near-surface (0–0.5 m) and the water table to intermediate soil layers (1–5 m) through tree roots. We found that hydraulic redistribution demonstrates a growth facilitation effect at this site, supporting 49% of growing season tree transpiration and 14% of the grass transpiration. Compared to a similarly structured upland savanna without accessible groundwater, the riparian site shows an increased amount of hydraulically redistributed water and more facilitative water use between coexisting grasses and trees. These results shed light on the linkage between accessible groundwater and the role of hydraulic redistribution on the interaction between deep-rooted and shallow-rooted vegetation. © 2021. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.6 month embargo; first published: 27 May 2021This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Mortality thresholds of juvenile trees to drought and heatwaves: implications for forest regeneration across a landscape gradient

Tree loss is increasing rapidly due to drought- and heat-related mortality and intensifying fire activity. Consequently, the fate of many forests depends on the ability of juvenile trees to withstand heightened climate and disturbance anomalies. Extreme climatic events, such as droughts and heatwaves, are increasing in frequency and severity, and trees in mountainous regions must contend with these landscape-level climate episodes. Recent research focuses on how mortality of individual tree species may be driven by drought and heatwaves, but how juvenile mortality under these conditions would vary among species spanning an elevational gradient—given concurrent variation in climate, ecohydrology, and physiology–remains unclear. We address this knowledge gap by implementing a growth chamber study, imposing extreme drought with and without a compounding heatwave, for juveniles of five species that span a forested life zones in the Southwestern United States. Overall, the length of a progressive drought required to trigger mortality differed by up to 20 weeks among species. Inclusion of a heatwave hastened mean time to mortality for all species by about 1 week. Lower-elevation species that grow in warmer ambient conditions died earlier (Pinus ponderosa in 10 weeks, Pinus edulis in 14 weeks) than did higher-elevation species from cooler ambient conditions (Picea engelmannii and Pseudotsuga menziesii in 19 weeks, and Pinus flexilis in 30 weeks). When exposed to a heatwave in conjunction with drought, mortality advanced significantly only for species from cooler ambient conditions (Pinus flexilis: 2.7 weeks earlier; Pseudotsuga menziesii: 2.0 weeks earlier). Cooler ambient temperatures may have buffered against moisture loss during drought, resulting in longer survival of higher-elevation species despite expected drought tolerance of lower-elevation species due to tree physiology. Our study suggests that droughts will play a leading role in juvenile tree mortality and will most directly impact species at warmer climate thresholds, with heatwaves in tandem with drought potentially exacerbating mortality especially of high elevation species. These responses are relevant for assessing the potential success of both natural and managed reforestation, as differential juvenile survival following episodic extreme events will determine future landscape-scale vegetation trajectories under changing climate. Copyright © 2023 Lalor, Law, Breshears, Falk, Field, Loehman, Triepke and Barron-Gafford.Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

High productivity in hybrid-poplar plantations without isoprene emission to the atmosphere.

Hybrid-poplar tree plantations provide a source for biofuel and biomass, but they also increase forest isoprene emissions. The consequences of increased isoprene emissions include higher rates of tropospheric ozone production, increases in the lifetime of methane, and increases in atmospheric aerosol production, all of which affect the global energy budget and/or lead to the degradation of air quality. Using RNA interference (RNAi) to suppress isoprene emission, we show that this trait, which is thought to be required for the tolerance of abiotic stress, is not required for high rates of photosynthesis and woody biomass production in the agroforest plantation environment, even in areas with high levels of climatic stress. Biomass production over 4 y in plantations in Arizona and Oregon was similar among genetic lines that emitted or did not emit significant amounts of isoprene. Lines that had substantially reduced isoprene emission rates also showed decreases in flavonol pigments, which reduce oxidative damage during extremes of abiotic stress, a pattern that would be expected to amplify metabolic dysfunction in the absence of isoprene production in stress-prone climate regimes. However, compensatory increases in the expression of other proteomic components, especially those associated with the production of protective compounds, such as carotenoids and terpenoids, and the fact that most biomass is produced prior to the hottest and driest part of the growing season explain the observed pattern of high biomass production with low isoprene emission. Our results show that it is possible to reduce the deleterious influences of isoprene on the atmosphere, while sustaining woody biomass production in temperate agroforest plantations