Shifting Precipitation Patterns Drive Growth Variability and Drought Resilience of European Atlas Cedar Plantations
Tree plantations have been proposed as suitable carbon sinks to mitigate climate change. Drought may reduce their carbon uptake, increasing their vulnerability to stress and affecting their growth recovery and resilience. We investigated the recent growth rates and responses to the climate and droug...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-12-01
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| Series: | Forests |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/12/1751 |
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| author | Jesús Julio Camarero Antonio Gazol Michele Colangelo Juan Carlos Linares Rafael M. Navarro-Cerrillo Álvaro Rubio-Cuadrado Fernando Silla Pierre-Jean Dumas François Courbet |
| author_facet | Jesús Julio Camarero Antonio Gazol Michele Colangelo Juan Carlos Linares Rafael M. Navarro-Cerrillo Álvaro Rubio-Cuadrado Fernando Silla Pierre-Jean Dumas François Courbet |
| author_sort | Jesús Julio Camarero |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Tree plantations have been proposed as suitable carbon sinks to mitigate climate change. Drought may reduce their carbon uptake, increasing their vulnerability to stress and affecting their growth recovery and resilience. We investigated the recent growth rates and responses to the climate and drought in eight Atlas cedar (<i>Cedrus atlantica</i>) plantations located along a wide climate gradient from wetter sites in south-eastern France and north Spain to dry sites in south-eastern Spain. The cedar growth increased in response to the elevated precipitation from the prior winter to the current summer, but the influence of winter precipitation on growth gained importance in the driest sites. The growth responsiveness to climate and drought peaked in those dry sites, but the growth resilience did not show a similar gradient. The Atlas cedar growth was driven by the total precipitation during the hydrological year and this association strengthened from the 1980s onwards, a pattern related to the winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). High winter NAO indices and drier conditions were associated with lower growth. At the individual level, growth resilience was related to tree age, while growth recovery and year-to-year growth variability covaried. Plantations’ resilience to drought depends on both climate and tree-level features. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T04:06:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9c7a8fd02e6b4993a89b7db822fb3b62 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1999-4907 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T04:06:26Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Forests |
| spelling | doaj.art-9c7a8fd02e6b4993a89b7db822fb3b622023-11-23T08:21:52ZengMDPI AGForests1999-49072021-12-011212175110.3390/f12121751Shifting Precipitation Patterns Drive Growth Variability and Drought Resilience of European Atlas Cedar PlantationsJesús Julio Camarero0Antonio Gazol1Michele Colangelo2Juan Carlos Linares3Rafael M. Navarro-Cerrillo4Álvaro Rubio-Cuadrado5Fernando Silla6Pierre-Jean Dumas7François Courbet8Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología (IPE-CSIC), 50192 Zaragoza, SpainInstituto Pirenaico de Ecología (IPE-CSIC), 50192 Zaragoza, SpainInstituto Pirenaico de Ecología (IPE-CSIC), 50192 Zaragoza, SpainDepartamento de Sistemas Físicos, Químicos y Naturales, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, 41013 Sevilla, SpainLaboratorio de Selvicultura, Departamento Ingeniería Forestal, Dendrocronología y Cambio Climático, DendrodatLab-ERSAF, Campus de Rabanales, Universidad de Córdoba, Crta. IV, km. 396, 14071 Cordova, SpainDepartamento de Sistemas y Recursos Naturales, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de Montes, Forestal y del Medio Natural, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria s/n, 28040 Madrid, SpainDepartamento Biología Animal, Parasitología, Ecología, Edafología y Química Agrícola, University Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca, SpainINRAE, UR 629 Ecologie des Forêts Méditerranéennes, URFM, 84914 Avignon, FranceINRAE, UR 629 Ecologie des Forêts Méditerranéennes, URFM, 84914 Avignon, FranceTree plantations have been proposed as suitable carbon sinks to mitigate climate change. Drought may reduce their carbon uptake, increasing their vulnerability to stress and affecting their growth recovery and resilience. We investigated the recent growth rates and responses to the climate and drought in eight Atlas cedar (<i>Cedrus atlantica</i>) plantations located along a wide climate gradient from wetter sites in south-eastern France and north Spain to dry sites in south-eastern Spain. The cedar growth increased in response to the elevated precipitation from the prior winter to the current summer, but the influence of winter precipitation on growth gained importance in the driest sites. The growth responsiveness to climate and drought peaked in those dry sites, but the growth resilience did not show a similar gradient. The Atlas cedar growth was driven by the total precipitation during the hydrological year and this association strengthened from the 1980s onwards, a pattern related to the winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). High winter NAO indices and drier conditions were associated with lower growth. At the individual level, growth resilience was related to tree age, while growth recovery and year-to-year growth variability covaried. Plantations’ resilience to drought depends on both climate and tree-level features.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/12/1751<i>Cedrus atlantica</i>dendroecologydroughtgrowth resilienceplantations |
| spellingShingle | Jesús Julio Camarero Antonio Gazol Michele Colangelo Juan Carlos Linares Rafael M. Navarro-Cerrillo Álvaro Rubio-Cuadrado Fernando Silla Pierre-Jean Dumas François Courbet Shifting Precipitation Patterns Drive Growth Variability and Drought Resilience of European Atlas Cedar Plantations Forests <i>Cedrus atlantica</i> dendroecology drought growth resilience plantations |
| title | Shifting Precipitation Patterns Drive Growth Variability and Drought Resilience of European Atlas Cedar Plantations |
| title_full | Shifting Precipitation Patterns Drive Growth Variability and Drought Resilience of European Atlas Cedar Plantations |
| title_fullStr | Shifting Precipitation Patterns Drive Growth Variability and Drought Resilience of European Atlas Cedar Plantations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Shifting Precipitation Patterns Drive Growth Variability and Drought Resilience of European Atlas Cedar Plantations |
| title_short | Shifting Precipitation Patterns Drive Growth Variability and Drought Resilience of European Atlas Cedar Plantations |
| title_sort | shifting precipitation patterns drive growth variability and drought resilience of european atlas cedar plantations |
| topic | <i>Cedrus atlantica</i> dendroecology drought growth resilience plantations |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/12/1751 |
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