Drought effects on phenology with emphasis on reproductive phenology and the underlying physiological mechanisms in pine trees

Projektleitung

Maihe Li

Projektmitarbeitende

Arthur Gessler
Andreas Rigling
Marcus Schaub

Projektdauer

2016 - 2021

In a changing world, precipitation is predicted to alter in amount, intensity, frequency and type, and hydrological extreme events such as flood and drought will occur more frequently than before (Weltzin et al. 2003; Trenberth et al. 2010). Flood and drought effects on flower and fruit production (Ginestar and Castel 1996; Cruz et al. 2013), or on shifts of reproductive phenology (Mazer et al. 2015) of plants have been widely recognized. The physiological mechanisms, however, have rarely been studied. Given the importance of reproductive timing on plant ecosystems, it is urgently needed to understand the variation and evolution of plant reproductive phenology in relation to changes in water availability, and the underlying physiological mechanisms in trees (Inouye et al. 2008).