D-STRESS-CH – Drought STress REsponse of Scots pineS: linking Carbon allocation and Hydraulic pathways

D-STRESS-CH aims at generating an integrated, tree-level understanding of how water deficit affects the hydraulic xylem architecture, plant-water relations, and carbon allocation.

Background

Climate change will likely increase drought stress with consequences on forest productivity and tree mortality. While drought broadly impacts formation and functioning of water conducting cells, the relative importance and intertwined roles of these mechanisms for plant-level hydraulic architecture, carbon allocation and tree fitness is debated. However, understanding of the drought response mechanisms is critical to predict mortality events associated with projected future climate change, and is thus fundamental to adopt appropriate and timely management measures.

Project Aims

This project aims at generating an integrated, tree-level understanding of how water deficit affects the hydraulic xylem architecture, plant-water relations, and carbon allocation. Particular aims are to

• link plant-water relations and carbon allocation to growth and storage to fluctuating environmental conditions
• relate several xylem anatomical features to water supply and demand
• quantify functional sapwood and tracheids under contrasting drought regimes to advance mechanistic understanding of hydraulic failure.
  

Methods

The project is situated at the Pfynwald Pinus sylvestris irrigation experiment. It capitalizes upon a unique long-term, large-scale, and data rich framework and notably catches tree response when 10 years of irrigation end. The methodological toolbox includes state-of-the-art techniques used in tree-ring anatomy and tree physiology.

WSL Participants

• Patrick Fonti (project leader)
• Georg von Arx (principal researcher)
• Roman Zweifel
• David Frank
• Andreas Rigling
  

International Collaborators

• Stefan Mayr, University of Innsbruck (A)
  
• José Miguel Olano, Universidad de Valladolid (E)
  

Links

COST Action FP1106: STReESS - Studying Tree Responses to extreme Events: a SynthesiS (http://www.cost.eu/domains_actions/fps/Actions/FP1106)

Contact

• Georg von Arx
  

• Patrick Fonti