RT Journal Article
T1 Links between climate, drought and minimum wood density in conifers
A1 Camarero, Jesús Julio
A1 Hevia Cabal, Andrea
AB As the global climate warms, increased aridity is expected to become a major determinant of forest productivity and tree growth. In gymnosperms, wood density quantified at seasonal to annual scales can be related to changes in tracheid lumen size due to alterations in soil water availability. In this way, minimum wood density (MND) has been shown to respond negatively to early growing-season precipitation in several conifers because dry conditions reduce tracheid lumen size and consequently increase MND. We investigated if this relationship between spring precipitation and MND applies to four conifer species (Abies alba, Pinus sylvestris, Pinus nigra, Juniperus thurifera) in NE Spain from mesic (A. alba, P. sylvestris) to xeric (P. nigra, J. thurifera) conditions. We further assessed how climate, precipitation, and drought-affected tree-ring width (TRW) and MND at several time scales to test if water shortage in spring increases MND and decreases TRW over time and seasonally. Lastly, we quantified the post-drought MND recovery. We found the strongest negative correlations between MND and spring precipitation in P. nigra followed by J. thurifera. In these two species, the associations between MND and 9-month long droughts peaked in early spring (P. nigra, r=−0.73; J. thurifera, r=−0.50). Juniperus thurifera presented a better post-drought recovery (decrease in MND), followed by P. nigra and P. sylvestris. We conclude that MND is a reliable and accurate proxy of drought severity during spring in conifers subjected to seasonal water shortage. MND can be used as an early-warning indicator of short- and long-term changes in the responses of trees to water shortage.
PB Brill Academic Publishers
SN 2294-1932 (electrónico)
SN 0928-1541
YR 2020
FD 2020
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10272/17719
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10272/17719
LA eng
NO Camarero, J.J., Hebia, A.:(2020) "Links between climate, drought and minimum wood density in conifers". IAWA Journal. https://doi.org/10.1163/22941932-bja10005
NO Spanish Ministry of Economy “Fundiver” project (CGL2015-69186-C2-1-R). FEDER Funds, Andalusia Regional Government,Consejería de Economía, Conocimento, Empresas y Universidad 2014–2020 (PinCaR project UHU-1266324).
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 30 may 2026